Channels (June 2023)

CHAAsiaN-PaNcifiEc LS Newsletter of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific No. 1 | June 2023

DanceHub 2023 Workshop III “Soul Free”. Photo provided by Hong Kong Dance Alliance. Channels, No. 1, June 2023 Contents 1 Newsletter of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific Executive reports 2 ISSN: 1328–2115 3 Managing Editor: Bilqis Hijjas (contact@ President’s report 4 mydancealliance.org) Vice President's report Copy Editor: Joelle Jacinto Vice President for South Asia's report 5 Publisher: World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific 6 Network reports 7 The WDA contingent at Education & Training Network report 8 daybreak at the UNESCO Research & Documentation Network report World Heritage Site Support & Development Network report 10 Khajuraho temples, 12 during the Khajuraho Chapter reports 14 Dance Festival 2023, Australia report 16 India. Photo: Dance Bangladesh report 18 Alliance India Beijing report 20 Hong Kong report 22 India report 24 Indonesia report 26 Malaysia report 28 Philippines report 30 Singapore report 32 Thailand report Tso's Dance Association (Taiwan) report 34 35 Partner organisation reports World Alliance for Arts Education report 38 38 Upcoming events 40 Ocean Dance Festival 2023 & WDAAP Annual General Meeting Dance and the Child International Conference 2024 41 42 About the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific World Dance Alliance key contacts

ASK Dance Company of Malaysia in a performance at Laya Pravaha at the Khajuraho Festival, India. Photo: Sumedha Bhattacharyya Executive reports The Executive Board of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific (WDAAP) is elected by the membership every two years at the Annual General Meeting, which is held in a different country each year and is hosted by the local WDA chapter. The Executive Board consists of the President, the Vice President, the Secretary, the Treasurer and four regional Vice Presidents, who represent the interests of their regions: East Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific. Members with a specific interest in the affairs of one of these regions should contact the designated Vice President. If members wish to contribute to issues within their own countries, they should contact their Chapter heads. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  1

President's letter by Urmimala Sarkar Munsi World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific (WDAAP) Taiwan, India, and a Canadian-Iranian emerges from the COVID-related forced choreographer, Sashar Zarif, with his team hibernation to get into dance-energies of of dancers. The all-day programmes of different kinds, activating different network this event, Laya Pravaha, were held in a activities to step with empathy and care into beautifully constructed blackbox dedicated the fast-changing world of dance of/for/in for the WDAAP activities. A huge amount of the future. work was done by WDAAP Vice President Lubna Marium, NrityaJog President Anisul I am proud to say that Channels, the Islam Hero, WDAAP Bangladesh, Dance WDAAP magazine, continued through the Alliance India and Artsforward - India to pandemic years. The Journal of Emerging make this event possible. Dance Studies (JEDS) slowed down and missed a year of its publication while We are also planning to participate delaying the second, but the 2021 volume is and meet at the Ocean Dance Festival in ready for us to upload, and the 2022 – 2023 Bangladesh in November for our Annual volume is on the way. General Meeting, as well as for the WDAAP countries to gather and meet and share their The big event for the WDAAP was the worlds. invitation to Khajuraho Dance Festival, in Khajurajo, India, by the Alauddin Khan All of these details shall be available in Sangeet Akademi. We participated as an particular chapter reports in more detail. organization with six countries from the region i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Meanwhile, keep up your spectacular work of keeping dance resilient. Certificates for the core organising team of Laya Pravaha, at the 49th Khajuraho Dance Festival. Photo: Sumedha Bhattacharyya. 2  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Vice President's report by Stella Lau I am delighted to share some exciting China Laban Research Center hosted Laban updates on the incredible post-pandemic Movement Analysis Introductory Courses, events and activities that have been taking and an experimental theater production was place across the Asia Pacific region. Despite jointly created by the School of Arts and the challenges and uncertainties brought Communication at Beijing Normal University about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the and the Lyon National High Conservatory dance community has remained resilient and of Music and Dance in France. Australia committed to its passion for dance. From delivered its first National Cultural Policy vibrant celebrations of World Dance Day (NCP) in decades, structured around five to resuming performances, exhibitions, and interconnected pillars, while Taiwan saw the arts productions, the dance world has been resumption of performances, exhibitions, and actively engaging with the post-pandemic arts productions according to their original world. schedules. The Thai dance jerng has been actively As we reflect on these incredible events engaging with the post-pandemic world and activities, we cannot help but feel through various activities in Thailand and inspired by the unwavering passion and Singapore. In Singapore, the dance scene is commitment of the dance community. Dance on the rise, with many companies, programs, has the power to bring people together, and artists exploring various opportunities to transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries, create and share work locally and abroad. and create positive change in the world. It is Meanwhile, in India, the Khajuraho Dance a testament to the resilience of the human Festival witnessed the inception of an spirit and the power of the arts to uplift and international platform for dance that focused inspire people in difficult times. on 'Changing the Dance, Dancing the Change,' with the participation of several In conclusion, I am optimistic about the dance alliances. In Indonesia, World Dance future of dance and its positive impact on Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm, people's lives, especially in these challenging with public venues hosting vibrant festivities times. As a dance community in Asia Pacific that cultivated awareness about the region, let us continue to support each other, significance of dance within society. innovate, and push the boundaries of what is possible through the transformative power of Furthermore, Beijing Normal University and dance. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  3

Vice President for South Asia's report by Lubna Marium WDA – South Asia is pleased to share the can contribute to a greater understanding of information that it has initiated two major the complex relationship between the body, and, hopefully, yearly platforms for all WDA power, and politics. It can become a platform members to meet, interact and showcase for transformative conversations and artistic their work. The first is the Khajuraho Dance expressions that challenge societal norms Festival in which WDAAP was fortunate to and advocate for social justice. participate this year, with the event Laya Pravaha. The second is the Ocean Dance Furthermore, WDAAP is actively looking Festival, which WDAAP participated in for opportunities of mobility grants for dance 2019. Organizers of both festivals are scholars and dance artists to procure funds planning to make these into yearly events. to attend these events. It is to be hoped that various chapters of WDA will carefully The Khajuraho Dance Festival is an annual consider participation in both the upcoming cultural event held in Khajuraho, a small Festivals. town in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The festival showcases classical Indian Full-page coverage of dance forms against the backdrop of the Ocean Dance Festival magnificent Khajuraho temples, which are renowned for their exquisite architecture 2018 in a leading and intricate sculptures. The history of the Bangladeshi newspaper. Khajuraho Dance Festival dates back to 1975 when it was first organized by the Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad, with the aim of promoting and preserving the rich cultural heritage of India. The festival quickly gained recognition and has since become one of the most prominent dance festivals in India. On the other hand, the Ocean Dance Festival is a new venture with the stupendously beautiful backdrop of the longest beach in the world, at Cox’s Bazaar in southern Bangladesh. Bringing the members of WDAAP together with these two events can have a major impact on dance practices. These festivals are important because they provide diverse representation, choreographic choices, ensure accessibility, provide space for dialogues and workshops, and blend activism and the performing arts. By consciously addressing corporeal politics through programming, accessibility measures, dialogues, and performances that explore relevant themes, a dance festival 4  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Network reports The World Dance Alliance works through four Networks, based on specific areas of interest and embracing the mandate of the organisation. Each network has a chairperson and co-chair who coordinate activities to advance the issues raised by these special interest groups. Network Chairs initiate and drive the work of special interest groups within the WDAAP and provide two reports annually on their activities for Asia–Pacific Channels. About the networks The Creation and Presentation Network provides opportunities for choreographic The Research and Documentation development, presentation, networking Network supports and initiates projects that and cultural exchange. It includes engage contemporary insights into dance choreographers, dancers, designers, as a vibrant part of diverse scholarly and composers, filmmakers and other artistic conversations. The network regularly collaborators. publishes journals, books and conference The Support and Development Network proceedings and encourages members to focuses on dance-based activities in terms participate in writing, editing and reviewing of management, promotion, distribution, for these publications. It also encourages advocacy, policy and funding, through publications in differing formats and members who practice in these areas. It languages whilst maintaining English as the equally encompasses members who are lingua franca for communication. Individual concerned with the social and physical projects proposed by members addressing well being of dance such as health the heritage and future of dance, to include professionals, somatic practitioners, ideas for implementation, are encouraged community facilitators and legal advisors. In and supported through this network. all these aspects communication networks— The Education and Training Network professional and social—are an important provides a forum for professional exchange driver for dance sustainability. to improve dance curriculum content and delivery, and opportunities for sharing T.H.E. Dance Company of Singapore in information and resources. [PheNoumenon]. Photo: Mayumi Hirata. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  5

Education & Training Network report by Sarah Knox, co-chair After a number of years of seeking co- As we continue to move steadily out of leadership within my role of Chair of the the Covid-19 era, this relationship gives Education and Training network, it is my us opportunity to consider how we move immense pleasure to welcome Anna CY forward with the network, what our priorities Chan into the role of Co-Chair. Anna is are as a result of our changed dance currently the Dean of the School of Dance at landscape, and to reimagine the work we do Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. and who we do it with. Anna will be known to many of you, due In the near future we plan to consider our to her significant contributions to dance membership and how to strengthen our and the arts within Hong Kong and beyond. communities within organisational chapters She has previously held a number of arts and build an online presence so that more leadership and advocacy roles, as well as people can engage with us and share having a long-standing relationship with information. Beyond this, we ask how we the World Dance Alliance and connected might develop longer-term projects that global arts organisations. I know that Anna’s attend to the arising questions, challenges extraordinary wealth of knowledge, as well and needs of dance education and training as her warmth and spark, will have a positive in the Asia Pacific region. impact on WDA and those who connect with us. I am very much looking forward to I have been thinking lately about building our relationship, after having met reciprocity, especially in volunteer roles such Anna at the World Dance Alliance Global as these within the WDA. Summit in Angers, France, in 2014. JS Wong, President of MyDance Alliance, Malaysia, delivering a workshop at Laya Pravaha, during the Khajuraho Dance Festival 2023 in India. 6  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Research & Documentation Network report by A.P. Rajaram, chair We are glad to inform everyone that the call The JEDS articles for the pandemic year for articles for the Journal for the 2020, which constitute volume VIII of our Emerging Scholarship (JEDS) 2023 had journal, have been uploaded to the website, an overwhelming response and we have which you may visit through this link: https:// selected five articles with the theme, jedsonline.in/global-2020-pandemic- The Moving Body, Identity, Non-Human dancing-bodies-and-perceptions-of-body- Interactions. The articles are from early image-in-performance research scholars who are working on various nuances of dance scholarship, ranging from classical dance focusing on the various intricacies of artistry to the nuance aspect of the virtuosity of dance such as inter-artistic space, the use of motion sensors, disembodiment, dance spectatorship, semiotic interpretation, Klauss Vianna Technique, among others. The new team of editors are focusing on the early stages of reviewing and expect to upload the articles in the JEDS website before the end of November 2023. Watching Maya Deren’s A Study in Choreography Of The Camera at Ashoka University, India (2020), featured in the article 'Duet with Camera: From Passion to Pedagogical Practice' by Sumedha Bhattacharyya, in JEDS 2020 Vol III. Photo: Sumedha Bhattacharyya. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  7

