Australia Dancing - Expressions Dance Company (1985

Expressions Dance Company (1985 - )

Martin, Andrew: Sophie Bowen and Dan Crestani in 'Behind the Wall', Expressions Dance Company, 2001

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Expressions Dance company was founded in 1984 by Maggi Sietsma and Abel Valls who were and continue to be artistic director and general manager respectively. The company gave its first performance in Brisbane in 1985 as part of the national conference of the Australian Society for Education in the Arts. The first production was Maggi Sietsma's Snow Drops and in that first year the company's commitment to presenting contemporary works by Australian choreographers was clear. In 1985 Expressions presented works by Sietsma, Natalie Weir, Rosetta Cook and Graeme Watson. Over the years Expressions has developed this strong profile and other Australian choreographers whose work has been featured include Jonathan Taylor, Margaret Wilson, Guy Detot, John Nobbs, Jacqui Carroll, Garry Stewart, Brian Lucas and Don Asker. Since 1985 Sietsma has created over thirty-five works for Expressions including the widely acclaimed Alone Together, Vanities Crossing and Virtually Richard3. Abel Valls has created original scores for most of the company's works.

Expressions has toured widely in Queensland and throughout Australia and in addition to its main company, which specialises in theatre seasons, the company also runs a smaller group of dancers whose responsibility it is to take contemporary dance to schools in regional centres of Queensland. The company also tours internationally and performs at festivals throughout the world. In recent years Expressions has scored major successes in the United States, Austria, Germany, Mexico, New Caledonia, and throughout the Asian region.

The work of Expressions blends abstraction with theatricality and extends the boundaries of dance and theatre with works that blend speech, dance and visual media. Expressions was the recipient of the 1997 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for outstanding achievement in the performing arts. Recent productions have included Rites of Spring (2002), Flight! (2003) and The 5th Door (2004).

Bibliography:

The repertoire of Expressions to 1993 is in The Ausdance guide to Australian dance companies 1994 (Canberra: AGPS, 1994), pp. 111-117.

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Find more about Expressions Dance Company in:

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