IDEA’25: quick links
The challenges facing contemporary dance artists
Contemporary dancers and choreographers graduate from tertiary institutions bursting with creativity, keen to form new companies, create new works and showcase their skills to their peers and the world – often to have their ambitions curtailed by a range of challenges, including critical gaps in dance development and presentation opportunities.
‘I feel one of the biggest challenges is the gap between the number of talented dancers graduating each year and the work and funding opportunities available, which can make building a career as an emerging artist tricky,’ says Tegan Jeffrey-Rushton, a Sydney-based dancer and choreographer. ‘At the same time, it highlights the incredible talent here and the potential for Sydney and Australia to nurture exciting, lasting paths for emerging artists.’
Movement artist Hoyori Maruo adds that such challenges include, ‘Finding places to share, as well as affordable classes and workshops catered for professional dancers, particularly contemporary movement artists in Sydney.
‘There are not a lot of low-stake opportunities for emerging artists to share and exchange our work,’ Maruo tells ArtsHub.
Such challenges are compounded for mid-career artists as they seek to consolidate their dance practices into sustainable and profitable careers, and by the lack of mid-tier companies to bridge the gap between emerging artists and major companies and the mainstage, according to Paul Selwyn Norton, the Creative Director of Form Dance Projects.
‘The greatest ‘gaps [are] really in that middle space. We call it “the missing middle” here. It’s quite an endemic problem … and also there’s no catchment retention model after tertiary training,’ Norton explains.
Read: Dancing just as fast as we can…
How IDEA’25 supports independent dance artists
Based in Western Sydney, FORM is taking proactive steps to support the city’s contemporary dance sector with the presentation of its second annual Independent Dance Exchange Australia (IDEA), a festival of workshops, performances and creative exchanges for dance artists.
The inaugural edition, IDEA’24, attracted over 750 artists across six venues and four local government areas (LGA), and IDEA’25 – running from 25 September to 17 October – is equally ambitious.
‘At IDEA’24, it was really clear that dancers want to work – they want to be employed. They want to put their training and their education into action. So we could definitely see at ‘24 that the workshops that were steering people towards employment, production, a performance opportunity, were those that were completely oversubscribed. So that’s why what you’re seeing this time around is less workshops and more presentations. Because we’re leveraging off of the workshop program we did last year into presentation; we’re putting more presentations up to go, “Hey, this is actually a real pathway for you”,’ Norton explains.
Highlights of IDEA’25 include Resonance by James Batchelor and collaborators, a tribute to the legacy of the late choreographer Tanja Liedtke explored through three generations of dancers, including those who worked with Liedtke before her untimely death; and a creative development (including workshops and auditions) of a stage adaptation of the award-winning short film, Yeah the Boys, a deep dive into masculinity, mateship and the raw energy of a backyard piss-up created by Vanessa Marian and Stefan Hunt.
The festival’s venues include Newington Armoury, which is hosting the Darunga – First Nations Intensive, a two-day gathering of First Nations artists, dancers, and cultural leaders, and the newly reopened Eternity Playhouse, which Norton says ‘is a beautiful space for dance … it really does cradle dance very elegantly’.
IDEA’25: showcasing and celebrating contemporary dance
Both Jeffrey-Rushton and Maruo are presenting work at IDEA’25, which like last year’s festival, stretches across several LGAs and partners with a range of other organisations, including Sydney Dance Company and production company Places + Spaces.
Jeffrey-Rushton says: ‘The team at FORM/IDEA are deeply in tune with the current scene and focused on filling the gaps emerging artists need to thrive and grow. For me, performing a small segment of Overture at IDEA NOW last year led to it being programmed for IDEA’25, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity and support from FORM and IDEA to make this possible.
‘Remounting Overture for IDEA’25 is an invaluable opportunity, as the work has evolved significantly since its first showing at Flight Path. What began as a work-in-progress has since expanded in scale and depth – nearly doubling in length, adding new scenes, and developing richer intersections between characters. Presenting it at Adelaide Fringe and receiving the “Best in Dance” award affirmed that growth, and the new material – especially a later scene that’s become central to the piece. Having the chance to now share this expanded version with our own community in Sydney through IDEA’25 feels essential to the next chapter of Overture and so exciting!’ she says.
Maruo’s short work, You Sleep On, has been programmed as part of this year’s IDEA NOW, a showcase of new Australian independent dance that also includes choreographic works by Jeremy Lloyd, Georgette Sofatzis-Xuereb, Jill Crovisier and Daniela Zambrano. Maruo is effusive about the ‘wonderful opportunity to share a piece in [IDEA’25]’.
Norton points to the IDEA NOW program as emblematic of the ways the festival can support and grow the practices of emerging choreographers. ‘IDEA NOW is literally an EOI [Expression of Interest] Kickstarter. Come up with your best shot and let’s put it up and out there, because look, Tegan [Jeffrey-Rushton] has gone on her journey, so this can also be your journey – so it’s about demonstrating the pathways of success for these artists,’ Norton concludes.
FORM Dance Projects’ IDEA’25 runs from 25 September to 17 October: learn more.
