DANZ QUARTERLY No 5 September 2006

A PRECARIOUS BOOM!

by Chris Jannides

What is happening with contemporary dance in Auckland? There has been a steady increase of activity over the last few years, but this year I have been to performances, be it fringe, mainstream, or informal studio showings, on average once a week. I keep thinking that it’s going to ease up, but there are no such signs. Performances and presentations back-to-back, week in week out. Surely this is unheard of!

At the end of last year, Jenny Stevenson, in the Dominion, lamented that Wellington was no longer the dance capital of NZ, claiming the title now belongs to Auckland. But how has this shift occurred? It is timely to take a snapshot of this regional mini-boom of dance, to look at what is making it progressive and vibrant, and to be savvy to its needs and health.

One of the crucial factors in the current artistic growth of contemporary dance in Auckland is the fertile interaction between the tertiary and professional sectors. Jenny Stevenson’s article talks about the high number of leading practitioners who, if not already Auckland-based, have recently relocated from elsewhere, attracted to the resurgence. She also discusses the new generation of tertiary dance graduates who are making their mark as emerging choreographers. Institutional teaching is bringing these two groups together. What has now developed is an energetic, mutually supportive community, dominated by growing numbers of enthusiastic graduates eager to produce their own performance work. Spear-headed by face-to-face contact in tertiary settings between practising professionals and students, the effect on our dance landscape is potent, keeping it ever-changing, dynamic, and alive.

Contemporary dance in Auckland has a well-established legacy of choreography and performance. Historically, its tertiary dance environment was moulded by far-sighted individuals to cater to the city’s highly successful performance traditions. They foresaw that artistic revitalization lay in the nurturing of creative leadership, and this has led to younger dancers today being extraordinarily proactive in their dance-making ambitions and endeavours. The performance industry in the past has seen its peaks, but the current situation is gaining a good deal of momentum. Fuelled by generationally diverse practitioners and an atmosphere of encouragement, initiative, and cross-provocation, new peaks are forming.

As well as providing the education sector and its dance institutions – all of whom have differing agendas – with skilled practitioners and original choreographic work to study and appraise, Auckland’s contemporary dance renaissance is interacting with a greater variety of people outside of dance. Other artists and specialists, trades and technical people, local businesses and councils, the media, etc are being embraced by an expanding performance calendar and in turn helping invigorate and empower local dancers. What is happening is highly productive and its energies are infectious, keeping up with it all is starting to get difficult.

Summarily, Auckland contemporary dance is benefiting from greater levels of activity and interaction; availability of many more opportunities; higher artistic standards; increased resourcefulness, initiative, and diversity; and the development of literate, loyal supporters and audiences. There are also significant moves underway in respect to facilities and services, notably the New Theatre Initiative and DANZ Tamaki, as well as more receptive corporate and media attention, as seen through the recent dance-focused TV shows being made in Auckland such as So You Think You Can Dance and the as yet to be released Rude Awakenings.

However, all these blessings are offset by obstacles that make the current situation fragile and precarious. Age-old problems remain perpetually difficult to change – it seems that no matter how busy or lucrative the environment becomes, dancers still fall at the bottom of the financial pecking order and are expected to live off enthusiasm and passion. Lack of a dedicated association advocating the needs and rights of the professional dance sector still stands as a much-needed development. If anything disappoints artistic growth more swiftly it is inequity or sluggishness in respect to resources and funds.

Auckland’s independent dance scene, although active and abundant, is still impoverished; still a sub-culture and ‘fringe’ subsisting primarily on self-addiction and competitive, meagre funding sources. Younger dancers have to knuckle down and solve many of their most immediate problems themselves, which is a stress that could be alleviated by strategies that listen more astutely to their needs. The hope of recognition and betterment, and on peer and audience encouragement and support compensate for sporadic incomes and lack of security.

So what do we have in the present that will assist the future?

We have a creatively productive, co-supportive sector, aware of predecessors and lineages, appreciative of the growth and experimentation of its members, and on a resurgence. We have a large number of people spanning generational, stylistic, philosophical, and cultural differences who are active as dance-makers. For example, a by no means exhaustive list of artists whose work I have witnessed this year in Auckland-based events include Alexa Wilson, Douglas Wright, Malia Johnston, Kristian Larsen, Louise Potiki-Bryant, Maria Dabrowska, Michael Parmenter, Alyx Duncan, Lemi Ponifasio, Guy Ryan, Julia Milsom, Paul Young, Julia Sadler, Matt Gibbons, Lucy Miles, Suzanne Cowan, Rachel Atkinson, Clare Luiten, Min Kyoung Lee, Val Smith, Willhemeena Gordon, Catherine Chappel, and there are others. LNC (Late Night Choreographers), Touch Compass, Black Grace, and Mau have provided important forums and developmental opportunities, IndependANCE supplies professional classes, and Luxembourg Gardens a much-needed resource for rehearsals, networking and presentations. Ultimately, Auckland currently has people power, the most valuable resource of all.

Diversity from the bottom up benefits the entire art form. From conventional to experimental work, provocations reverberate through every level of activity. Those opposed to certain approaches either become even stronger and clearer in their beliefs and artistry, or old forms are challenged and re-energised to expand and change. This is the vitality and stimuli needed for a progressive and grounded future. This is the Auckland ingredient.

And our annual dance festival, tempo, is practically on us – can I catch my breath!

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