Contemporary Dance: Quantum Leap on Thai TV with "Toes on the Edge"

{This features a little snippet of the Australian section of 'Toes on the Edge', reconfigured for the tiny studio stage}

In January 2011, young dancers from Canberra's QL2 Dance headed off to Thailand for two weeks of performance and cultural exchange with Thai dancers in "Toes on the Edge". After several months of preparation, and two weeks fulltime development in January with choreographer Adam Wheeler, they took a short contemporary dance piece on tour in Thailand, hosted by Bangkok Dance Academy (BDA). The tour took in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen, and they lead workshops in contemporary dance overseen by Adam and Ruth Osborne. The piece they created in Australia was combined with a piece by choreographer Armin Saagundo in Bangkok with a group of young Thai dancers. They then got together to create a third section with the whole group.

Drawn from current and past Quantum Leap dancers, the group showcased the talent and depth of Australia's — and Canberra's — young dancers: Samuel Young-Wright, James Batchelor (who got sick just before the northern tour, and rejoined the stage in Bangkok), Michael Post, Benjamin Radburn, Chloe Chignell, Emma Batchelor, Courteney Lee, Tamar Peacock (unfortunately injured just before we left), Eliza Sanders and Jamie Robert Winbank.

The performance in Toes on the edge explores culturally-specific boundaries which young people choose to respect or cross, symbols of conflict between respect and transgression as it is felt in Thailand and Australia.

This project is the outcome of an ongoing relationship between QL2 and BDA. Since 2002 each year 3-4 young Thai dancers have traveled to Australia for 4 weeks to be part of developing and presenting a large youth dance work with Australian choreographers. This led to the development of QL2's Visiting Dancer Program. From QL2's perspective, our dancers have learned a great deal from the Thai dancers: in particular, appreciating their work ethic, cultural beliefs, respect and self-discipline, as well as being able to adapt to our unique creative process often with limited English.

Toes on the Edge was supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Thailand Institute, which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and by Bangkok Dance Academy.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• dance
• contemporary dance
• youth dance
• Australian dance
• Quantum Leap
• Bangkok Dance Academy
• Ruth Osborne
• Adam Wheeler
• Canberra