DANZ QUARTERLY No 1 September 2005

Changes at DANZ

by Tania Kopytko

Warmest greetings from DANZ. This has been such a busy year of dance
activity and for DANZ as an organisation.

In early July DANZ held its AGM, with major Board changes taking place. After over ten years of being the Chairperson of DANZ, Suzanne Snively, stepped down. Her contribution and support for DANZ has been enormous over that time, taking the organisation from small beginnings to a serious national organisation. We wish Suzanne well in the future.

DANZ now has four new directors. The new Chairperson is Robyn Cockburn. Robyn's baptism by fire was her speech at the opening of the Tuanui Whakamaru dance conference, outlining not only the strengths and parameters of dance in New Zealand but the weaknesses in dance employment that need to be addressed. Robyn facilitated the 1992 Flock House Dance Conference, out of which DANZ grew. She brings strengths

in strategic planning and management to the Board and a long history of work with regional and local authorities and in recreation. The three other new directors are Graham Atkinson, Sahra Grinham and Adam Hayward. Graham has been and is involved in a variety of arts organisations such as the Friends of the NZ Symphony and Wellington Friends of the Ballet. He is strong in financial and management skills. Sahra works in Marketing and Communications, also with an arts emphasis. Adam, from the Christchurch Body Festival, brings skills in dance
production, festivals, touring and development.

The National Dance Conference - Tuanui Whakamaru - Dance Canopy 05 was a great success, especially considering that major funding and the organising for the festival did not come into being until November 2004.
It brought together a good cross section of the professional sector and provided a great variety of workshops, classes and forums. Besides this it gave voice to dance industry needs and a number of initiatives such as a
professional association and community dance network. The feeling of dance industry cohesiveness was very encouraging and DANZ is happy to play a pivotal role in this. It is with grateful pleasure that I thank Mary Jane O'Reilly, Sian Tucker and Sue Cheesman for their organising skills and enthusiasm, also the fabulous members of the Tertiary Dance committee for their ideas, support and work and the TRCC organisers Patrice O'Brien
and Helen Langford and their committee members.

A conference evaluation form is currently being produced and will be circulated shortly. This asks about the recent conference as well as future needs, so we invite all interested to make their comments. Please contact DANZ if you were not at the conference but would like to comment on future conference and training opportunities.

DANZ and SPARC

DANZ has just been notified that SPARC (Sport and Recreation NZ) has granted DANZ NRO (National Recreation Organisation) status. This recognises DANZ as the peak body responsible for leading the recreational dance sector. This new partnership with SPARC is very important as it will allow us to develop a strategy to support the regions
and the huge recreational sector. Once more new initiatives for DANZ - and much exciting work ahead.

Auckland Dance House -- A New DANZ Initiative

DANZ is delighted to announce that ASB Trusts has granted $139,000 towards the first stage of a major Dance Development Project in Auckland. The project will lead to the development of a "dance house" style centre that will provide career and production advice and training. It will provide support for many facets of dance work from creation and performance through to educational employment and small business skills.

The new project, lead by DANZ, will play a vital role in the dance development of the Auckland area which is already a "hot bed" of dance in New Zealand. This is evident in the high number of cultural and recreational dance groups, dance in schools, as well as urgeoning and developed dance companies and collectives. The project aims to provide strategic development for this sector of our performing arts industry, make it a secure career, work and self-employment option and support the vital expression of our culture and identity through dance.

Yours in dance!
Tania Kopytko
Executive Director, DANZ

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