Photo: Mamta Kalambe, Kolkata Sanved Archive Support & Development Network report by Sohini Chakraborty, chair In the last report I have stated that I will Define and develop the framework of come up with a framework for the Support the support system: This network will and Development network. This unfortunately organize an online workshop with key slowed down due to the pandemic, but I members of WDAAP to understand am now very happy to announce that from the needs of the dance community and August 2023 the network will start to work develop a clear framework of support and actively as we are ready with our work plan. development. It was very difficult to define this network Mental health support service for since support and development is a very big dancers: Mental health is the need of the umbrella, yet a critical part that what we can hour and most of the time we deny this part. offer. This network can help to reduce the This service will include quarterly workshops gap which we are seeing in the dance world for dancers for mental health and wellbeing and act as a support system for the dancers. through individual and group sessions. Also, I went through many layers of thought and the network will create awareness about had a detailed conversation with WDAAP mental health and wellbeing among the president Urmimala Sarkar Munsi regarding dance community. this. I also did an informal survey to check what kind of support system will be helpful “There is no power for for the dancer community. The following change greater than a areas came up from this informal survey, community discovering from which I accordingly planned activities what it cares about.” for this network: — Margaret J Wheatley 8  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Activity Timeline Mode Remarks Framework of Support July 2023 - Tentatively the Virtual Date and time with zoom System last week of July link will be announced shortly Rollout 3 workshops: Virtual Date and time with zoom August, October, and link will be announced Mental Health and December 2023 shortly Wellbeing Workshop Date and time with zoom Pilot 1 mentorship Virtual link will be announced Mentorship Programme shortly programme in September This policy we aim to Virtual submit in the next WDAAP Safeguarding Policy AGM in November 2023 Community Engagement Programme: Create a safeguarding policy: Introducing Engage WDAAP members in community a SafeGuarding Policy in dance institutions outreach programmes and projects or is very critical. Many times, it has been help them to create their own community observed that there is sexual harassment projects. We will be connecting WDAAP happening in dance institutions. Due to members with different community-based the lack of POSH (Prevention of Sexual festivals, therapeutic interventions and Harassment) Committees and clear policies other community-led interventions using in dance institutions, many cases are dance where WDA members can join, dismissed and women dancers suffer. This such as Kolkata Sanved’s FEAL - Festival safeguarding policy will include establishing of Empowerment and Art for Life, DMT for a sexual harassment policy in the workplace, Change Summit, Wellbeing Summit etc. a child protection policy, and a do-no-harm Mentorship for young dancers: Most policy. upcoming dancers do not have the knowledge to adequately start an Please see above the Support and independent career in dance. The Network Development Network calendar for the will create a pool of mentors who can upcoming 6 months: All WDAAP members systematically provide mentorship to the will be notified of the programmes mentioned young dancers. above so that they can participate in the activities and avail of the services. This Network welcomes new thoughts and ideas so that we can provide better service to the dance community. Please reach out to me at [email protected] and [email protected] for any further suggestions, inputs, questions and support. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  9

Immersive dance performance Mobius at the CHAO Bridge Space, Sanlitun, Beijing, on 22 April 2023. Photo: Fu Xiao 10  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Chapter reports Countries, cities or defined geographical areas within a regional centre may become organisational members (Chapters), providing information and coordinating the dance activities within their boundaries. They are important points in regional and global communication and networking. These Chapters propose and implement projects that address not only the general goals of  WDA and WDA Asia Pacific, but also the specific needs of the local dance community. Chapters Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Beijing, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taipei and Thailand. Countries with representatives but no formalised Chapters: Papua New Guinea. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  11

Australia report by Julie Dyson Dancers of Australian Dance Theatre and The Australian Ballet in 'THE HUM'. Photo: Daniel Boud Revive – A New National Cultural NCP, it will be difficult to see its benefits Policy across the cultural sector. The first Australian National Cultural Policy (NCP) in decades was delivered by the Here are some responses from Ausdance Federal Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, in National: January. First Nations priorities We fully support the NCP’s focus on First Revive is structured around 5 Nations artists’ self-determination, and interconnected pillars which set out the the skills development and employment Government's strategic objectives: opportunities offered by the policy, as ƒ First Nations First: Recognising and articulated by our long-term partners and collaborators at BlakDance. respecting the crucial place of First ƒ We noted the need for secure funding for Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture. a long-term investment plan to build First ƒ A Place for Every Story: Reflecting the Nations workforce capacity and capability, breadth of our stories and the contribution enabling more sustainable careers, of all Australians as the creators of culture. creative and cultural leadership, products ƒ Centrality of the Artist: Supporting the and services. artist as worker and celebrating artists as ƒ We supported the creation of a new First creators. Nations board within the restructured ƒ Strong Cultural Infrastructure: Providing Australia Council (Creative Australia) support across the spectrum of and are hopeful that recommendations institutions which sustain our arts, culture contained in the NCP for self- and heritage. determination will be realised through ƒ Engaging the Audience: Making sure our appropriate funding. stories connect with people at home and Centrality of the Artist abroad. We applauded the NCP’s focus on the artist Ausdance welcomed its breadth, with as worker, and support the government’s its emphasis on First Nations arts, the commitment to include artists in the Review centrality of the artist, the identification of of Modern (wages) Awards, and the setting arts education and training, and the role of of Award coverage and minimum standards the national cultural institutions in making in the arts sector. Australia’s cultural life visible and accessible. However, unless additional funding is allocated to the Actions contained in the 12  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

We recommended a re-examination of see similar emphasis on Dance as a unique programs such as SCOPE for dancers art form in the performing arts. (Securing Career Opportunities and Professional Employment) initiated by Ausdance National in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission, and later as part of a strategic initiative of the Australia Council. SCOPE was a program designed to ensure that dance artists proactively participated in and effectively managed their own careers, education and personal development. Each of the artists worked with a professional career counsellor to develop their own career action plans. [See the evaluation Creating SCOPE for artists: Development, management and sustainability in the careers of professional dance artists in Australia.] Arts education Revive – Australia’s new As founding members of the National National Cultural Policy Advocates for Arts Education, we hope that NAAE’s recommendations will be fully IDENTITY – The Australian Ballet implemented. Ausdance was encouraged by A special double bill has been running in these NCP Actions to support: ƒ specialist in-school arts education Sydney and Melbourne during May and June. The first was ‘THE HUM,’ a new dance- programs that directly draw from cultural theatre work created by Daniel Riley, Artistic and creative sector expertise, focussing Director of Australian Dance Theatre, uniting on areas of identified disadvantage; and artists of Australian Dance Theatre and The ƒ creative practice in the classroom through Australian Ballet in a first-ever collaboration. the delivery of five arts subjects (dance, ‘THE HUM’ celebrates “the idea of the drama, media arts, music and visual individual artist as part of a broader creative arts) under the Australian Curriculum: ecosystem of shared knowledge, emotion The Arts, as well as cross-cutting and energy.” general capabilities covering intercultural understanding and critical and creative The second work, ‘Paragon,’ by the thinking. Australian Ballet’s resident choreographer Having had a long association with Alice Topp, celebrated the company’s the National Library of Australia through diamond anniversary and some of the artists the development of the Australian dance that have shaped ballet in Australia, several collection, we were particularly encouraged of whom came out of retirement to perform. by recognition in the NCP of the national Artistic Director David Hallberg said, “Daniel collecting institutions’ contribution to the Riley and Alice Topp are two of Australia’s Australian arts curriculum: ‘… using the leading choreographic voices. They both resources of National Collecting Institutions explore what identity means to them, and organisations from across the galleries, whether it be the identity of Australia, the libraries, archives and museums sector identity of community, or the identity of art. to bring the Australian Curriculum to life In honour of our 60th anniversary, we look at broadens the cultural experience of all the sense of identity in today’s artists.” Australian students.’ Creative Australia The second program in this season was We support the restructuring and restoration George Balanchine’s Jewels, a three-part of funding to the Australia Council for the ballet featuring The Australian Ballet’s Arts (renamed Creative Australia), and principal artists. a new focus on First Nations artists and independent practice. However, we wish to June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  13

Bangladesh report by Zuairiyah Mouli Kathakiya presenting a kathak dance recital directed by S M Hasan Ishtiaque Imran, at Chhayanaut in Dhaka. International Dance Day is an annual and academics joined the event. From celebration for those who have chosen Bangladesh, Anisul Islam Hero and Lubna dance as an identity. It is observed on Marium, respectively the president and French ballet master Jean-Georges general secretary of Nrityajog, the WDAAP Noverre’s birthday, the 29th of April, as Bangladesh chapter, took the initiative. he is lauded for suggesting reforms that Four dancers from Bangladesh - Anandita contribute to dance’s artistry that are still in Khan, Prantik Deb, Mubashshira Kamal Era practice today. First celebrated in 1982 by and Trina Dhar Mondera - joined this dance the Dance Committee of the International choreolab. Theatre Institute (ITI), UNESCO's main partner for performing arts, International To discuss the importance of theoretical Dance Day always provides the opportunity education in dance, to understand dance for people to appreciate the beauty and as an art medium and to provide a basis diversity of dance. for constructive criticism of dance, a five- day Dance Appreciation Course 2023 In Bangladesh, International Dance Day was organized by Bangladesh Shilpakala helps promote and raise mass awareness Academy from 29 May to 2 June 2023. about the art of dance. To mark the day, The topics discussed in this appreciation different programs were held across the course were: Folk Dance of Bangladesh, country featuring processions, seminars, Importance of Theoretical Education In workshops, award ceremonies and dance Dance, Rabindranath Tagore’s Influence shows. Bangladesh Nrityashilpi Sangstha on Dance of Bengal, Application of Natya in association with Bangladesh Shilpakala Shastra in Dance, Evolution of Manipuri Academy organized programs across the Dance in Bangladesh, Ahārya of Kathakali country with the slogan “Amra Choli, Nrityar and Odissi Dance, The Relationship of Chandye-Sampritir Anande (We walk, in the Devadasi Tradition and Bharatanatyam, joy of dance-harmony).” Kathak Dance Genre, and Origin and Development of Gaudiya Dance. Eminent World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific dance artists and researchers of Bangladesh and Dance Alliance India organized Laya such as Tamanna Rahman, Saju Ahmed, Pravaha, a contemporary dance choreolab at Baby Rosario, Benazir Salam, Afrina the Khajuraho Festival 2023. 67 people from Afroz Chowdhury, Dr. Saidur Rahman, Dr. seven countries (India, Bangladesh, Canada, Munjulika Rahman, Amit Chowdhury, Rachel Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Korea) Priyanka Paris and Sweety Das delivered including dancers, scholars, arts managers, their lectures throughout the course. Almost philanthropists, enthusiasts, choreographers 14  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

