This weekend a handful of tertiary dance students from around Australia and New Zealand will present short, original works at the QL2 Theatre in Canberra, as part of “On Course”. Run by QL2 Dance, “On Course” is an annual choreographic project offering support, mentorship and space to tertiary dance students as they create and perform their own short dance works. The project is timed to take place after semester has finished and is a chance for students to create work where the stress of assessment is absent and the only pressure is to meet audience expectations.
“We are different from summer schools,” says QL2 Dance’s Artistic Director Ruth Osborne. “We look for people who are keen to push their creative limits, and then give them space to interact and work with each other. We believe that the chance to form connections with their peers and the freedom to practise their own choreography will better prepare them for the void that awaits them when they graduate.”
Her observations are echoed by past-participant, Melbourne-based Ashlee Bye. “By my second year at 'On Course' I was having fun not worrying about whether other people would like my concepts, and in my third I was experimenting with ideas that are still fuelling my work now, two and three years later,” she remarks. “And I am still creating work with Brisbane based Courtney Scheu who I met in our first 'On Course' season.”
If you’re in Canberra, you can catch the eight short works that have been created for this year’s “On Course” program:
On Course 7pm, 14 and 15 December QL2 Theatre, Gorman House Arts Centre. Bookings: ql2.org.au
"On Course" 2012
