Back in Sydney - Sydney Dance Company and Ausdance

Well I have to admit that I have actually arrived in NZ but am trying to catch up on Australian news - so apologies.



Whilst back in Sydney I met with Tamarra Wheeler from Sydney Dance Company. She explained that although SDC did not have an education programme as such, they did cater for young people in the summer holidays offering workshops. Also through the Department of Education Yr12 students can come for a day dance excursion. The Dept of Education run their own dance camp and make use of SDC facilities and teachers.


I then met with Cathy Murdoch of Ausdance NSW. With New South Wales as the only state where Dance is mandatory, Cathy expressed that this does not alwyas mean that it is being delivered to a high standard and so professional development for generalist teachers is necessary. Back in 1998 there was a Dance Education component based in the Ausdance offices but the familiar story of a shift of State government priorities meant this approach/resource was canned. Cathy expressed a gap in Community Dance and a hope for it to progress especially as new government funding opportunities are now available.
As always money issues arise, for example with a project called 'Connect Ed' which sits within the State Office and is a pool of money primarily for Dance Education activities. However it provides funding for one off 'band-aid' projects where the long term outcomes are not fullly considered or sustainable once the funding is taken away.