100 participants from all over Bangladesh, 1 including dance directors, dancers, dramaturges, academic journalists and art 2 enthusiasts, joined this appreciation course. The course ended with the certificate-giving 3 ceremony where Liaquat Ali Lucky, the director general of the academy, distributed 1. West Bengal Dance the certificates among the participants. Group Federation Exam Certificates Shadhona, a center for the advancement distributed to Kolpotoru of South Asian Culture, and its sister students by H Pranay organization, Kolpotoru, arranged a solo Verma, Indian High kathak recital and 3 workshops on dance. Commissioner. The kathak recital by Md. Hanif, conducted by Kolkata-based kathak guru Rajib Ghosh, 2. A workshop was held at Chhayanaut on 31 January presentation by Kirti 2023. The first workshop was by Kirti Ramgopal at the Indira Ramgopal, an extraordinary bharatanatyam Gandhi Center of the dancer from Bangalore, India, and the High Commission presentation was hosted by the Indira of India in Dhaka, 9 Gandhi Center of the High Commission of February 2023. India in Dhaka on 9 February 2023, also at Chhayanaut. The second workshop was 3. The poster for the Exploring New Directions in Dance by 4 workshop performance Canadian dance master Sashar Zarif, based on the insightful practice of the Dance of with Canadian dance Mugham from 14–21 March 2023 and master Sashar Zarif, at its correlation with the Sahajiya practice Chhayanaut Cultural of the Bauls and Fakirs. The third was a Centre, 14-21 March bharatanatyam workshop for Kolpotoru’s 2023. Diploma batch, by Kolkata-based dancer 4. Participants of the Shamrat Dutta. The highlight of Kolpotoru's Dance Appreciation workshop on 6 May 2023, in the august Course 2023 organized presence of H.E. Pranay Verma, High by Bangladesh Commissioner of India in Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, and Md. Mokammel Hossain, honorable 29 May to 2 June 2023. secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Photo: Bappi. Tourism, was a remarkable presentation of bharatanatyam based on Kazi Nazrul Islam’s June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  15 Bangla song. Lastly, Nrityajog is planning to arrange Ocean Dance Festival 2023 once again, from 22 to 25 November 2023, in association with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism. It was last held in November 2019.

Beijing report by Tang Yi and Wang Miao Screenshot of students and teachers in the LMA Introductory Courses. In January 2023, Beijing Normal University of Arts and Communication at Beijing (BNU) and China Laban Research Center, a Normal University and the Lyon National member of WDA Beijing, hosted the Laban High Conservatory of Music and Dance in Movement Analysis Introductory Courses. France. As a popular training course of BNU Laban Center, the organization chapter of WDA Consisting of three parts — order, Beijing, Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) manipulation and celebration — the Introductory Pre-required Courses including production aimed to present the human “Introduction to Anatomy and Kinesiology” view between reality and the virtual world and “Basic Concepts of Bartenieff that inspired the audience to reflect on Fundamentals” were held online. These their relations with artificial entities such as two online courses are very informative and manufacturing, technology and information. more challenging for students and teachers in comparison to face-to-face, in the studio This April, Labanotation and LMA setting. Our LMA course teaching faculty, Workshops opened the minds and Prof. Wang Yunyu led two new CMAs — imaginations of many students. Tang Yi, Tang Yi and Wang Miao — to form a new director of BNU Laban Center, and chief way to adapt to online teaching. More than expert Luo Bingyu were invited by Minzu thirty dance educators, researchers, dance University of China and Beijing Information teachers and LMA fans from all over China Science and Technology University to give were recruited by Beijing Laban Center to lectures on Labanotation for dance majors be part of the course training. and dance experience workshops for engineering students. Immersive dance performance Mobius debuted at the CHAO Bridge Space, The students who had no dance Sanlitun, Beijing, on the evening of 22 experience were not used to performing at April as part of the 17th edition of Festival the beginning of the workshop, but after the Croisements. The experimental theater class, they gave feedback that the class was production was jointly created by the School very enjoyable, and it was a great experience for all of them. 16  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Immersive dance performance Mobius, at CHAO Bridge Space, Sanlitun, Beijing, on 22 April 2023. Photo: Fu Xiao June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  17

Hong Kong report by Mark Choi \"PHONATE\" by Wayson Poon. Photo: Eric Hong @ Moon 9 Image, provided by West Kowloon Cultural District. As the end of the pandemic is in sight, live including many new faces, reflecting the dance performances have gradually returned continuous vitality brought to the local dance to the stage, and major theaters in Hong industry, with the transition from the old to Kong have reopened one after another as the new. theatre restrictions were fully lifted on 1 March 2023. Flagship companies are able The spectacular opening and closing to present their works, such as the world performances and the awards ceremony premiere of Coco Chanel: the Life of a were choreographed by the artistic Fashion Icon by Hong Kong Ballet (HKB), director Ricky Hu Song-wei, and featured Hong Kong Dance Company’s Twirl of the outstanding performances by different dance Heartstrings, the double-bill performance companies and The Hong Kong Academy for “Travel of Soul Time AFTER Time” and Performing Arts. More than 50 nominations “Echo in the Mirror” by City Contemporary competed for 15 awards, covering all the Dance Company (CCDC), and Dance en productions held from January to December Scene 2023 by TaiKwun. Many independent 2022. There are new chairs for the Dance artists and dance companies have created Awards this year, including Allen Lam as works as soon as the new chapter unveiled, the co-chair for the production categories, such as Blue Ka Wing’s “re-do re-do,” Stella Lau and Angela Hang as the chairs for Wayson Poon’s “PHONATE,” E-Side Dance the education/community category and the Company’s “An Indulgent Ride,” Siu Lung online category, respectively, who are also Fung Dance Theatre’s “Run,” and “Sans the board members of HKDA. The recipient voix*Cent voies” by La P en V Innovative of the Distinguished Achievement Award is Dance Platform. the founder of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Association, Lindsey McAlister OBE, JP, in The most important occasion of the first recognition of her decades of contributions half of the year is undeniably the 24th Hong to the development of youth arts and for Kong Dance Awards Presentation & Gala helping many teenagers enter the arts fields. Performance, held by the Hong Kong Dance Alliance (HKDA) with the theme ‘Still, I Rise.’ For the Awards Booklet, please visit The awards ceremony took place on 22 April http://bitly.ws/DnVt for the complete list of 2023 at the Kwai Tsing Theatre, recognizing awardees and awardee citations. outstanding dance productions of the year. Holding the awards ceremony again after Many organizations have held different three years was refreshing! Several hundred types of dance festivals and platforms guests attended the awards ceremony, this year, wthe most prominent being the 51st Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) and the Freespace Dance 2023 at the West 18  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

1 Kowloon Cultural District. HKAF includes 8 which targets people living with or without dance programmes by local and overseas Parkinson’s disease of all ages to explore dance groups, such as the Ballet of Slovene their body and soul in a creative way. National Theatre Maribor performing Radio Considering this, HKDA also held a series and Juliet and Le Sacre du Printemps, of wellness workshops in June in DanceHub and Natalia Osipova's Ballet Superstars' 2023, titled ‘Mind Masseur,’ hosted by Force of Nature. Local performances like facilitator Dr. Fung Hiu Ying Melody, the First Steps highlight the application of art Company Wellness Counselor of the HKB. technology in dance. The new large-scale The workshop consisted of three sessions dance festival Freespace Dance 2023 at the that explored different themes, including West Kowloon Cultural District celebrates \"How can I help...?\", \"Pacing in S P A C E,\" the boundary-breaking work of women in and \"Soul Free,\" allowing the participants dance-making, spotlighting new insight to completely release themselves and help on creativity and imagination in dance and people they care for. The responses were movement. The festival also launched the incredibly enthusiastic, and it is expected new creation platform FIRST, providing more that there will be more opportunities to opportunities for local dance artists to create hold related workshops or more large-scale and exchange ideas with the audiences, events soon. and develop new ideas for potential dance projects. Lastly, it is with utmost excitement to announce that the New Force in Motion In recent years, the wellness development series 2023 will be presented in October of arts performers has been a focus of this year. It is our great honor to present the research, workshops, and performances, production of the emerging choreographers such as the Jockey Club Dance Well Project, in Hong Kong. After rounds of assessments and auditions by 1. Presenters and awards 2 a jury of expert recipients of 24th Hong judges, we are delighted to Kong Dance Awards. announce the Photo: Lee Wai Leung of three up-and- Worldwide Dancer Project, coming local provided by Hong Kong choreographers Dance Alliance. chosen: Ryan 2. First Steps, performed Lee, Kingsan Lo, and Suen Nam. at the 51st Hong Kong The dance events Arts Festival. Photo: in the second Luster Angle Limited, half of 2023 will provided by Hong Kong be diverse and Arts Festival. colorful. Join us and participate in the events to enjoy the feast of dance! June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  19

