- Gertrud Bodenwieser
In August an email from James Batchelor arrived in my inbox. It concerned a talk he would be presenting in Canberra at the Street Theatre in conjunction with Ruth Osborne and academics from the Australian National University (ANU). The talk relates to Batchelor’s current work towards a Masters degree at the ANU and is part of a regular Street program with the overarching name ‘Wellspring: Inquiry and Exchange’. Batchelor’s contribution takes place in early September and is entitled: ‘Preserving Australian Modern Dance. Creating a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’. Details here.
The beautiful photo that accompaniesthe notification of the event was a surprise, and a very pleasant one. The photo was taken in 1927 and shows a young Gertrud Bodenwieser captured mid-dance. It was a quite new image for me.
Listen at this link.to what Batchelor in his discussion of the forthcoming talk.
- The Stellar Company
This year, 2026, marks the 20th anniversary of the Stellar Company, a Canberra-based multi-arts organisation for people of all abilities and backgrounds. It was formed in 2006 by Jolanta Gallagher and used the name Australian Talented Youth Project. Now led by Liz Lea and renamed the Stellar Company it has been invited by Sing Australia to present a series of dance programs at the Sydney Opera House in October as part of Sing Australia’s National Gathering. The event is described by Sing Australia as ‘a three-day celebration of singing, connection, and energy.’
The invitation seems like a wonderful way for the Stellar Company to celebrate 20 years. Read more about the Sing Australia National Gathering at this link.
- And then there’s Sydney Dance Company
Sydney Dance Company is celebrating 40 years in its current home: The Wharf at Sydney’s Walsh Bay. Check out the company’s website at this link. Read too the article in the Financial Review.
- Coming in September …
As I scanned quickly through the dance events that were coming up next month, two productions immediately grabbed my attention. The first was Alice Topp’s exceptional take on Macbeth, a joint production between Royal New Zealand Ballet and West Australian Ballet (WAB), which I saw in Wellington earlier this year. It opens in Perth with WAB on 4 September. Read my review from New Zealand at this link. Don’t miss it if you happen to be in Perth. Dates at this link.
The second was All in, which will have a Canberra showing at the Belconnen Arts Centre. It comes from Dance Makers Collective (DMC), a ‘community unifier’ (according to current advertising) led by Miranda Wheen. Its Canberra showing features, as well as artists from DMC, input from local groups including Project Dust, Apsaras Arts Canberra, and Quantum Leap Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed All in in Sydney last year. Read my Sydney review at this link and for more information about the Canberra performances read here.
- Press for August 2026
– ‘Diamond confronts ageing with unflinching candour.’ Review of Diamond, Liz Lea and colleagues. CBR CityNews, 7 August 2026. Online at this link
Michelle Potter, 31 August 2026
Featured image: Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1927. Photo: d’Ora-Benda © Bildarchiv Austria/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
What a lovely phrase for dance folk to ponder — from Campus to Community.
The forthcoming session by James Batchelor on Bodenwieser will be fascinating and I’m sorry I cannot be there…
I wonder if readers are aware of the current exhibition. Shona! at Toitū, the early settlers museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. The exhibition lasts for two years, and focuses on the life and work of Shona Dunlop Mactavish , dancer with Bodenwieser for many years, many decades ago, and a force for dance in New Zealand ever after that.
I will soon give a talk in the exhibition gallery, focussing on Bodenwieser’s remarkable choroegraphy, The Demon Machine — and the reconstruction of it that Shona staged at New Zealand School of Dance, back in the day when Anne Rowse was director there.
Terry Mactavish, Shona’s daughter, is steering a very interesting programme of events during the exhibition season. The confering of an Honorary Doctorate on Shona by University of Otago will also be referenced.
Good luck and Godspeed to all of us…
Dear Jennifer,
I would be surprised if many Australian readers would be aware of the exhibition Shona! Thank you for bringing it to our attention. I would love to hear more from you about your talk and about the exhibition itself. Perhaps a trip to Dunedin would be a worthwhile excursion for me!