Australian Youth Dance Groups and Ensembles
- Fresh Bred
- room2move
- danceLAB
- Torsion
Fresh Bred
Fresh Bred, the Ausdance SA youth dance ensemble, has been going
since 2003 and has received funding assistance from the Government
of South Australia through the South Australian Youth Arts Board.
The four small project grants ranging in size from $3750 to $8000
have enabled the groups of talented young dancers to work on projects
with professional choreographers, including Naida Chinner, Felecia
Hick, Ade Suharto, Leanne Ringelstein and Billie Cook.
  
Fresh Bred has now successfully performed in three Ausdance SA seasons
of Choreolab: 2003 showcased Naida Chinner’s One Part Sugar Soap,
Two Parts Vinegar, 2004 utilised the fresh ideas of Felecia Hick
assisted by Ade Suharto in Beda, an exploration of identity. Fresh
Bred also performed in Gorge choreographed by Felecia Hick with assistance
from Naida Chinner for the 2005 Come Out youth arts festival. In
2005 Fresh Bred performed Leanne Ringelstein’s Breathe with assistance
from rehearsal director Billie Cook, music by Justin Posa and video
by Nic Mollison. Breathe explores various psychological states and
their relation to human respiration.
The 2005 Youth Dance ensemble consisted of 13 talented young dancers
including seven males selected by audition from schools with SACE
dance programs. In 2006 Ausdance received a Project and Development
Grant from the South Australian Youth Arts Board to take the 2005
Youth Dance Ensemble to the Australian Youth Dance Festival in Horsham.
Fresh Bred performed Breathe at the festival and participated in
a week of choreographic projects and workshops. The Ausdance SA Youth
Dance Ensemble will audition a new cast in the second half of 2006
and create a new work entitled Baby Face, choreographed by Kelly
Alexander, working with rehearsal director Veronica Shum, and composer
Adam Page. The project will take place between July and October 2006,
culminating in a showing in the October season of Choreolab.
South Australia has a small but vibrant independent dance sector,
a strong private dance training network, twelve secondary schools
that offer dance to year 12 and two youth classical ballet companies.
In this environment there are many young dancers who are actively
engaged in movement-based training yet do not have access to performance
development opportunities beyond traditional offerings. There are
young dancers studying dance in Years 11 and 12, at private studios
and those from non traditional movement backgrounds (e.g. gymnastics,
capoeira, breakdance) who would benefit from extension through work
with professional independent choreographers. Independent choreographers
have limited opportunities to create and present work outside of
the SA Choreographic Laboratory or Ignition (ADT) programs. The Youth
Dance Ensemble provides opportunities for them to create new work,
and gives dancers the opportunity to work with emerging choreographers
in a professional environment.
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room2move
The room2move Youth Dance Company is a vibrant
new Geelong-based company focusing on the creation of original dance
works. The company was founded in February 2006 by local choreographers
Lyndel Freeman and Rachel Fitzgerald after they were successfully
awarded a City of Greater Geelong Community Arts Grant to assist
in the creative development of room2move YDC’s first work, Salt.
The company comprises 22 dancers aged between 12 and 23.
  