India report 1 1. Kolkata Sanved, in a A Stage for our Contemporaries at respective choreographers, specific to the moment from Gathi, Khajuraho context of the country and the practice of the by Amrithasruthi Radhakrishnan & company. Conversations between dancers choreographed by Surjit Mridupankhi Rajkumari and choreographers from across genres, Nongmeikapam. Photo: forms, experiences, and thought processes Kolkata Sanved The 49th edition of the Khajuraho Dance followed the morning explorations. This Festival witnessed a new arena for dance initiated a dialogue among dancers from 2. [L-R] Urmimala Sarkar, performance, dialogue, and immersion with different practices, including classical Choreolab Laya Pravaha 2023. World Dance dancers sharing their quest of identifying Paramita Saha and Alliance Asia-Pacific, Dance Alliance India, the contemporary in their practice, often as and Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet & Kala a continuous deliberation with time, politics, Surjit Nongmeikapam Academy came together in envisioning ethics and form. an international platform with the theme: in a discussion at the ‘Changing the Dance, Dancing the Change The second half of the day saw respective (CDDC) – A Stage for our Contemporaries’. dance companies sharing their resident Dance Day Celebration dance ecologies, including negotiations The festival featured Kirishima Dance around creation, management, fund-raising, at Kolkata Centre Corps from Singapore, MAD Theatre from strategy and policy, with governments and for Creativity. Photo: Taiwan, Nachom Arts Foundation from India, the local arts scene. A diverse gamut of MUTDANCE Company from Korea, Sashar performances by the guest dance companies Sushmita Das. Zarif/Dance Theatre from Canada and ASK closed the day, much to the joy of the ever- Dance Company from Malaysia. WDAAP proliferating audiences comprising dance was represented by Dr. Urmimala Sarkar afficionados, local people and government (India, WDAAP President), Lubna Marium officials. The platform also featured an (Bangladesh, WDAAP Vice-President), Dr. exhibition of cultural artefacts from each Joseph Gonzales (Malaysia/Hong Kong, country curated by the Bangladesh Past WDAAP Vice-President) and Paramita contingent of artists. The week was further Saha (India, Dance Alliance India, Vice- enriched by a workshop on Screendance President) along with a team of hard-working and a screening of dance films. and enthusiastic university volunteers. 2 Laya Pravaha had an unusual venue within the festival space: a makeshift yet efficient blackbox, where a carefully-curated intense week-long schedule enabled the exchange of ideas, sharing of movement language and process, built a warm camaraderie, and elevated the audience experience through multiple exchanges. Each day, the choreolab started with sharing techniques by 20  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Collective: Srijaa Kundu, Srijaini Ghosh, Sangram Mukhopadhyay, Pintu Das, Ujjayee Banerjee, Shalini Subedi, Tushnee Chakraborty, Kankana Singh, and Srestha Das Choudhury, crafted into a seamless narrative fostering images of resilience, joy and reciprocity. Kolkata Sanved Ebar Unish by Srijaini Ghosh Reimagining our Ecosystems on World Kolkata Sanved celebrated the 19th year of A scene from To-Gather, Dance Day 2023 their journey this April with a book launch, at the Dance Day by Sangram Mukhopadhyay performance, and movement circle. The Celebration at Kolkata publication Jingle All the Way, authored by Centre for Creativity. Out of the thousand euphemisms used to Dr. Arna Seal and illustrated by Proiti Roy, Photo: Sushmita Das. think about dance and its inextricable documents Kolkata Sanved's inspiring 14- everydayness, this Dance Day celebration at year journey as one of the first institutions Kolkata Centre for Creativity, in collaboration in India working with Dance Movement with Dance Alliance India and Artsforward, Therapy, the Dance Movement Therapy spoke to practitioners in a way that was Leadership Development Academy deeply plurilateral. Accommodating the (DMTLDA) and its pedagogy based on the need to contextualize its methodologies Sampoornata Model. The DMT movement in of embodiment, phenomenology, and India has been shaped through the efforts of performativity, the event was enriched women leaders like Dr. Sohini Chakraborty, by meaningful dialogue(s) with pertinent director of Kolkata Sanved. The thought- historical references. It genuinely mirrored inducing discussion moderated by Dr. the urgencies of the new dance ecologies Urmimala Sarkar included speakers Samita that often are shadowed by fragmented, Bhattacharya, Jhulan Mondol, Dr. Sohini unilateral and one-size-fits-all principles and Chakraborty, Dr. Arna Seal and Proiti Roy mechanisms. The need to invest, inculcate and imbibe dynamics and structures that Over 10 days, practitioners of Sanved truly make every day a visible and nurturing collaboratively worked with acclaimed realm of well-being and solidarity without choreographer Surjit Nongmeikapam, dismissing colliding realities was the key also trained as a DMT practitioner from takeaway from the delightful conversation Sanved. Surjit strung together individual moderated by Dr. Urmimala Sarkar. The expressions of the word ‘Gathi’ in his panel comprised of Navtej Singh Johar, inimitable choreographic style. He invited the Joseph Gonzales, Lek Shue-Qi Maybelle, intentions of the performers into the work, Masoom Parmar, Diya Naidu, Vikram Iyengar, connecting the primal impulses emerging Paramita Saha, and Surjit Nongmeikapam. from the performer’s own perceptions of The discussion was followed by To-Gather, their journey, manifesting them in shape- a series of solos by beautiful dancers shifting images of a growing forest canopy. from the city, many from the Continew This created a personal idiom of reflection beyond set notions of a professional lexicon. The performance deeply impacted the audience, leading them to question set patterns and pre-existing notions of technical movements that often become a formula for dance. As we stand at a time that challenges the hegemonic codes of performance, Gathi makes quite a strong argument for deep listening, organic creation, and the synergy between the individual and collective. The evening highlighted the emergence of informed and newer ecologies that focus on taking care of our bodies, identities and journeys while weaving a larger tapestry of shared meaning-making. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  21

Indonesia report by Anastasia Melati with Sulistiani, Galih Prakasiwi, Denny Wibowo, Tudhy Putri & Gita Kinanthi Fire Dance by Sanggar Meratus Lestari at the World Dance Day event in South Borneo 2023. Photo: Ayiff. World Dance Day (WDD) is joyously commenced with a remarkable “Ngomong celebrated on the 29th of April. In Indonesia, Joged” workshop at the Taman Budaya festivities take place mostly in public Yogyakarta. Esteemed figures Didik Nini venues, allowing the broader community to Thowok, Bambang Paningron, and R.M. witness and partake in this vibrant dance Pramutomo graced the event as speakers. extravagance. Such gatherings align with Together, they imparted wisdom and ignited the fundamental aim of WDD: to cultivate inspiration within the younger generation of awareness regarding the significance of dancers, encouraging them to continually dance within society. explore their potential, embrace new possibilities, and deepen their research in The city of Surakarta, in collaboration dance and written expression. This gathering with the Indonesia Institute of the Arts (ISI), served as a catalyst for growth and proudly commemorated the 17th WDD with innovation in the vibrant world of dance. resplendent festivities. From 29 to 30 April 2023, they organized a 24-hour celebration, Under the guidance of Pulung Jati, the establishing themselves as pioneer of artistic director of Jogja Joged that first WDD in Indonesia. Within public spaces took place in 2021, these dedicated artists and esteemed institutions, thousands of demonstrated their unwavering solidarity dancers and artist congregated, bringing by coming together and performing unpaid, life and energy to the momentous occasion. to honor the “feast day” of dance. They A multitude of dance groups from diverse initiated this remarkable celebration through locations converged upon Surakarta, a collaborative and cooperative financial gracing the celebration with their captivating arrangement knows as seket rumaket (fifty performances. Noteworthy venues in sticks), where each participant contributed campus ISI included the Rectorate Building, fifty thousand rupiahs as a token of showcasing 26 groups; Pendapa Ageng togetherness. This unique celebration has Djajakusuma, hosting 36 groups; the since spread to various regions, including enhancing Kapal Theater, featuring 9 groups; South Kalimantan, Jakarta and Bali. The and the intimate Small Theatre, boasting majority of these celebrations are organized 31 groups. The participation of these arts by enthusiastic dance communities. On 29 groups predominantly consisted of local April 29 2023, a memorable WDD event dance artists spanning various age groups, was hosted by NAME (Naluriku Menari) at from children to adults, representing a rich the City Park in Denpasar. The choice of tapestry of dance genres. Surakarta truly an open space ensured that people from thrived and bustling city during the grand all walks of life delight in the festivities and event. experience the joy of dance. In Yogyakarta, WDD was commemorated Even a week after the designated with the participation of over 400 dancers celebration date, the spirit of WDD from 28-29 April 2023. The festivities continued to resonate in several cities. 22  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

Notably, both Jakarta and Banjarmasin oration delivered by Pura Mangkunegaran. were among those that prolonged their SMK N 5 Denpasar showcased their festivities. Jakarta organized a remarkable remarkable production titled Saat ing WDD event titled ‘World Dance Friendship Tresna, while SMK N 3 Sukawati presented with Respect and Excellence’ on 5 May Lesur, both representing the best works of 2023, within the historic Kota Tua area. vocational high schools in Bali. Meanwhile, The Nusantara Cultural Committee took in Kalimantan, alongside the captivating charge of orchestrating this memorable dances rooted in Banjar and Dayak cultures, occasion. Meanwhile, in Banjarmasin, the the event also featured various other dance Excelsior Dance Project Banua (EDP Banua) genres. community, under the leadership of Gita Kinanti, hosted two WDD celebrations. Nonetheless, the celebration of WDD The first took place on 6 May 6 2023, at creates opportunities for the expression of Wetland Square with the theme ‘Banua modern dance, diverse ethnic dances, and ExtraordiNARI,’ providing an overview of the even foreign dance forms. Similarly, in South South Kalimantan WDD 2023. The festivities Kalimantan, the event was enriched by the continued on 20 May 2023, at Lapang Dr. vibrant colors of ballet, traditional creation Murjani Banjarbaru, embracing the theme dance, modern dance, cheerleading dance, ‘9 Hours of Dancetoria.’ The dedication K-Pop dance covers, dance sport, and and commitment exhibited by these cities line dance. Yogyakarta witnessed a similar in extending the celebration demonstrated phenomenon. The evening’s performances their unwavering passion for dance and their commenced and concluded with jogja desire to keep the WDD spirit alive. gumregah (by Jogja Joged) and angguk, Building Friendships from Different featuring a hundred dancers filling every Places without Forgetting Locality corner of TBK’s open-air stage. On the Traditional dance remains the dominant second day, each district showcased the performance, albeit with some modern collaborative work of a young choreographer influences. In Yogyakarta, approximately and dancer who represented the region. a hundred angguk dancers, who are Bimo Wiwohatmo, a prominent figure in recognized by their short pants, were Yogyakarta’s dance scene, mesmerized the not limited to female performers but also audience with his masterpiece titled Lotus. included male dancers. The angguk, recreated by Aprilia Wedaringtyas and Similarly, in Jakarta, known as a melting Dhandi, was showcased at the Taman pot, a multitude of dance groups gathered Budaya Kulonprogo with synchronized to bring life to the event. Participants came movements, showcasing little distinction from diverse provinces including Maluku, between the female and male dancers. East Kalimantan, South Papua, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Aceh, Central Traditional art performances were also Sulawesi, Central Java, Yogyakarta, West held in Jakarta, featuring tanjidor music, Java, Banten, and Jakarta itself. The pencak silat, betawi enggrang, lion dance, international dimension of the event was ondel-ondel, and various other captivating highlighted by the participation of groups performances. The event in Surakarta city from Malaysia, Brunei, China, and Thailand. commenced with umbul donga to embrace its rich traditions, culminating with a cultural The vibrant celebration of WDD in Indonesia aims to encourage governments to allocate a suitable space for dance within all education systems. Lotus by Bimo Wiwohatmo in the Jogja Joged 2023 event. Photographer: Icho Arief Setiawan and Tegar Adhi Pamungkas June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  23

