Western Australia is renowned for its incredibly sparse population. With massive distances between tiny towns, touring regional WA is an expensive prospect for dance companies and artists. Consequently opportunities to experience contemporary dance in remote and regional parts of WA have traditionally been few and far between.
That’s where an extraordinary project entitled Future Landings comes in. This unique initiative, developed by Ausdance WA, gives regional and remote communities the chance to work with award-winning choreographers and artists from other fields to create original, large-scale performances, each with a cast entirely made up of locals.
2013 sees Future Landings travel to communities in Hopetoun, Jerdacuttup and Ravensthorpe (Goldfields-Esperance region), Broome (the Kimberley) and Karratha and Dampier (the Pilbara). The Future Landing model begins with introductory contemporary dance workshops for residents of each community. From these workshops, dancers are sourced to create and perform an original work.
Led by producer, Annette Carmichael, the first incarnation of Future Landings took place in 2011, in the Southwest towns of Bunbury and Busselton and the Great Southern towns of Albany and Denmark. The program, which saw emerging regional choreographers mentored by established metropolitan choreographers, was so successful that it saw Carmichael and her team presented with a 2011 West Australian Dance Award.
Thanks to the success of the pilot program, Future Landings 2013 has attracted increased funding from the Australia Council and the State Government of Western Australia. This extra funding has allowed greater time for establishing relationships between regional choreographers, mentors and other artists that make up the Future Landing team. The importance of this extra time cannot be underestimated, says Carmichael. “Long before community members have their first workshop, local and guest choreographers have spent a generous amount of time meeting members of the community and discussing issues important to the community,” she explains. “They then create a variety of ways to inspire community members, many of whom will have no prior dance training, in creating a high quality performance that will connect with the people of that town.”
For Carmichael, the desire to offer the residents of remote and regional parts of WA the chance to experience contemporary dance, whether as participant, audience member or both, comes from personal experience. “I grew up in Port Hedland desperate to be a dancer and disconnected from the opportunities of city living,” she elaborates. “When I started working for Ausdance WA in 2009, I seized the chance to make a difference in regional WA. Future Landings offers regional people, children and adults a chance to dance and to create exquisite performances. Future Landings, very importantly, employs regional choreographers and artists and offers an opportunity to create a large scale work very rarely available to regionally based creatives.”
Karratha and Broome workshops were held in April, and workshops in Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun will commence in July.
For more information about Future Landings go to the Ausdance WA website or check out the YouTube clip below.
Above: Annette Carmichael has good reason to jump for joy, with increased funding for Future Landings. Photo: Michael Hemmings.