Buzz Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Cadi McCarthy will be heading back to the East coast at the end of 2012, after three and a half years at the helm of the WA-based company. This means that the Buzz Dance Theatre (BDT) will be seeking applications for a new Artistic Director in December.
Meanwhile, it’s a bittersweet time for McCarthy, whose departure has been precipitated by a happy event - the arrival of her first child. As a new mum, McCarthy is returning to the Eastern states to be near family. "As sad as it is for me to say goodbye to Buzz and Perth, and all the incredible choreographers, dancers and artists that I have had the honour to work with as Artistic Director, it is time for me to focus on my family and put all my energies into them and my most precious creation, [my son] Darcy,” says McCarthy.
Chair of BDT, Pamela-Jayne Kinder says that BDT has taken many steps forward under McCarthy. “Cadi joined Buzz as Artistic Director at a critical time in the company’s history. Her artistic vision and tenacity played a great part in returning Buzz to its current high standing,” Kinder remarks. “During Cadi’s time at Buzz high school audiences have doubled and we are very grateful to Cadi for her ability to create work that is both accessible and artistically beautiful.”
McCarthy joined BDT in May 2009. During her time with the company she has been a prolific choreographer, creating works for the very young (At the Beach and Postcards Home), for primary schools and lower secondary audiences (Stop! Don’t Blink and Fragile), as well as works for upper secondary audiences (Behind the Veneer and Restless).
In 2011 she commissioned Kate Weare from New York and Danielle Micich, a local choreographer, to create a double bill entitled “Thrill”. In addition Cadi set up a collaboration with Monkey Baa Theatre in Sydney to jointly create Goodbye Jamie Boyd which premiered in Sydney in August 2012 and will be performed in Perth in May 2013 before embarking on a state tour. She is currently working on her final production for the company, Look The Other Way, to be performed in March 2013.
McCarthy also built on the fledgling Big Stretch program that takes dancers and other artists to indigenous and remote and regional schools in the Pilbara and the Kimberley.
Preliminary enquiries for the Artistic Director position can be directed to Pippa Davis, General Manager Buzz Dance Theatre at gm@buzzdance.com.au or (08) 9226 2322.
Cadi McCarthy on Big Stretch, working with students of the Pilbara and Kimberley. Photos: James Welsby.