Thank you, (Generation) next: Dance Fest is back again
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Each year since 1985, school-aged dancers from the Canberra region have banded together to showcase their original choreography and costume design in a three-night dance festival extravaganza.
Now in its 35th year, the AusDance ACT Youth Dance Festival, known as ‘Dance Fest, will be back again this September.
A highlight of the year for many young performers, Dance Fest gives students the opportunity to perform original pieces for a paying audience, providing a goal for students to work towards, without the pressure of a competitive element.
This year’s festival will showcase 61 pieces from 38 different schools across the Canberra region and surrounds, with 1500 participants performing across three nights all working under the theme, Generation NEXT.
Dance Fest’s Creative Director Jamie Winbank has broken Generation NEXT into three initial guiding points for the students to be inspired by: Celebration, Motivation and Innovation.
Opening Piece 2017_Choreographed by Jamie Winbank. Credit: Art Atelier.
“The first is Celebration because we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Dance Fest. So hopefully we’ll see a lot of pieces that are joyous and fun,” says Jamie, adding that celebration will very much be the theme of the opening piece, which he will choreograph.
“Then we might see the celebration of schools or [a] collective of people. They might celebrate an identity or a well-known person.”
“The second guiding point is Motivation. Under this banner I encourage the participants to dream big, to think about the world that they want to live in and take action.”
St Francis Xavier College 2018. Credit: Art Atelier.
Jamie explains that Dance Fest’s founding year, 1985, was a very different world to today, and encourages students to draw on this.
“There are different environmental, political and social challenges and successes,” he explains. “So I encourage people that if they take on this branch of ideas, to think about issues the young people of Canberra or humanity might be experiencing, going from the local to national to the global.”
The third brand, Innovation, is where students can look both backward and forward, to either the innovation that has gotten us to 2019 or what will take us to 2029.
“When we were talking about the 35th anniversary we really wanted to launch the next step, the next stage or the next big thing about Dance Fest,” explains Jamie. “We encourage [students] to look back over historical milestones that 2019 represents and celebrate those, but also think about the future and what is the next step. What might the next big thing be, or the next innovation?”
In rehearsal 2017. Photo by Lorna Sim.
Over 35 years, Dance Fest has hosted close to 40,000 participants, inviting students into the world of theatre and the arts, promoting self-expression and creating long-lasting memories.
AusDance ACT has also started to see Dance Fest alumni as dance teachers bring their students to perform, with this second generation of participants bringing another meaning to the theme Generation NEXT.
“[Dance Fest] is very open and inclusive,” says Jamie. “We don’t judge, we don’t give awards or allocate prizes. It’s very much just about a beautiful celebration of movers and the young people in Canberra.”
Opening Piece 2018, choreographed by Jamie Winbank. Credit: Art Atelier.
“There’s always a beautiful highlight when Black Mountain School–which is a mixed ability school–perform their work on Friday afternoon for the participants. That’s a really inspirational piece for people to see because it shows that dance is a beautiful form of movement regardless of ability. And it shows that anybody and everybody can move and dance. I know that they often get the loudest applause. That’s a really beautiful moment.”
the essentials
What: AusDance ACT Youth Dance Festival
When: 11 – 13 September 2019
Where: Canberra Theatre Centre
Website: ausdanceact.org.au
Facebook: facebook.com/dancefestACT
HerCanberra is a proud supporter of the 2019 AusDance ACT Youth Dance Festival.
Feature image: Opening Piece 2018. Choreographed by Jamie Winbank. Credit: Art Atelier.
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