In the ecology of any funding situation there needs to be the possibility that things die and alternatively that things are allowed to grow into larger things. I would argue strongly for this and indeed the ‘Make It New’ strategy at the Theatre Board of the Australia Council is doing just that.
However, the criteria that one puts in place to do this must be solid, it must have a sense of fairness and that the feedback provided to the companies involved in this is detailed and thorough. Companies need to be informed about why their funding is either being received or taken away. In addition to this as part of a broader policy – surely the types of companies that you want to keep in the fold – the sort of companies who are leaders in their field or who are providing specific elements to the ‘sector’ that no-one else is doing.
The Theatre Board would never think of cutting Back to Back – they are a regional company, providing specific and nationally significant works with able and disabled people and make amazing work that is ‘worlds best practice’. SO why then has the Dance Board cut the funding to Stompin Dance Company in Tasmania? In the most recent funding round the company was defunded.
As I have stated above I am all for things dying and new things rising in its place but I will outline the reasons why I believe this to be a grave mistake by the Dance Board and especially by the panel of peers that oversees it.
The Dance Board has instituted a four step plan called the Dance Action Plan that by 2012 it will have the following outcomes;
1. More excellent and innovative Australian dance
Stompin has been around now for about 15 years, they started out of Launceston College with Jerril Rechter who took them to program funding with both Arts Tasmania and also the Australia Council dance board. After Jerril, Luke George and Bec Reid – both Stompin alumni – took the company to triennial funding within Ozco and Arts Tas whilst creating more and more experimental and challenging content and site driven work. In this current phase as Luke has now moved on, Becky Hilton is the new artistic director with Adam Wheeler (another Stompin alumni) as Artistic Associate.
The work of Stompin over this time has been consistently challenging of form and content and it never, ever rests on its laurels. If you add to this the fact that they have had half of the operating budget of Tasdance (the other Tasmanian based dance company) then it is all the more amazing.
Over the 8 or so years that i saw their works I viewed works that were set in swimming pools (a statewide tour as part of Ten Days on the Island), a work in a set constructed by the architecture school in Launceston (this was then subsequently toured to Melbourne and received a Green Room Award nomination for dance) in the old Melbourne Gaol as part of the 2006 Next Wave festival, in an airport hangar at Launceston airport, a show that took up a whole block of the centre of Launceston’s CBD and one that was on a bluff in Devenport. Here is a company not afraid of partnerships, of difficult territory and of cultural cringe because of where they are based.
The content of these works has always been incredibly sophisticated – continually asking the questions of what it is to be young, to be at the age of sexual questioning, of who young people are, who they want to be and what sort of place Tasmania is to grow up in. Works such as Age of Consent and We don’t Need Another Mural really get to to the heart of these issues. I remember seeing one of Jerril’s last works which was so strongly sexual that some audience members walked out – yet this was material made by the dancers.
2. More opportunities to see and participate in Australian dance
3. Dance as an integral part of every young person’s education
And here we are at another amazing point about this company – the kinds of practice that has been instituted from the beginning at Stompin has been about ownership of the work – that to have a company that celebrated young people also means that their creativity and thoughts mean something, there is no point in having a youth oriented society without young people actually driving some of the thinking behind it. there were times when i would speak to Luke and Bec and they would tell me how significant the dancers were in the creation of the work. They are empowered to create material in an environment built upon strong collaboration with professional choreographers and artists.
Stompin works regularly have audiences up to 2000 people, their attendances are regularly the best of any professional arts company in the State. For where they are geographically and the kind of work they make, this is incredible. They are pushing new ideas in production, lighting, sound, choreographic content and ideas to an audience not used to seeing any sort of dance, let alone contemporary performance. The amount of participants that would have been part of Stompin shows would be thousands as well. And this is a real sense of belonging – a badge of honour for those involved.
4. A range of sustainable careers for dance artists.
The company’s legacy in terms of artists is long and distinguished, both Luke George and Bec Reid had never danced a step in their life before Stompin and both of them then went on to be accepted to the distinguished VCA and WAAPA dance courses. Luke is one of the most interesting choreographers in the country and has won numerous awards, danced with chunky move all over the world etc, Bec Reid is one of the key dance producers in Melbourne – her program at Next Wave last year shone a light on dance in Melbourne and she continues to be a key driver of dance being active on the Ausdance and Lucy Guerrin boards. Steph Lake has toured with Lucy Guerrin and Chunky Move and has choreographed for Stompin, VCA and Chunky Move. Emma Porteus is a Deakin graduate and is launching a new business helping people to gain fitness creatively. She also teaches schools workshops and education programs for both Tasdance and Stompin. VCA graduate Adam Wheeler has toured the world with Chunky Move, produced his own successful shows in Melbourne and also regularly teaches for both Stompin and Chunky. Rachel Taylor has moved from her days as a Stompin member to star in Hollywood blockbuster Transformers and is celebrated around the world as an up an coming Hollywood star. Deakin graduate Kyle Kremerskothen regularly performs and tours with Philip Adams’ company BalletLab and Lucy Guerin and recently curated With the Lot for Lucy Guerin Inc. He has also performed in the 2008 Next Wave Festival and is emerging as a very active member within Melbourne’s contemporary dance community. And then there’s all the artists who have worked with Stompin throughout it’s incredible history; Lighting Designers Ben Cisterne and Jen Hector, Composers Luke Smiles and Darrin Verhagin…Choreographers Stephanie Lake and Antony Hamilton…to name a few…
As I have mentioned in the arguments above, if Stompin does not meet the ‘Dance Action Plan’ criteria, then none of the companies in Australia do.
So then why? why would the Australia Council’s Dance Board think it was a good idea to defund a company who is as important as this? The only reason would be financial – that the board wants to get the money back from Stompin’ and re-distribute if somewhere else. This of course is speculative…
I am unsure what Stompin’ will do from here, hopefully Arts Tasmania, will continue to support this flagship company thus ensuring its future.
However, if this is the message that is given from our federal funding body to companies who are continuing to evolve and push at the boundaries of what dance is, what young people are capable of creatively and also the empowerment of people in regional areas then i think the future is bleak for dance in Australia.
