DANZ QUARTERLY No 5 September 2006

The Search for “Fame”

In part two of a series, Francesca Horsley looks at the dance programmes in Waikato, Hawkes Bay and Porirua

Dance at the University of Waikato

The dance presence at The University of Waikato, in Hamilton, has been growing steadily for over a decade.  It began when Dorothy Coe, a secondary school physical education teacher with a great passion for dance, began teaching dance at the university in the early 90’s. The classes were offered within the physical education and teacher education curricula, as part of primary and secondary teacher training, and focussed on creative dance and choreography.

With Coe’s continued commitment to put dance on the map, two dance papers were offered in 1994 within the newly established Department of Leisure Studies: Communication through Movement and Choreography and Performance. Coe not only continued to develop these papers, she also embarked on research.
 
As a teenager, Dr Karen Barbour attended Limbs dance classes in Auckland, and while studying for her undergraduate and masters degrees in social sciences at Waikato in the early nineties, she established classes for students and adults in the community.

After completing her Diploma in Dance at Unitec, Barbour returned to Waikato in the late 90s to embark on her PhD with the Department of Sport and Leisure Studies.

She then joined the teaching staff, and building on Coe’s foundation, she helped develop five undergraduate dance papers: Choreographing Dance, Dance as a Leisure Activity, Dance and Movement Education, Dance Performance and Directed Study. These are available to all students on campus, and although offered within the School of Education, they are no longer teacher or PE focussed, and they operate as stand-alone papers for students to train and develop their skills in dance.

Dance, however, is still an important component of teacher training at both the primary and secondary level.

The School of Maori and Pacific Development also has dance in its programme, with Terri Crawford teaching societal and educational dance, as well as Maori and contemporary choreography and performance.
 
Students can choose either Barbour’s dance papers or Crawford’s Maori Performing Arts papers, or combine both with papers such as theatre studies to come out with a performing arts degree – although it is called a Bachelor of Social Science.

Barbour says, “Aside from the name of it, everything is more as or less what you could do anywhere else; it just allows you to be broader. A student can pick and choose within social science or education, whichever degree caters to their needs and interests. It’s very flexible. A lot of my students will enrol in a Bachelor of Sport and Leisure Studies for example and do dance and Maori papers, sometimes Maori language or Maori performing arts, alongside sports or event management or outdoor education.”

 “What is important with these papers is that I am not teaching students nine to five every day. I am teaching students for one university paper, so they go off and do sociology, computer science, sports or theatre studies or whatever they are majoring in. It is not a full time dance training programme. It is fair to say that the people who come here aren’t coming here because they are training to become dancers. They are coming here for an education and dance is part of their education.”

Barbour says, “Because I am just teaching these papers, I am not at all commercially driven. I focus on what I think is most relevant for people interested in dance – so it is learning for the sake of learning. One of the things I love about Waikato is its commitment to being innovative and to supporting innovation – it is imbedded in what the university does.”

Barbour caps her first year paper at 45 students, 20 go into each of the year two papers and 10 to 20 go on to the third year level. One or two go on to post graduate dance studies, the same to professional training and at least a third train as teachers. Others specialise in arts marketing or administration. Students come from the Waikato, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, the East Coast, and the King Country – the whole of the central North Island. 

The University recently opened The Academy of Performing Arts which contains four main spaces; a studio space specifically for dance, another for Maori Performing Arts, a theatre and a concert chamber. A planned second stage includes a lecture theatre/film screening space and also smaller rehearsal/studio spaces.

Waikato has no policy at present to make dance a major. “The current Vice Chancellor and other deans are very supportive of performing arts. We have the most wonderful facility, and I think the approach has been ‘we will build the facility, know we can fill it with what we already have and see where we go from there’.”

“As a staff member, both the academy and the university as a whole are really supportive in acknowledging my creative work as research. As long as all my choreographic work is over 20 minutes, I am able to use the facilities for my own research.”

 “I would say that Waikato is evolving organically and growing as relevant. No one is in any rush to establish anything that might compromise on quality for commercial reasons.”

Takitimu Performing Arts School

In Hastings, the Takitimu Performing Arts School has the oldest dance degree in the country and is a true pioneer in tertiary performing arts. The school was founded by Tama Huata, and he is still its CEO. Tama, with an extensive background in Maori song, drama and dance, was recently awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for 35 years of service to Maori performing arts.

