Tracks Dance Theatre (1994 - )

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Tracks Dance Theatre was officially launched in 1994, having developed out of a community dance program established by Sarah Calver at Brown’s Mart Community Arts in 1988, which was itself an extension of the dance in education company Feats Unlimited. It was during Calver’s employment as dance development officer with Brown’s Mart Community Arts that she, and local freelance artist Tim Newth, began working together in 1989 on a series of residencies and projects resulting in dance theatre performances that ‘connected strong movement and visuals, and was founded in community development practices’. This style was to form the basis of the future Tacks Dance Theatre productions.

In 1991 David McMicken participated in several dance development projects with Brown’s Mart Community Arts, becoming full-time dance development officer in 1992, and joint dance development officer with Calver in 1993. In the following year Tracks Dance Theatre was officially established under the joint artistic directorship of Calver, Newth and McMicken. From 1998, following the departure of Calver, the company has been co-directed by Newth and McMicken.

Tracks Dance Theatre has become known for presenting large scale cross-cultural performances with a strong connection between place and culture. Tracks’ mission is ‘To develop contemporary cultural expression through the movement arts in the Northern Territory’. The company has strong community connections and identifies its priority groups as multicultural, indigenous, youth and seniors groups in both urban and remote areas.

Tracks Dance Theatre has toured interstate and regularly performs throughout the Northern Territory. In 1996 the Opportunity of Distance Tour, which brought together a trilogy of works Sacred Space (1994), Silent Thought (1993), and Yawalyu, Lajamanu Ceremonial Dances, was performed in Wangaratta, Albury, Wodonga, and Melbourne.

Tracks Dance Theatre productions have included Open House 2 (1994), Six Feet Over or Under (1996), Bodies of Light (1997), 4WD Sweat Dust and Romance (1997), The Land the Cross and the Lotus (1998), which was a jointly choreographed by Michael Leslie, Beth Shelton and Kai Tai Chan, Walking on Water (1999), Love Vs Gravity (2000), Mother Daughter (2001), Ignite (2002) choreographed by Julia Quinn, and Local (2003) choreographed by Tim Newth, David McMicken and Julia Quinn. Tracks’ recent productions include Snakes Gods and Dieties (2004), featuring guest artists from the Sama Ballet, Sri Lanka, the work explores the links between the Northern Territory and their South East Asian and neighbouring Islander cultures, and developed out of co-artistic director Tim Newth’s 2002/2003 Asialink exchange to Sri Lanka.

See also: Chan, Kai Tai

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Research Materials

Ephemera | Website | All

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Other resources

Find more about Tracks Dance Theatre in:

• Internet - Google
• Pictures - Picture Australia