Malaysia report by Bilqis Hijjas Students of the Faculty of Dance, National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage, perform a traditional bharatanatyam pushpanjali, arranged by Ng Xinying, for the Opening Gala of MyDance Festival 2023, at PJ Performing Arts Centre, 3-4 June 2023. Photo: Goh Bong Hiang. After a lapse of ten years, MyDance Alliance Syamil Norzalahuddin to veteran Alla Azura once again presented our flagship project, Abal Abas. Shoppers and fans thronged to the MyDance Festival, under the leadership the event, with dancers splashing about the of president Wong Jyh Shyong. With kiddie paddling pools, battling giant chess four programs in June 2023, the festival pieces, and taking over the skate park. served to reunite the dance community in Malaysia following the disruption of the In the third week of the festival, MyDance pandemic. With the theme 'Unity in Diversity', committee member Lau Beh Chin directed the festival also encouraged stronger Dancing with the Community: Beyond collaboration, partnership and growth in the Moving with Artisans, an interactive show local dance community. in collaboration with theatre artist Ridhwan Saidi and young Malaysian dancers Wong The Festival Opening Gala at Petaling Jaya Chi Ying, Winnie Tay and Lee Bee Hui, Performing Arts Centre (PJPAC) highlighted reflecting the traditions of coffee making in some of Malaysia's accomplished dance Malaysia through the lens of dance. Dancers companies, featuring Temple of Fine Arts from the local Chin refugee community were Kuala Lumpur, Dua Space Dance Theatre, part of the event that aimed to encourage ASK Dance Company, and Kenny Shim greater inclusivity in our local dance culture, Dance Collective. It also featured students and took place at creative mall GMBB. from the dance departments of local tertiary education institutions National Academy The festival concluded with a discussion of Arts, Culture and Heritage (ASWARA), forum on the future of Malaysian dance, Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) convened by Dr. Nurulakmal Abdul Wahid, and Universiti Malaya (UM). The audience at the recently-opened 1ncubator Studios of was impressed with the calibre of the PJPAC. Emerging dance leaders discussed performances, as well as the diversity of career sustainability, shifts in dance works ranging from traditional East Malaysian education, and their visions for the future. dance, through classical Indian, Chinese and Malay works, to contemporary dance. MyDance Alliance was pleased to receive a grant from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and The second week of the festival, produced Culture (MoTAC) to support the festival, as by MyDance vice president Rithaudin Abdul well as sponsorship from the various venues. Kadir, spotlighted site-specific dance, with However, although our fundraising began our long-running series Dancing in Place towards the end of 2023, the festival rushed bringing dance to the lesser-known nooks into production within only one month, due and crannies of 1 Utama Shopping Centre, to the byzantine processes of the MoTAC and featuring 7 choreographers from newbie funding machinery. MyDance frequently participates in calls to reform government 24  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

policy related to 1 1. Students of Faculty of the performing arts 2 Music & Performing Arts, – usually through Universiti Pendidikan ReformARTsi, an emphasis is on sustainability. We hope that Sultan Idris perform in informal coalition in the long term, we can engage most of the 'Hetki' by Nurulakmal of Malaysia arts key movers and shakers in the community, Abdul Wahid, in Dancing organisations. We and grow our audience as well. At the end of in Place at MyDance also recently joined August, we expect to have our next Annual Festival 2023, in 1Utama an appeal launched General Meeting, at which our members Shopping Centre, 10-11 by PJPAC to ask will reflect on our recent achievements, June 2023. Photo: Mohd the Selangor State discuss project proposals, and vote in new Nor Azmil. Government to committee members. We hope that we can waive its tax on continue to attract emerging leaders who 2. Young dancers from local performing arts are keen to volunteer to strengthen our the Chin refugee events, in perpetuity. community and drive future change. community in Kuala Relatively minor Lumpur led by Lee Bee changes can have 32 Hui, during Dancing with an enormously the Community: Beyond encouraging or Moving with Artisans, chilling effect on directed by Lau Beh our arts ecosystem, Chin, at GMBB, 17-18 largely powered June 2023. Photo: Tee by the initiative Yoon Poh. of dedicated arts practitioners. 3. [L-R] Moderator Bilqis Hijjas with panel We also depend members Kimberly on interns as a Yap, Hafzan Zannie valuable labour force Hamza, Amellia Feroz for our projects. This and Kishore Kumar year, we will nurture Krishnan, during the a group of interns forum 'The Future of who are dance Malaysian Dance' in students from UPSI MyDance Festival 2023, and UM. We are at 1ncubator Studios, also lucky to have PJPAC on 25 June 2023. been chosen as a host organisation for the In the foreground, Arts Management Apprenticeship program MyDance vice president run by the organisation formerly known as Rithaudin Abdul Kadir CENDANA, under government-linked entity mans the Facebook MyCreative Ventures. This program provides Live feed. Photo: Goh funding for one full-time arts manager for six Bong Hiang. months, to learn on the job while supporting the host organisation's activities. We recently welcomed Aina Mardhia Mohd Esmadi as our arts manager; she will exercise her leadership skills taking charge of our interns, plus directing her own personal project. Thanks to the diverse skills and interests of our 10 MyDance committee members, we are able to service the Malaysian dance community from multiple angles. These projects may be small, but our June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  25

Philippines report by Nicole Primero UP Dance Company in “Gunita ng Kabataan”, choreographed by Elena Laniog-Alvarez, at Contemporary Dance Map 2023, Dance Forum Space, Quezon City, Philippines. Photo: Nicole Primero The global pandemic has undoubtedly audiences with the timeless narrative on the posed significant challenges for the company’s return to their newly renovated Philippine dance industry, forcing it to home of Aliw Theater. confront and adapt to a new reality. However, this provided an opportunity Recently formed dance company Alice to reflect on the shifting norms and to Reyes Dance Philippines, Inc, (ARDP), while explore creative ways to ensure a more navigating retrenchment, continued to make sustainable future for dance. Following these an impressionable mark on the Philippine unprecedented circumstances, institutions, dance scene. ARDP opened their season organizations, and dance companies, made in April with Encantada, choreographed by initiatives to continue artistic pursuits. National Artist for Dance Agnes Locsin, and featuring music by Joey Ayala. Presented With the ongoing renovations at the by CCP and the Metropolitan Theater, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), production aimed to advocate environmental various Philippine performing art groups awareness and garnered warm reception sought to mount shows at alternative venues from the audience. to cater to what feels like an endemic situation. National dance companies The revival of Contemporary Dance Map embraced a dominant narrative focused on 2023 evoked a sense of nostalgia and Philippine mythology. In April 2023, Ballet introspection, inviting a contemplation of Philippines premiered Carlo Calma’s Diyosa the past, present, and potential future of at The Theatre at Solaire to close their 53rd independent dance. Produced by Dance season. The full-length ballet adaptation Forum Space, Contemporary Dance creatively combined design, fashion, Network Manila (CDNM), in partnership electronic music for a contemporary dance with the National Commission for Culture reinterpretation of the myth of Filipino gods and the Arts (NCAA) and in collaboration and goddesses. Meanwhile, the Philippine with LikhaPH, the extended celebration of Ballet Theatre ventured outside the national the International Dance Day was hosted at capital and into the region to present its foremost and original quarters in Quezon excerpts from Ibalon, which drew inspiration City. The members of CDNM featured from the Bicol region’s epic tales of romance in the coming-together event were Myra and heroism. Ballet Manila anticipated Beltran’s Dance Forum, the University of a production revival of the popular story the Philippines Dance Company (UPDC), of the mythical bird Ibong Adarna. This Airdance, and Mia Cabalfin. The network reimagining by resident choreographer welcomed new members as well, in Galaw. Gerardo Francisco Jr. promised to captivate Co Dance Theater, Hiraya Contemporary Dance Company, Malaya Dance Theatre, 26  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

12 and Guang Ming Dance Project. Canada- independent dance network has remained based artist Louise Michel Jackson had a resilient. solo performance, following Bleu Neon, a venue-hosted special participation The first quarter of 2023 embodied by the Performers Curators Initiative. resourcefulness, professionalism, and trust in Simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, the artistic prowess to counter tensions brought intelligently curated program presented by the pandemic’s seeming tailend. Artists itself through a more subdued yet confident and audience alike were once again fully approach. Despite the departure from able to engage with live performances in extravaganza and the absence of spectacle, criticality and casual appreciation. Reflecting the event radiated with quiet energy, the sentiment expressed in Yang Lingpin's capturing attention through its understated International Dance Day message, the yet impactful presence proving that the performance affirmed that life continues and dance remains ceaseless. 3 Performances at Contemporary Dance Map 2023, Dance Forum Space, Quezon City, Philippines. All photos: Nicole Primero 1. “One Poem and a Song of Becoming”, choreographed by Myra Beltran. 2. Airdance in “The Strength of You”, choreographed by Nicole & Chantal Primero. 3. Malaya Dance Theatre in “Rat Race”, choreographed by Matt Manalaysay. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  27

