Australia Dancing - Dumas, Russell (1946

Dumas, Russell (1946 - )

Brisbane-born Russell Dumas trained in a number of dance styles in Australia and overseas including classical ballet, Graham technique and Cunningham technique. He began his performing career in musical comedy with the J. C. Williamson organisation and later danced with a wide variety of English and European companies including the London Festival Ballet, Ballet Rambert, Nederlands Dans Theater, the Royal Ballet, Culberg Ballet, Strider, and in the US with Trisha Brown and Twyla Tharp. In 1976 with Nanette Hassall he founded the Sydney-based company Dance Exchange, which he continues to direct. In 1985 he established the Dancelink program and through this program has brought many dance teachers and artists to Australia. His interests have encompassed not only choreography and performance but critical analysis and writing as well.

Dumas' choreography is concerned with movement as a form independent of other art forms. Much of his work is performed in silence and is concerned with the articulation of questions rather than with narrative or with the development of answers to questions posed.

Bibliography:

A list of Russell Dumas' choreography to 1989 is in Elizabeth Dempster (ed.), Russell Dumas: A Case Study (Geelong: Deakin University, 1990), p. 42. See also Elizabeth Dempster, 'An interview with Russell Dumas', Writings on Dance, 5 (Autumn 1990).

Research Materials

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Find more about Dumas, Russell in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia