ArtsSmarts funding awarded

>> by Jacqueline Hansen
In September 2010, The Dance Current took a look at dance in Canadian public schools. Newfoundland and Labrador, which received a D+ from the magazine for its lack of dance in the public school curriculum, was recently awarded $150,001 in grants through the ArtsSmarts program for the 2010/11 school year. ArtsSmarts funding is used to integrate art into non-arts subjects with the help of professional artists in the classroom. Thirty-seven projects will be run in Newfoundland and Labrador schools, making this year the peak for number of projects since 1998 when ArtsSmarts funding in the province began. In total, ArtsSmarts has awarded $1,266,336 to schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Launch of DanceNL and Road Map Project

>> by Naomi Brand
On September 20th, Newfoundland and Labrador's newest dance sectoral organization hosted a wine and cheese event to celebrate the launch of DanceNL as an association and to share the results of the DanceNL Road Map. The Road Map has been collecting information from communities across the province in order to discover who is dancing, what they are dancing and where they are dancing. So far, they have heard from 104 dancers and dance groups from nineteen different communities in the province representing a wide range of dance forms from ballet to bellydance to social dance to drum dance. The project aims to network dancers, practitioners and dance enthusiasts and give a stronger presence to dancers from Newfoundland and Labrador provincially, nationally and internationally. DanceNL was established in 2009 with a mandate to "preserve, promote and support all forms of dance and dance activity throughout Newfoundland and Labrador." This November the organization will elect its first official board of directors.

To become a member or to participate in The Road Map project see the DanceNL website www.dancenl.ca or emailing info@dancenl.ca.

Festival of New Dance celebrates 20 years

Members of the early performance collective Neighborhood Dance Works (NDW): Lois Brown, Beni Malone, Mandy Jones, Peggy Hogan and Cathy Ferri / Photo courtesy of NDW

>> by Naomi Brand
St. John's-based presenter Neighbourhood Dance Works (NDW) celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its Festival of New Dance from September 16th through 25th, 2010. Festival highlights include: Peggy Baker, Gwen Noah, Lee Su Feh, Daniel Léveillé, Heidi Strauss and Mira Hunter among others. Newfoundland-based artists will include Louise Moyes and emerging artist Mark Bath; two remounted works are included as part of a retrospective look at NDW's history.
NDW was founded in 1981 by Cathi Ferri and Agnes Walsh as a performance collective creating innovative dance pieces for the stage. In 1990, the organization shifted its focus towards presenting, introducing the first Festival of New Dance curated by Ann Anderson and later by Lois Brown, Anne Troake, Sarah Joy Stoker and now by a committee made up of board and community members. NDW is a member of the CanDance Network and programs local, national and international new dance for St. John's audiences, and supports the careers of dance artists in Newfoundland and Labrador through professional development programs.

Dance NL founded

>> by Brittany Duggan

The creation of Dance NL, a sectoral dance association for Newfoundland and Labrador, was announced November 6th. The organization was officially formed on September 20th with the designation of a founding board after consultation with members of the province’s dance communities. The project Dance NL Road Map will be the organization’s first endeavour and, as chair and founding board member Kristin Harris Walsh describes in the organization’s press release, will aim to gather “as much information as possible from as many communities as possible in order to discover who is dancing, what they are dancing and where they are dancing.” According to Harris Walsh, who also serves on the advisory board of the Society for Canadian Dance Studies, the Dance NL mandate is to “preserve, promote and support all forms of dance and dance activities throughout the provinces.” She is joined on the board by Martin Vallée, Christina Penney, Calla Lachance, Richard Stoker, Sarah Stoker, Andrew Draskoy and Diana Leadbeater.

Goulish dancers deliver "Thriller-Grams" in St. John's

>> by Cynthia Brett
From October 26-30, 2009, St. John's contemporary dancers delivered live presentations of the famous Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance for a Neighbourhood Dance Works fundraiser. The "Thriller-Grams" cost $25 to order for friends and family and all proceeds will be used to provide programs for the local dance community and to fund the 20th annual Festival of New Dance in 2010. Neighbourhood Dance Works is Newfoundland's primary source of contemporary dance and production.

Preservation and facility issues brought to light in St. John's

>> by Naomi Brand
In response to the lack of office, studio and rehearsal space in St. John's, the Artists Infrastructure Committee (AIC), a sub-committee of the city's Arts Advisory Committee, has held focus groups and conducted a survey to further clarify artists' needs. Among the AIC's next steps is to develop a conceptual plan, funding strategy and governance plan for the construction of a centre for the arts. In related St. John's news, preservation issues have been brought to light in a report that summarizes discussions from The Dance Heritage Think Tank – a gathering of dance professionals who met February 21, 2009. The report identifies needs and goals related to dance preservation in Newfoundland and Labrador and makes key recommendations.