Images from 'Salt', performed in June 06,
room2move Youth Dance Company
Salt is an original, collaborative 40-minute dance work which aims
to connect performers and audiences with a sense of place, history
and pride in their community. The theme draws upon the local Geelong
landscape and the performers’ stories and experiences for inspiration,
as well as historical research. Salt employs creative and contemporary
dance practices such as physical theatre, spoken text, and multi-media.
Salt premiers on June 23 2006 at Geelong’s Courthouse Youth Arts
Centre.
room2move formed in response to the limited availability of contemporary
dance composition experiences for youth in the Geelong region.
Rachel and Lyndel are both secondary dance teachers, dance practitioners
and choreographers who are committed to the ongoing creation of
collaborative dance works that are thought provoking, and that
communicate relevant, meaningful concepts. room2move YDC aims to
both nurture the dancers and to provide a stepping-stone for emerging
dancers and associated creative artists into professional practice.
The company will be providing mentorships for young choreographers
and specialist workshops in a variety of dance styles in the future.
 Read
more about room2move and their first work SALT,
choreographed by Lyndel Freeman and Rachel Fitzgerald and
performed in Geelong on June 23rd, 2006. The following is
an excerpt from a reflection written by company member Juliana
Garcia.
room2move presents HeadSpace
HeadSpace is a fast paced ride into the edgy world of
youth, communication and technology incorporating contemporary
dance, text and visual media. A truly collaborative work between
the choreographers and dancers, Headspace is a social issues dance
work that explores the ever-present challenges and experiences
that face Generation Y. Some of the themes explored are power,
connection, knowledge, relationships, vulnerability, and identity.
This dance work gives shape to both the real and “virtual” experiences
and interactions that young people have daily through various forms
of information and entertainment technology including: internet,
online gaming, music and mobile phones. This new work plunges headfirst
into exploring rapidly changing youth culture and features intense,
energetic & mature performances by a cast of 20 young dancers.
Performance Details:
Blakiston Theatre, Geelong Performing Arts Centre
Saturday June 23, 8.00pm
Bookings through GPAC on 5225 1200
For further information please contact Rachel
Sheehan on 5222 4645 or Lyndel Freeman on 0419 619 996
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danceLAB was established this year by independent WA choreographer,
Dan Rock. Dan’s experience includes working with and for youth
in the fields
of dance, drama and digital projection, and she was also a performer
with Buzz Dance Theatre. She has choreographed for Steps Youth
Dance Company and Barking Gecko Theatre Company and for several
John Curtin
College of the Arts productions. With this knowledge and the
support of the local dance community, she began danceLAB as a collective
of young dancers who take part in classes and the LAB workshops,
experimenting with composition, improvisation, duo, choreography
and dance film.
 
danceLAB attended this year’s Australian Youth Dance Festival in
Horsham, Victoria, bringing two young dancers to the festival, Katelyn
Mewburn and Isabella Stone who performed SOFT, opening the Tuesday
evening performances. The work was created in 2005 by the dancers
for a danceLAB film directed by Dan, and re-created for live performance
with the film forming a projected backdrop.
danceLAB will continue to provide ongoing performance opportunities
for the young dancers involved, along with more experimental and
creative opportunities through the making of their own dance film/videos.
Photos by Buffy Harrison are of danceLAB dancers Katelyn Mewburn
and Isabella Stone performing SOFT at the Australian Youth Dance
Festival 2006.
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Torsion
Torsion is a Youth Choreographic Ensemble that was formed in Cowra,
at the conclusion of the 2004 Australian Youth Dance Festival held
at Armidale, to give the students an opportunity to experience
the atmosphere of working in a semi-professional manner, and to
give the community a broader outlook on dance. The performances
are a collaboration between the choreographer and the dancers.
Torsion consists of nine dancers (seven girls and two boys) – Reegan
Myers, Ashley Leal, Hayley Barker, Nicole Barker, Erin Nash, Melissa
Nash, Mathew Roffe and Brenton Weaver, with manager Jan Munday and
artistic director Cheryl Ansell. All the dancers are pupils of the
Cowra Ballet School and attend contemporary and classical classes
as well as their performance classes. Some of the group also attend
jazz and tap classes.
 
Torsion completed the Recovery Project with the Australia Choreographic
Centre’s Quantum Leap in 2004 and toured with the group for performances
in Canberra, Cowra, Bega and Narooma. They also participated in workshops
and performed at the Catapult Youth Arts Festival ’05 in Bathurst.
Torsion performs all styles of dance at community events and celebrations
on an average of one or two per month. These events included the
Cowra Festival of International Understanding, World Peace Day, 60th
Anniversary of Cowra Breakout, Henry Lawson Festival, 40’s Celebration,
Cowra Art Gallery Opening, World Peace Day, Seniors concert, Musical
Society productions, 60th Anniversary of Country Hour, retirement
village and local charity events.
Because of its isolation, the group organises regular workshops with
guest choreographers and teachers, including Rowan Marchingo, Ruth
Osborne and Cecilie Kromberg. Torsion receives funding support from
local clubs including Rotary, Lions, Cowra Services Club and Cowra
Bowling Club. Torsion is very grateful that Shell Australia has become
a major sponsor of the group for 2006.
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