The programme began as a Labour Department of Maori Performing Arts Programme in 1983. Later the school offered Aotearoa’s first Certificate of Performing Arts, followed by the first Diploma. In 1995 they offered the first dance degree programme in the country. It is a three year degree programme, but students can also staircase through a one year certificate, two year diploma, completing a final year to gain the degree – the Bachelor of Maori Performing Arts - which is offered in partnership with Massey University. Tama says that in the eight years there have been a good number of graduates who have gone on to teach, continue with further studies, lecture, and develop performance careers; with one joining the opera. The diploma has proved very popular for dancers.

A common career pathway is to graduate into the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre. Directly linked to the School, it employs 24 fulltime dancers, spread over its three troupes. The Company, which is turning 25 in 2008, has an impressive performing record, both here and in North America. They have been touring to Canada for 15 years, and for 12 years to America, and maintain an office in Niagara Falls and in the Bronx. Their tours last 30 weeks and they perform everywhere from theatres, in education institutions to major festivals. They also have been building on a presence in Kuala Lumpar, where they are presently on tour, and another company is performing in Auckland this month.

The Takitimu programme consists of Te Reo Maori, Maori performing arts, history of the art form, a performance paper, western and Maori music, with all students learning the piano, production (light and sound), pedagogy and arts administration. Students come from the Hawkes Bay area and from the Kahungunu boundary of Wairoa to Wairarapa, with an average of 40 students in the programme at one time.

In another venture Takitimu is building up an infrastructure in secondary schools. “We are bringing people in at an earlier level, so we are working with them while they are at school,” Tama says.

The demise of the dance component at EIT

Sadly, the dance component at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier was not given the opportunity to create longevity. Opening in 2004, after a brief flicker for two years, it was not offered again this year; a victim of inherited problems and poor management.

The original course had begun in the early 90s, offering two streams of drama and voice; later becoming EIT Performing Arts. In 2004 the Institute decided to bring on a dance stream. Well known contemporary dance teacher, Liz Davey, who has taught for many years at the NZ School of Dance and Whitireia, looking for a lifestyle change in the Hawke’s Bay, came on board. She was in full knowledge that programme was under a lot of pressure; personality clashes in the other streams, an under-developed relationship with the community and a student satisfaction rate of 21 per cent were some of the issues.

It was an open entry, foundation level 4 – 5 diploma course. Students would spend 50 percent in their specialist stream, and 50 percent in a combination class of dance, voice and drama students. Papers included stage craft, dance, voice, drama, movement, anatomy, physiology, history of performing arts – music, dance, drama.

Liz says, “It was people of all ages and abilities. It filled a niche market for students who were desirous to have a career in the performing arts – an all round programme, yet with a specialist major. Also for those who didn’t get into the NZ School of Dance (or drama school or any of these other level 5,6,7 programmes) it gave them an opportunity to be ready to re-apply for those courses.”

Made coordinator of the programme, Liz brought the student satisfaction rate up to 93 – 100 percent in two years. All of her five dance students graduated successfully: one went on to Unitec, one to Whitireia, another took over a dance studio, another, already a trained teacher, went on to develop performing arts at an intermediate school and one became an arts administrator.

“I was beginning to attract a better standard of student and dance was beginning to have a little bit of an impact here. But unfortunately the programme had already died. The new CEO and a new Dean were not into supporting performing arts whatsoever because there were too many personality conflicts within the staff and also management problems. All three streams went down.”

Liz still believes that there is a niche market for provincial dance programmes, particularly in the Hawkes Bay where performing arts have a large presence in schools. “I still believe that the phoenix might rise from the ashes because there is so much potential for a course of this naturehere. It’s all about your ability to teach diversity, the calibre of the teachers, establishing the kaupapa of that particular course, and building relationships with the community”

Happily Liz has gone on to become co-artistic director and choreographer for Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre.

Whitireia Community Polytechnic

Performing Arts at Whitireia Community Polytechnic is firmly embedded in its surrounding community. Situated in Porirua, a northern suburb on the outskirts of Wellington, the programme is housed in Pataka, the Porirua Cultural Centre, a short walk from the main campus. As well as the performing arts studios, Pataka has art galleries, a museum, library, restaurant, community galleries and meeting rooms.

