15 April 2011

The official message for World Dance Day - 29 April 2011

For the greater part of the history of mankind, dance took place outdoors.  People would gather in forest glades, village squares, churchyards, or on threshing floors, to enjoy dancing for hours on end. Nowadays, dance mostly takes place in ballrooms, clubs, theatres, school halls, studios and  discotheques.
 
This year we propose making a step back towards nature by celebrating World Dance Day in open spaces: streets, squares, parks, stadiums, beaches, parking lots, clearings - anywhere under the sky. 
 
The urge to dance is a natural impulse; dancers worship nature in their way, connecting with the universe and feeling its juices flow into them. 
 
All through the year we teach dance, we rehearse, we perform within four walls. On this special day dedicated to dance, let us mark the difference by practising, teaching or performing for everyone to see. It might be cold and
rainy, the floor is certainly not good enough, and the wind takes the music away, but the beauty in those movements and the joy on those faces will brighten the hearts of the spontaneous audience of passers-by.

Prof. Alkis Raftis
President of the International Dance Council CID
UNESCO, Paris

24 March 2011

SPOTLIGHT on Jayne Smeulders

Jayne followed her older sister into dancing lessons at the Jody Marshall Dance Company when she was only three. Legend has it that Jody Marshall saw Jayne and announced "we have to get this little girl into dancing!" Later, she studied at the Graduate College of Dance. She comes from a close family unit, yet demonstrated her commitment to her career when she made the difficult decision to leave her family in Perth for further training at the Hamburg Staatsoper GmbH Ballettschule in Germany, at the young age of sixteen.

Jayne didn't have the tall, willowy classical body favoured at the time she graduated, so when she graduated in Hamburg she was at a disadvantage applying for positions in dance companies. The company she most wanted to work for was Nederlands Dans Theatre (NDT) however she was knocked back at her first audition - taking class with the company. Jayne in her typically determined manner went back and requested they watch her dance - and was accepted based on her performance.

After six years in Europe, three of which were with NDT, Jayne was offered numerous contracts with companies in Europe. It was at that time she found out her sister was getting married, so once again she made the difficult decision to risk her ballet career and return to Western Australia. Fortunately she was offered a contract with WAB and hasn't looked back.

Jayne has been with WAB for ten years and worked under four Artistic Directors. She auditioned for Ted Brandsen, who was immediately impressed. Judy Maelor-Thomas became Acting Artistic Director followed by Simon Dow, who held the post of Artistic Director until the end of 2006. Ivan Cavallari took over in 2007 and Jayne was promoted to Leading Artist in 2008. Since then, Ivan has cast Jayne in every leading role, notably Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Clara in The Nutcracker and Giselle in Giselle, and Kitri in Don Quixote.　

Since returning to Perth, Jayne has choreographed a number of ballets to much acclaim including Sway for Ballet Under the Stars 2001, When Strangers Meet, for Ballet at the Quarry 2004, Black Attitude for Ballet at the Quarry 2006 and Tango Etudes for Ballet at the Quarry 2008.

In 2003 Jayne was nominated for the Helpmann Award and in 2008 she was awarded the West Australian Dance Award (WADA) for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer for her role in Alice. In 2009 Jayne was awarded the WA Citizen of the Year award for her services to arts, culture and entertainment.  In 2011, Jayne was approached by the International Womens' Day organising committee in Perth to feature as one of their high-profile role models to be a face of the campaign. 

In 2010, Jayne was invited by Ivan Cavallari to create her first-ever full length ballet, Cinderella, due to premiere in May 2011.

17 March 2011

Maylands Update

Supporters of West Australian Ballet will be well aware of the state-of-the-art ballet centre that  is being established in Maylands (pictured).

We are excited to report that nearly $10 million has been raised towards the $11 million cost of this project. While we have come so far and are so close to our goal, we are not quite there yet!

The company has recently launched a "buy a brick" campaign to enable the commencement of outfitting the building and turning it from a beautiful art-deco shell into a vibrant, artistic home for current and future generations of talented Western Australian performers.

As a lover of Ballet, you can help turn this dream into a reality and at the same time have your name up in lights as a founding donor of the new West Australian Ballet Centre. By purchasing a unique ‘brick', which will be designed in a distinctive display within the centre and feature your nominated name, you can be personally involved in this historic development.  Each ‘brick' is available at a cost of $500, and multiple bricks may be purchased.

Our new home will incorporate three training studios, professional facilities for wardrobe construction and creative production, and administration. This state of the art ballet centre will also enable us to expand our community and education programs, and specialist training for talented young dancers. There are many proud Western Australians who began dancing here as youngsters, but unfortunately due to lack of opportunities here in WA had to leave the State to train professionally. This new centre will help to reverse that trend and will be a place for all Western Australians to enjoy.

While fundraising is continuing, behind the scenes plans have been finalised, heritage details completed and now tenders are being called from contractors to complete the building works.  Stay tuned for further details on how the building works are progressing and the complexities involved in creating a state of the art ballet centre.

For further information on how to buy a brick, phone Michelle Fraser or Lisa Ashby on (08) 9214 0707.