Singapore report by Lauren Blair Smith “Veiled”, performed experimental choreography. In collaboration by Singapore Chinese with artists in music, film and visual art, Dance Theatre (SCDT), The Presence Project dancers have so far choreographed by Neo performed in London, Melbourne, Hong Jenny, at the 19th Busan Kong, Gateway Theatre, Esplanade Library, NAFA Campus 3 Studio Theatre and JCube. International Dance Fluid Entities, performed in February, marked Festival on 3 June 2023, the first time that The Presence Project held its own interdisciplinary concert at the at Haeundae Beach, Gateway Theatre Black Box. Busan, South Korea. In March and April, LASALLE College Photo: 양현철 of the Arts presented the 2023 Diploma in Dance graduating class in the eclectic The Singapore dance scene is rising performance ¡Salúd!, featuring “Normal from the pandemic in full force, with many Life” by choreographer Liu I-Ling and companies, programs, and artists hungry to “Allocentric” by lecturer Fairul Zahid. Zahid create and share work locally and abroad. won the Masdanza Prize for choreography As the new WDA Singapore Executive at the 28th Yokohama Dance Collection Committee steps into their roles and gears (YDC) in December 2022 for his piece up for an exciting year ahead, the little red “Sopan”, performed by students Jocelyn dot is bustling with dance opportunities. Tay and Natasha Koo. The jury commended Companies and individuals are venturing the dancers for their maturity, stating that it into stage, festival, educational, and VR enhanced the quality of the work. explorations. In May 2023, Singapore Chinese Dance The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Theatre (SCDT) brought Chinese dance to Company celebrated its 15th anniversary the community through its annual outreach by beginning the process of securing event, Chinese Dance Fiesta (CDF). With Intellectual Property rights for its signature a meticulously curated program including movement methodology, HollowBody. dance performances at community venues This homegrown methodology is a first and a dance masterclass and talk and for Singaporean contemporary dance demonstration facilitated by Wu Jing from companies, and the IP securement heralds the Yunnan Arts University Affiliated Art an advancement of contemporary dance in Singapore. Come June, T.H.E will also present its 13th edition of cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival, inviting audiences to reconnect with their bodies as the basis for dance, as it is for life, through a smorgasbord of performances, masterclasses and workshops by fifty-two dance artists and collaborators from all over the world. The Presence Project, started in 2019 by dance choreographer and educator Peter Gn, performs deeply personal yet 28  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

School, China, CDF 2023 reached an 1 1. “Intruder”, estimated number of 15,000 people. The 2 choreographed by event also gave other local dance groups Lauren Blair Smith, and primary, secondary and tertiary school destabilizes typical approaches towards performed by Lauren dance groups performance opportunities. the conventional modern dance industry. Blair Smith Dance SCDT is also humbled to have represented The company premiered audience favorite Company Pre- Singapore at the 19th Busan International “Intruder” at the Palm Desert Choreography Professional Dancers Dance Festival in June in South Korea, where Festival in November 2022. The company’s at Palm Desert it showcased Artistic Director Neo Jenny’s pre-professional dancers will premiere Choreography Festival “Veiled” and “Phases Within Our Control.” “Ablaze” in The Young Choreographer’s 2022 in November 2022. Festival in New York City in June. “Intruder” Photo: Lam Photography The relatively new BA (Hons) Performance will be performed by the company in the Making (BAPM) course at Nanyang 2023 Washington D.C. International Dance 2. KEɪɑːS, directed, Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) provides Festival & Choreography Award. Singapore choreographed and students with opportunities to enhance Dance Intensive in August will nurture the performed by BAPM their performance proficiency in Dance or next generation of local young artists. year 3 students from Theatre. Year 2 students collaborated on NAFA, performed 5 to 7 Less Than Half (January 2023), directed May 2023 at Nafa Studio by Adib Kosnan, choreographed by Yarra Theatre. Ileto, and written by Aswani Aswath; this premiered at the M1 Singapore Fringe 3. “Kenang”, Festival. NAFA students collaborated in choreographed by a Creative Response to Liu Kuo- Sung: Gianti Giadi for ¡Salúd! Experimentation as Method at the National by LASALLE College of Gallery Singapore in April. Year 2 students the Arts, performed by intervened and filled the space in between the Diploma in Dance dance, theatre and other disciplines in students at Singapore INterSPACE. KEɪɑːS saw the pioneer Airlines Theatre from 31 graduating BAPM cohort interrupt discipline- March to 1 April. Photo: specific performance through the processes Bernie Ng of interdisciplinarity in May. Singapore-based choreographer and director Zoe Jumabhoy graduated from Boston Conservatory in May. She recently premiered “VERDICT,” created on five incredible talents, at the renowned Gibney Theater in New York City. Emerging choreographer Lauren Blair Smith is quickly gaining recognition on the international dance scene. Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company, established in Singapore in 2020, revolutionizes and 3 June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  29

Thailand 1 report by Pornrat Damrhung On 5 May 2023 the WHO Director-General local dance performance and marker of declared that COVID-19 was no longer “a Lanna identity more than a form of fighting, public health emergency of international and it is taught, practiced and performed in concern (PHEIC).” As elsewhere, Thailand temples and community schools. used the official end to the global pandemic as a welcome sign to actively gather and Saran Suwannachote, or khru Nick, is a move together with old and new friends, noted jerng performer who developed a without abandoning modes of digital unique approach to teaching jerng dance at movement acquired during the pandemic. the Chiangmai Lanna Wisdom School and his home studio. In 2023 khru Nick took One important local performance is a part in the annual meeting of jerng artists type of martial arts called jerng, practiced in February, performing with other jerng by Tai ethnolinguistic groups in Lanna or masters. He and his advanced students the northern Thai cultural zone. In recent showed a work-in-progress, featuring a decades it has become a distinct type of revived form of footwork for group Lanna jerng, based on old manuscripts, discussions 2 with old masters, and newly choreographed dance-fighting sequences. The dance 1. Still from the demonstration ended with the dancers from promotional video different regional masters and lineages for Intermission by showing off their moves, knowledge, and Thanapol Virulhakul for strength in impromptu competitions with one its SIFA X performance, another. 2-3 June 2023 in In March 2023, khru Nick performed Singapore. the solo, Jerng: the Way of Martial Arts, at the Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s 2. Saran Suwannachote, Chang Theatre in Bangkok. It consisted of or khru Nick, performing six interconnected pieces in an hour-long dance of the world and key elements of jerng at the Lanna Wisdom dance. Khru Nick sees jerng as involving a School, Chiangmai, mode of movement that integrates the flow February 2023. of the mind, spirit and body in a fluid and graceful incarnation of the jerng tradition passed from his line of teachers. Thai dance also has a transnational dimension. An interview with Sakda Khachonkitkosol focused on Thais in Singapore studying dance for diplomas in contemporary dance at NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts), as well as at 30  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

1 Combining classical training with virtual technologies offers new ways to produce LASALLE, and SOTA (School of the Arts and experience Thai dance far from Thailand. Singapore). They are interested in the range of courses, especially the Asian Dance Pichet sees his No. 60 project as an module which allows them to explore approach for a dancer to creatively engage different kinds of cultural dance forms from the Thai dance tradition through digitally India, Korea, Bali, Malaysia and China. exploring the movements of one’s own Thai dance at NAFA included the basic body. It can serve as a new way to bridge modernized Thai folk dance ram wong, how we organize our body’s movement taught by Naree Sawong, president of the to our imagination and also traditional Thai Dance Society and director of Anurak corporeal arts to contemporary virtual arts. Thai Arts and Culture Pte. Ltd., supported He is currently interested in a virtual reality by the Thai embassy in Singapore. Most platform since it allows people to engage in Thai dance performances under the Thai traditional Thai dance via virtual modes that embassy are often performed by this may interest them more. group. Some Thai cultural dancers are married to Singaporeans and work full- Finally, in June 2023 the Bangkok time jobs in other areas, while dancing International Performing Art Market (BIPAM) part time in blessing dances for local worked with the Singapore International Singapore Buddhist ceremonies. Other Festival of Arts (SIFA) and the Penang Thai contemporary dancers in Singapore George Town Festival (GTF) to bring are full time dance teachers or involved Thai artist Thanapol Virulhakul’s piece with a company, like Titisa Jeamsakul, who Intermission to perform in Singapore. The is assistant director of the Miao Dance piece is a collaborative effort between Collective. Thanapol, the noted traditional northern Thai singer Mae Champa Saenprom, and Singapore also showcased two pieces contemporary dancer Vidura Amranand. tied to Thai dance in early June 2023. It explores how a body works as a site Pichet Klunchun’s No 60 Exhibition was a of political struggle, and highlights how virtual reality version tied to his recent No. the sociopolitical power of dance can 60 work commissioned by Esplanade and inform many aspects of Thai citizens’ lives, performed in late portraying how individuals’ bodies relate 2022 after a COVID- to political power in a stifling environment. 19-induced delay. Amranand engages the language of The exhibition at contemporary dance and her movement Singapore’s City Hall psychotherapy, while Champa uses Wing opened with traditional singing to invoke khwan, the Pichet’s performance protective guardian spirit of each person’s lecture on 3 June. soul. Music and dance blend to assert He discussed how the potential of dynamic art as a form linking traditional of resistance against the prevailing, but Thai dance to stagnant, status quo. contemporary digital technology could be 2 a way to extend the reach and to engage 1. Saran Suwannachote new audiences performing a sword with Thai dance. dance as part of Jerng at Chang Theatre in Bangkok, March 2023. 2. Pichet Klunchun’s No 60 Exhibition [Performance Lecture] at the Singapore City Hall Wing, Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer, 3 June 2023 in Singapore. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  31

Tso's Dance Association (Taiwan) report by Su-Ling Chou Since the COVID-19 pandemic started to the young choreographers featured a unique slow down in the beginning of 2023, presence and a new concept against the many performances, exhibitions, and arts backdrop of old tradition and Taiwanese productions gradually came back to the history, by way of modern dance and modern stage. Some of the 2022 performances media. which had been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19 squeezed into the 2023 Invited by National Sun Yat-sen University, spring season. Therefore, the performance Taiwan Dance Research Society worked schedules in all theaters were very tight, with the Department of Theater Arts to host while the audience found themselves busy a conference entitled ‘Practice as Research going to the theaters each weekend. from Microscopic to Multidisciplinary Contexts’ on 29 April 2023 in Kaohsiung The Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung City. There were two seminars with one City Government continued hosting workshop. The other conference was also Kaohsiung Spring Art Festival in 2023. One hosted by Taiwan Dance Research Society of the dance events was the Site- Specific to celebrate the world-renowned Cloud Dance Series held in April. Featured Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan’s 50th were Solar Site Dance Theatre’s “The birthday. Titled ‘Dancing in Taiwan for 50 Disappearing Daily Life,” Hsi Dance’s “Dust years,’ Taiwan Dance Research Society on the Morning Soil,” Southern Taiwan Arts collaborated with Cloud Gate Culture and Dance’s “The Discovery of Fong-yi,” and 01 Arts Foundation and held 2 seminars in Dance Production’s “Three Temperaments.” the National Taiwan University of Sport in The four groups selected two Kaohsiung Taichung City. heritage sites as performance venues. Solar Site Dance Theatre and Hsi Dance Choreographer Su-yi Chou was invited Company performed in the old houses, by the National Kaohsiung Center for the Farewell, 886, the Cultural Park of Taiwan Arts (Weiwuying) as the artist-in-residence Military Veteran Village, which were the in 2021-2022. After finishing the residency, military officer dependents’ dormitories that Chou stayed on at Kaohsiung as a guest have been repaired and renamed. The other artistic counselor. This year, Chou helped two groups, Southern Taiwan Arts Dance to arrange the project Dance en Scene, and 01 Dance Production, presented their From Asia to the World. The dance film creations in the restored Fongyi Academy. exhibition was held from 10-12 March 2023 The academy was built in the Qing dynasty in Weiwuying. This project is part of the around the year 1814, and has been collaboration program, Dance en Scene- restored to its original form in 2013 by the An Initiative of Commissioning New Dance Kaohsiung City Government. It is clear that Films in Asia, which started in 2021 and was a cooperation plan by Esplanade - 32  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