The programme has a successful 15 year legacy and the Polytechnic itself celebrated its 20th birthday this year. It was the brain child of Gaylene Sciascia, who is still programme leader. In 1990 Gaylene was teaching at nearby Aotea College and was taken by the enormous talent and abilities of young people in the area. “Porirua is a like a microcosm of the Pacific, with a really strong Maori and Pacific population. There are so many young people with talents and skills and at the time many parents wanted them to get real jobs and didn’t see a possibility of employment in the arts. They took them for granted – ‘of course they can sing and of course they can dance’.”

Gaylene’s background had been contemporary dance and dance in general, having completed her Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Utah. Her husband, Piri, had a background in Maori performing arts, so they naturally talked through the possibilities of developing a company or a school from traditional to contemporary Maori performing arts. When an opportunity presented itself, she wrote to Turoa Royal, CEO of Whitireia, outlining the possibilities; he was enthusiastic.

The first courses were one year certificates, looking at dance as a performer, as a spectator and as a vehicle for cultural expression. “From the beginning the kaupapa of the course was three fold. Firstly it was about ti tangata, young people standing tall through successful involvement in the performing arts and culture. Secondly it aimed to build cultural bridges and dance across cultures, and thirdly to celebrate the cultural diversity of Aotearoa. That was the overriding direction.”

They worked in Maori, Samoan, Cook Islands and contemporary dance. “We have stayed within four cultural areas and tried to build a strong cultural foundation so that people could move forward into a more contemporary expression and explore innovative possibilities.”
 
“We started to have people wanting to come back and repeat, so we realised that one year was not sufficient to enable any real staircasing into career or future opportunities.” Gaylene says, “They may have had ability in one area but not in the other three, so we developed a two year diploma. From there it developed to a three year programme, an advanced diploma, because we saw the need to multi-skill our performers a lot more.”

This year Whitireia has introduced a Bachelor of Applied Arts. This was in recognition of the difficulty in NZ of making dance a career pathway. Gaylene saw that if they could multi-skill people - developing performing arts management, teaching, performance and choreographic streams - it would provide more choice.

The new structure includes a six month foundation course in Maori Pacific Performance. This enables young people to staircase into the degree if they do not have the qualification entry. There is no exit in the first year, but students can exit after two years with a Diploma in Performing Arts, or remain for a further year to gain the degree.

Gaylene says that they run their programme like an apprentice company. “From day one we do a lot of work in the industry. We have performed for the Sevens at the stadium, corporate and school shows, Te Papa, and special events such as wearable arts.” Graduates have also worked with companies such as Black Grace, Footnote, and Commotion, while others have moved into teaching.

Built into the programme is an annual international tour, travelling to Asia, Europe and the USA. “We get a fantastic response and our young people come back with an increased appreciation of who they are and where they are from. We take everybody, 42 has been the most. In the first year it is for the experience of travelling and performing. In the second year they take leadership responsibilities on and off the stage, in the third year they take a three day rotational sole management role. The third years have to manage the entire group, planning and running the tour - it is a real hands-on experience.”

This practical involvement in the industry has been written into the new degree, with a generic unit for the three years called professional studies. It is designed for entrepreneurship, performing arts marketing and management, and promotional skills. “So by the time they complete their third year they should have a number of skills at their fingertips to create opportunities for themselves and have the confidence to go out and try something.” The other units are technique and training, cultural studies that examines the arts of Aotearoa and the Pacific, and creative technique.

Gaylene is also nurturing a young graduate company, developing a new contemporary Pasifika area. “At the moment it is like a pick-up company, but I think it is important that our young students can see that this is one opportunity.” The graduate company has accompanied Helen Clark to the Cook Islands, Phil Goff to Tahiti, and been to Vietnam to open an education fair.

Gaylene says that they usually like between 35 and 50 students in the programme. “It is open entry and we have a real mixture of people. It is open to anybody that has a love and passion for culture and learning about other cultures as well as their own. Aside from our local community, we have students from all over the North Island, the West Coast up to Northland. Word of mouth has really been our biggest marketing tool.”

Return to Contents page of DANZ QUARTERLY N0 5 September 2006