Connections to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture lie at the heart of NAISDA Dance College. This alongside our connections to other cultures, dance organisations and Arts Learning Centres are also crucial to the development of tomorrows artists and educators.
NAISDA Developing Artists (DAs) travel to a remote community each year to gain an in-depth experience of cultural life. These field trips are life-changing experiences that leave DAs with a true sense of themselves and their culture. To dance on the land where the dances were created and passed down creates the essential close connection that grounds a DA’s cultural dance understanding and technique.
The experience culminates with cultural tutors from the host community coming to the college and working together with NAISDA staff and DAs to develop a production for the end of year show. This is when artists and audiences start to understand the value and richness of the cultural residency program and where cultural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island dance performances never fail to excite audiences.
Through this process, NAISDA has long been the incubator of inspired connections between cultural and contemporary dance, which is now known as Contemporary Indigenous Dance. This form of dance provides a continuum of Indigenous dance and music that is an essential element of today’s arts fabric.
NAISDA and cultural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities incurs additional costs to facilitate each cultural exchange, and we welcome any contribution you make to this unique program that supports remote communities to work with our DAs in the areas of language, dance, song and culture.
NAISDA also engages with artists and arts centres on an international stage. Current relationships are forged with Horton Master teacher Iquail Shaheed. Developing relationships with the Banff Center, UArts USA and First Nation artists from Canada. If you would like to sponsor one of our Developing Artists to attend one of these Arts Centres, we would also welcome any contribution you make towards furthering our DAs education internationally.
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