1 Theatres on the Bay (Singapore), Tai Kwun 6 groups from different countries joined - Centre for Heritage and Arts (Hong Kong), the festival, including MUT Dance (Korea), National Taichung Theater, and National SasharZarif Dance Theatre (Canada), Nagi Kaohsiung Center for Arts (Weiwuying). Contemporary Dance Company (Singapore), This project aims to explore body narratives Nachom Arts Foundation (India), ASK Dance with exclusive Asian characteristics through Company (Malaysia), and MAD Theater commissioning image and dance projects. (Taiwan). During the festival, group members Artists can share the power of dance with offered workshops and lectures to share with the public through dance films. each other. They also presented together in the studio showcases and evening MAD Theater, a member of WDAAP performances. Taiwan, from the central region of Taiwan, was recommended to join the Khajuraho Three groups were selected by the Dance Festival held in India from 20-26 Ministry of Culture, Taiwan, to join Taiwan February 2023. The Khajuraho Dance Season-2023 Edinburgh Fringe and another Festival is one of the oldest and most 3 groups for 2023 Festival d’Avignon OFF. prestigious dance festivals of India. It is Hung Dance, a member of WDAAP Taiwan, a week-long festival of classical dances will present at Théâtre La Condition des held annually against the spectacular Soies in Festival d’Avignon OFF from 7-29 backdrop of the thousand year old Khajuraho July 2023, with Lei Dance Theater and temples in central India, declared as a Formosa Circus Art. Meanwhile, another UNESCO world heritage site. This year, Taiwan member, Anarchy Dance Theater, will be in Edinburgh Fringe in August with Eye 2 Catching Circus and 0471 Acro Physical Theatre. Spring is also the time for dance graduation concerts where universities Spacious Collage, and high schools present their final choreographed by Gee- presentations. These young dance artists are Tze Shih, performed by eager to present their creativity with various MAD Theater. styles as well as individual characteristics. 1. and opposite page, at After the limitations of COVID-19 for three the Khajuraho Dance years, we are happy to announce that the Festival. Photo: Chuan International Young Choreographer Project Shih. has a great chance to restart in 2024. It is 2. Photo: Yu-hua Chen. our great hope that we can meet together on stage soon. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  33

Partner Organisation Reports In addition to its country chapters and internal networks, WDAAP furthers its vision and mission by working in partnership with other like-minded organisations throughout the world. We are proud to support their efforts, as we develop and strengthen networks for dance. Morning at the performance “24 Jam Menari” at the Pendopo Ageng GPH.Djojokusumo, in Surakarta, Indonesia, on 29 April 2023 for World Dance Day. Photo: Otra Febrina T. 34  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

World Alliance for Arts Education report World Dance Alliance is one of the four key international arts education organisations that form the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE). The WAAE aims to advance research, advocacy and networking for arts education globally. by Ralph Buck, WDA elected representative on the WAAE Presidential Council. The following report outlines WDA’s expressed in the following report. involvement with the World Alliance for Arts 1.3 Further, WAAE worked with UNESCO Education (WAAE) in the consultation for the to create and distribute an online arts development of the UNESCO Framework education and Culture survey. This survey for Culture and Arts Education. This report aimed to seek views of art educators as they will: identify current and future challenges and 1. Firstly introduce and outline the context needs. WAAE acknowledge that the survey and the views gathered in Madeira do not of WAAE and UNESCO Framework for represent all arts educators. Culture and Arts Education. 1.4 The WAAE advocacy notes that the 2. Provide a summary of findings that UNESCO Framework for Arts and Culture emerged from a global arts education Education being developed in 2023 builds survey that involved WDA and daCi on both the: members. ƒ 2006 UNESCO Road Map for Arts 3. Provide a summary of the dance specific dialogue session that occurred at the Education WAAE Summit, Funchal, Madeira, 1-3 ƒ 2010 UNESCO Seoul Agenda, march 2023. recognising the results from those initiatives 4. Ralph Buck is representing WDA at the while also acknowledging gaps in their UNESCO Dialogue meeting in Paris, 25- implementation. 26 May 2023. 1.5 The UNESCO Framework for Arts and 1. Introduction and Context Culture Education, also makes reference to: 1.1 The World Alliance for Arts Education ƒ Re-imaging our Futures Together: A new (WAAE), representing approximately 3,000,000 arts educators and arts education social contract for education (UNESCO, practitioners and advocates for an urgent 2021) UNESCO Futures of Education - A need to reaffirm commitment to arts and New Social Contract culture education in a post-COVID-19 ƒ UNESCO Goals for Sustainable Pandemic context, increased global tensions Development and uncertainty and environmental and social ƒ UNESCO World Conference on Cultural concerns. WAAE supports the development Policies and Sustainable Development – of the UNESCO Framework for Culture and MONDIACULT 2022 (28-30 September Arts Education. 2022, Mexico City) Resolution 76_214. 1.2 As a global advocate for arts educators, pdf the WAAE hosted a Global Arts Education 1.6 WAAE strongly notes that the Conference, Funchal, Madeira 1-3 March Framework for Culture and Arts Education 2023 where we sought arts educators will only have sustained has meaning if it input for the future needs and issues is implemented, and UNESCO members informing arts education in our respective demonstrate and are held accountable for communities. We gained grass roots achieving its recommendations. qualitative data that informs the WAAE views 1.7 WAAE notes that the educational needs June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  35

of UNESCO members vary. The Framework groups of people and times. Culture must address widely varying needs, reflects diversity, difference and circumstances and capacity to implement specificity. arts and culture education. It is essential that ƒ A UNESCO Framework recognises the the Framework states that : specific complexity of cultural education ƒ Arts education and education through the located within personal, social and community identities building on what arts and culture is lifelong. exists yet open to what may develop. ƒ It is an inalienable right of all to access 2. World Alliance for Arts Education and participate in arts and culture. Survey - Summary of Findings ƒ Arts education and culture is focused a. WAAE created and distributed an online arts education and Culture survey. through school curriculum and specific This survey aimed to seek views of art programs in formal education. educators as they identified current and ƒ Where there is a specific arts and culture future challenges and needs. The survey school curriculum and programs there comprised of 17 questions. The formulation need to be clearly defined expectations of the survey was informed by WAAE arts and requirements. educators and distributed online through ƒ Social engaged arts and cultural WAAE networks from 1st March to 13th education programs should be April 2023. Participation was voluntary and implemented in diverse community data was anonymous. settings and have continuous support by b. A total of 1361 respondents completed member states and local governments. the survey. 1.8 WAAE recognises that the 2023 c. The following outlines the key findings UNESCO Framework recognises a diverse from the survey: range of possible forms of arts and cultural ƒ Arts educators strongly endorse the education. Arts and cultural education are interwoven. Education is part of culture; compulsory presence of arts education culture reflects education. within quality formal and non formal Arts Education education. ƒ Underpinning this field of human ƒ Arts and Culture educators strongly expression and communication, is a broad advocate for the role arts education focus on aesthetic knowing, being, doing, plays in creating and maintaining healthy, making and understanding. creative, informed, critical, safe and ƒ Within this broad aesthetic field there civic societies. That is, arts and culture are specific forms of making meaning – education has a large role in achieving the specific arts forms, listed alphabetically UNESCO 17 SDG’s. as Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and ƒ Arts educators identified significant gaps Visual Arts but including many various in pre-service teacher education in the ways of being realised. arts disciplines. ƒ A UNESCO Framework recognises ƒ Arts educators clearly stated a need for and builds on existing art forms while better quality institutional leadership and supporting innovation and human support for arts and culture education creativity to develop and evolve them. training for early childhood, primary Cultural Education generalist and secondary specialist ƒ Underpinning human societies are teachers. behaviours, institutions, and norms ƒ Arts educators expressed a need for reflecting knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, cross-disciplinary/integrated arts and customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. ƒ Culture is specific to regions, places, 36  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

culture education skill development for ƒ Providing quality teacher education (pre generalist educators. service and In service) respects a diversity ƒ Arts educators noted need for better of learners, pedagogies and teachers’ inclusion and acknowledgement of local needs. This will require more dedicated cultures/arts and cultural praxis within arts time. and culture education contexts. ƒ Arts educators want more support in ƒ There needs to be better valuing of developing and implementing arts and teaching as a career path. Advocating for cultural education products and process better recruitment, retention and respect through digital media. for teachers will inform arts education ƒ Arts educators have a strong belief in the provision. efficacy of arts and culture education in developing 21st century competencies. ƒ The arts, education, culture and society ƒ Arts educators want high quality systemic are ever evolving and their interface support for teacher pre-service and in- requires ongoing research, critical service teacher education. reflection and understanding. ƒ Arts educators recognise that Government funding has considerable ƒ Arts education must be accessible to influence on the provision of arts and all, respecting local cultures, equity and culture education. social justice. ƒ Arts educators recognise that arts and culture education inform holistic quality of ƒ Arts education in all the arts forms and life across the life span of individuals. their transdisciplinary applications must ƒ Arts educators noted that where there respect and value the processes of are specific UNESCO Member States making and the products of presenting with arts and culture school curriculum, arts education. there needs to be ongoing monitoring of the achievement of defined expectations ƒ Doing the arts is essential, that is all and uptake of those curriculum by those teachers and learners have experience Member States. In short, implementation developing skills in the distinct arts and monitoring of any future Arts disciplines. . Education and Culture Framework is vital. 3. WAAE Summit, Funchal - Summary ƒ Recognise that arts education serves to of Findings critique, mirror and question culture and The following points were the main needs societies. and issues identified by teachers during discipline specific dialogue sessions held ƒ Arts education in formal education at the WSAE Summit, Funchal, 1-3 March contexts must interface with local 2023. communities, community institutions, and ƒ Arts education refers to all learners across professional artists all ages, including formal, non-formal and informal contexts ƒ Teacher education recognise the ƒ .Arts and culture are a core component of transdisciplinary role that arts education effective civil society and their role needs may have in fostering both the arts and to be acknowledged, celebrated and other school disciplines. enacted. ƒ Quality arts education is required for all ƒ That arts education be better resourced preservice early childhood, primary school in terms of funding, time, personnel and teachers and secondary school specialist materials. teachers. ƒ Decolonising the curriculum and the associated pedagogies such that diverse cultures and their practices are respected. ƒ Educating learners to be ethical and critical digital citizens who can explore and examine the responsible use of digital technologies. ƒ Strongly advocate for the role arts education and culture may have in advancing achievement of UNESCO’s 17 SDG’s. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  37

Upcoming Events Ocean Dance Festival 2023 22–24 November 2023 Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh Under the umbrella of the World Dance Proposals for Performances Alliance–Asia Pacific (WDAAP), the Second ƒ Performances: Can be one to 15 Ocean Dance Festival (ODF) is being organised at Cox’s Bazaar in Southern performers. Duration of each performance Bangladesh by Nrityajog, a conglomeration will be 10 mins. of 40 dance organisations of Bangladesh, ƒ Digital Screening: Can be two or three from 22 to 24 November 2023. The dimensional, interactive installations, a organizers hope to make this a yearly event speaker’s corner etc. combining exciting tourism with dance. ƒ Twinning Dance Projects: The Ministries of Cultural Affairs and Civil Performances created by dancers from Aviation & Tourism, of Bangladesh, are the two or more countries. Can be one to 15 co-hosts. performers. Duration of each performance will be 10 mins. This year's theme is ‘My dance, my choice’, ƒ Site-specific performance: Nrityajog referring to the artistic freedom to imagine, will provide logistical support team, create and distribute diverse cultural including videography, so that the expressions free of censorship, political performance can later be viewed during interference or the pressures of non-state our Digital Dance Session. actors. More info: https://oceandancefestival.com/ Thematic Sub-headings performance.php ƒ Beyond Skills Proposals for Scholarly Gathering ƒ Multiple Identities ƒ Papers ƒ Diaspora Connects ƒ Panel discussions ƒ The Past in the Present/The Present in ƒ Workshops ƒ Lecture demonstration the Past ƒ Poster/installations ƒ The Transformation of Knowledge ƒ Pecha Kucha Following the congress, selected papers and Systems panel discussions will be edited and ƒ Addressing the Aesthetic published in publicly accessible online ƒ The Body in Dance proceedings. ƒ Theatricality and/beyond Rasa ƒ Dance and the Digital ƒ Practice as Research The second ODF will include the Annual More info: https://oceandancefestival.com/ General Meeting of WDAAP, and will host scholarly-gatherings.php keynote speeches, academic seminars, Choreolab workshops, performances and lecture A 2 week Dance Residency for 25 young demonstrations by participants from all over dancers from South Asia, under a senior the Asia Pacific region. choreographer. The festival is envisioned as a showcase This is scheduled for a month ahead of the of Bangladeshi dance, interspersed by WDAAP AGM, in Bangladesh. For out of performances from South Asia and the Asia station dancers, Nrityajog will provide home- Pacific. stay. The closing date for all submissions is More details of the festival program and 30 July. meetings are available on the WDA–Asia Pacific website and on the Ocean Dance Festival website. 38  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  39

Dance and the Child International Conference 2024 7–12 July 2024 Ljubljana, Slovenia The 2024 Theme: I-Body, I-Dance We offer a variety of programmes for all: We aim to bring together a broad ƒ The programme for adults will consist international community of scholars, professors, teachers, educators, artists, of keynote speeches, paper sessions, young dancers, students and other panels, poster sessions, workshops, academic citizens to exchange and develop twinning showcases and performances. new creative ideas, present scientific and ƒ The programme for children and artistic projects, share knowledge about young participants will consist of new approaches and innovations in the workshops,creative gatherings, twinning fields of dance arts and education, and build showcases and performances. collaborations. Wish to join us? Do not miss this year's Important Dates: Because \"every child has the right to ƒ Abstract Submissions - by 4 September dance!\" 2023 ƒ Young Dancer Submissions - by 8 Every three years, daCi organizes an October 2023 international conference located somewhere ƒ Notification of acceptance - by 1 in the world. December 2023 ƒ Early Bird Registration - by 8 January Academics, dance educators, dance 2024 teachers with their children’s groups, young people who love to dance, artists, For more information: politicians, and many others who are moved Email: info@ by dance, come together to experience daci2024.org dance as researchers, creators, performers, Website: www. participants and spectators. During this daci2024.org/index. active week, full of lectures, workshops, html performances and meetups, international networks and friendships arise and last a dancing life. Photo courtesy of daCi Conference Australia, 2018. 40  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023

About the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific Our Mission Membership WDA serves as a primary voice for dance and dancers Open to any organisation or individual interested in throughout the world, and encourages the exchange of furthering the objectives of the society. ideas and the awareness of dance in all its forms. Membership benefits World Dance Alliance operates via its regional centres ƒ Biannual newsletter Channels with an overarching Global Executive Committee, and ƒ Annual regional assemblies a Secretary General, bringing the regions together ƒ Triennial global assemblies in matters of policy and global projects. The current ƒ Participation in the WDA Asia Pacific Networks regional centres are ƒ Discounts to certain member events ƒ WDA Americas ƒ Privileged access to WDA Americas services and ƒ WDA Asia Pacific ƒ WDA Europe (being re-formed) activities WDA also has partnerships with other international ƒ Networking opportunities organisations such as WAAE (World Alliance for Arts Education), International Dance Committee of Types of membership and annual International Theater Institute ITI /UNESCO (ITI), subscription fees (subject to change) UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and ƒ Chapter / Organisational US$ 200 Cultural Organization), and daCi (dance and the Child ƒ Associate Individual US$ 20 international). Our Goals To join ƒ To promote the recognition, development and Contact your local Chapter Head (contact list on back of this issue) or go to our website http://www.wda- mutual understanding of all forms of dance. ap.org/membership/ for details on how to join. ƒ To facilitate communication and exchange Visit our websites www.wda-ap.org among dance individuals, institutions and www.facebook.com/WorldDanceAlliance/ organisations interested in dance. ƒ To provide a forum for discussion of matters relating to dance. ƒ To encourage and support the research, education, criticism, creation and performance of dance. ƒ To liaise, co-ordinate and participate in activities with other dance organisations in the world. Our Founder Carl Wolz Our Background This independent, non-profit, non-political organisation began as the Asia-Pacific Dance Alliance in Hong Kong in 1988. In 1990, the global body, World Dance Alliance (WDA), was founded at the Hong Kong International Dance Conference. In 1993, the name of the Asia- Pacific Center was changed to WDA Asia Pacific to reflect its relationship to the global body. WDA Asia Pacific is one of the regional centres that make up WDA. The other is WDA Americas <https://www.wda-americas.net/>. June 2023 | Asia – Pacific Channels  41

World Dance Alliance key contacts WDA Presidents Asia – Pacific Network Chairs Beijing Nepal Wang Miao Rajendra Shrestha WDA Asia Pacific President Education & Training Laban Center Nritya Sahakarya Nepal Urmimala Sarkar Munsi Sarah Knox (Aotearoa New Zealand) Beijing Normal University (Nepal Dance Alliance). School of Arts & Aesthetics [email protected] [email protected] Home No. 98 Kopundol, Jawaharlal Nehru University Anna C.Y. Chan (Hong Kong) Lalitpur-10, Nepal New Delhi 110067, India [email protected] Hong Kong T +97 98 4133 7147 [email protected] Shirley Loong [email protected] Research & Documentation Executive Director WDA Americas President A. P. Rajaram (India) Hong Kong Dance Alliance Papua New Guinea Julie Mulvihill [email protected] Room E1, 10/F representative [email protected] Shing Hing Commercial Building Naomi Faik-Simet wda-americas.com Creation & Presentation 21-27 Wing Kut Street Institute of Papua New Guinea Shiu-chin Yu (Taiwan) Sheung Wan Studies Asia – Pacific Executive [email protected] Hong Kong Box 1432, Boroko 111, NCD, Joelle Jacinto (Philippines) T +852 22676663 Papua New Guinea President [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (India) [email protected] Asia – Pacific Chapters India Philippines Navtej Singh Johar Basilio Esteban Villaruz Immediate Past President Aotearoa New Zealand President College of Music Yunyu Wang (Taiwan) Sheryl Lowe WDA India University of the Philippines [email protected] Dance Aotearoa New Zealand [email protected] Diliman, Quezon City 1101 (DANZ) www.facebook.com/danceallin/ Philippines Vice President PO Box 9885 www.instagram.com/ T  +63 2 428 7772 Stella Lau (Hong Kong) Wellington New Zealand danceallianceindia/ [email protected] [email protected] T +64-4-8019885 F +64-4-8019883 Indonesia Singapore Secretary [email protected] Sal Murgiyanto Xenres Kirishima Jonah Chi Ji-Hong Julie Dyson (Australia) www.danz.org.nz WDA Indonesia World Dance Alliance Singapore [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Australia www.wdasg.com Treasurer Julie Dyson Korea Jefferson Chieh-hua Hsieh (Taiwan) Ausdance National Kim Geung-Soo Taiwan [email protected] [email protected] Chung Ang University Su-ling Chou www.ausdance.org.au 72-1 Nae-Ri, Daeduk-Myun, Dance Division, Tsoying High School Vice President South East Asia Anseong City, Gyeong-Gi Do #55 Hai-Kung Road Bilqis Hijjas (Malaysia) Bangladesh Republic of Korea Tsoying, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 81326 [email protected] Lubna Marium [email protected] T/F  +886 7 585 3083 General Secretary, Shadhona [email protected] Vice President East Asia A Center for Advancement of Malaysia Hong Jo Jun (South Korea) Southasian Dance & Music Wong Jyh Shyong Thailand [email protected] House 69, Road 5, DOHS (old), MyDance Alliance Pornrat Damrhung Dhaka 1213 P.O. Box 12409, 50776 [email protected] Vice President Pacific T +88029889426 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sheryl Lowe (New Zealand) M +8801713040814 T  +6012 327 3029 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.mydancealliance.org Vice President South Asia Lubna Marium (Bangladesh) [email protected] 42  Asia – Pacific Channels | June 2023