December 1, 2020

DNA – Dance Needs Attention   

DNA – Dance Needs Attention, an initiative to encourage and promote Dance Studies, is being launched this week in Wellington.

Situated at The Long Hall, Te Wai Hirere, in Roseneath, DNA will offer ideas and resources towards research, documentation and publication across different aspects of dance in Aotearoa.  This encompasses historical and cultural context, including Maori and Pacific performance, heritage repertoire of ballet and contemporary dance theatre, related practices in music & visual arts, as well as dancers’ memoirs.

A programme of continuing education courses for audience appreciation will be offered, together with open classes & workshops in community dance, Renaissance & Baroque repertoire, Indonesian gamelan music with related dance & puppetry, themed visual art shows, dance therapy in various applications, dance & movement notation, and children’s dance story events in holiday times. Tai Chi & Qi Gong classes are ongoing.  

A Reading Room with an extensive collection of dance books and periodicals, as well as an iconography relating to the above topics, together with a vertical file of New Zealand dance personalities, will be available to those interested. A Dance Books circle is proposed, and will include video viewing & discussion towards dance review writing if desired. 

DNA will be directed by Jennifer Shennan and Keith McEwing both of whom have extensive experience in dance performing, teaching, research and notation. They were for many years pupils then colleagues of Professor Roderyk Lange,   leading dance scholar, choreologist and anthropologist in Poland. Dr. Lange died in 2017 and this centre is respectfully dedicated to his memory.

Our public launch will take place at The Long Hall on Sunday 28 February, 2021, 4pm.

Artistic associates to the project are Anne Rowse, Turid Revfeim, Barbara Lyon, Robert Oliver, Jo Hilder, Edith Campbell, Lucy Marinkovich, Prue Densem, Kalameli Ihaia Avito Alefosio, Kelly Moneymaker, based in Wellington.  Dr. Moana Nepia, Megan Adams and Mary-Jane O’Reilly in Auckland and Russell Kerr & Prof. Ian Lochhead in Christchurch are also associates. Dr. Michelle Potter from Canberra, editor of the website On Dancing, has expressed generous support and willingness to be involved in publication projects and in oral histories with dancers. Dr.Urszula Loba-Wilgocka, director of Instytut Choreologii in Poznan, Poland, will comment on the dance notation components within our programme. Patricia Rianne in London and Gray Veredon in France will read and comment on manuscripts proposed for publication, and DNA will seek subsidies towards those publications.

The project could be thought of as a free-lance university for Dance Studies – no fees, no degrees, no vice-chancellor, no vice – just a group of like-minded people in a venue with a lovely view.

For any further details, or to register interest, please email – jennifershennan@xtra.co.nz

dna = a substance in living beings which determines their form, and can be used to uniquely identify a person.