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The long journey and hard work to create a new arts company comes to fruition this week when the New Zealand Dance Company launches its premiere season in Auckland.

Artistic and executive director Shona McCullagh talks about the journey, vision and mission.

“New Zealand audiences deserve to see the most exquisite dancers we produce and more than infrequently. And great New Zealand contemporary dancers deserve to be able to work in their own country, full-time.”

The NZ Dance Company premiere is a collection of five diverse works entitled Language of Living, at Aotea Centre on August 10 & 11.

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Tell us about the original concept for the New Zealand Dance company.

Grow the artform, grow the infrastructure for NZ dance and grow the audience. The driver for the establishment of this company is to provide the right conditions for the creation of great work, increase the number of secure jobs for NZ’s finest dancers and get some muscle behind the marketing of contemporary dance, to build an audience.

How did it become a reality?

Elbow grease, tenacity and teamwork. Dream team. We had 4 Big Hairy Audacious Goals all beginning with B: Board.Bucks.Brand.Building. And through the blissful brilliance of our artists.

What combination of people and resources are involved?

2010 saw Frances Turner and I working intensely together, consulting with a wide group of arts and business professionals. Elisabeth Vaneveld led our strategic planning sessions, then Frances and I were head down tail up for many months developing and refining that business plan that formed the core of our CNZ application and the Executive Summary became our partnership proposal. By the end of 2010 we had established a Board and developed some powerful partnerships with tertiary institutes, venue, brand developer and an events company. In 2011 we brought on our founding dancers and created a “proof of concept” performance to demonstrate the calibre of the work. This succeeded in securing a number of founding donors and by September 2011, our Kahikatea status and vitally important core funding from Creative New Zealand.

Why is a national contemporary dance company important – for dancers and the audience?

Because New Zealand audiences deserve to see the most exquisite dancers we produce and more than infrequently. And great New Zealand contemporary dancers deserve to be able to work in their own country, full-time.

What are some other flow-on effects for the wider dance and arts scene?

The number of other artists we are collaborating with is large. We are commissioning NZ composers, photographers, set designers, costume designers, AV designers and live musicians. Already some members of our company have relocated to Auckland, making their teaching more available to the Auckland dance community through our open professional classes and to tertiary institutes. We have brought master teachers such as Matz Skoog to Auckland and shared his expertise with the private sector studios, tertiary institutes and the professional community. We hope to be able to provide some invigoration to the Auckland and New Zealand arts scene through our addiction to collaborative practice.

What is the impact on other smaller dance companies? How are you collaborating with them?

Touch Compass, Atamira, Okareka and The New Zealand Dance Company have been holding leadership meetings for nearly a year now, facilitated by the wonderful Susan Jordan at DANZ. We have actively promoted and supported each other’s work and shared information and we hope this will continue. We are really interested in changing the atmosphere in the dance community to one where companies feel less threatened by each other, and more inspired by each other’s points of difference and the fact we all share a great love of our artform. More dance is better for everyone. We’ve also become hirers of the Touch Compass studio which feels great to be contributing to their income. We have a shared class with them this week too, another idea I’m keen to explore that the various dance companies share morning professional classes.

You launched the concept during tough economic times, what was the strategy for success?

Slow and steady wins the race, and an understanding that partnership is key.

What are some of the practical partnerships?

Our partnership with UNITEC is a vitally practical one. Their studios are beautiful and the faculty have been hugely supportive of the development of The New Zealand Dance Company. We could not have achieved what we have without their support. Space is a vital need for this artform and Auckland has been starved of this commodity. We have held three residencies at UNITEC now and the exchange has seen our company members teaching class regularly to their students, an open rehearsal policy and we have had internships with their graduates which has led to one being employed now as an apprentice dancer. We currently have two other graduates in the company and so a pathway is beginning to be established. This is important for tertiary students to have a sense of hope of employment in this country and the number of companies offering contracts is growing which is great.

Tell us a bit about the inaugural season. How does it feel to finally be approaching opening night!

Really good. A long journey of hard work coming to fruition in the celebration of the birth of a new arts company for New Zealand. This inaugural season is a really rich offering of five very different, but connected works. Our goal is to have no-one leave that theatre saying they didn’t enjoy anything on the programme. It’s a journey from the primal to the urban and the works are funny, earthy, beautiful and brave. Interactive installations on arrival, live music, stunning design, awesome dancers, lots of surprises…what more could you want?

What’s next?

A cup of tea and a wee lie down. Actually in reality, straight onto planning for next year, evaluating the season artistically and otherwise,  reconnecting with the audience we have built, maintaining our current partnerships and working on confirming touring plans for 2013, the creation of a new full length work with a brass band and workshopping our 2014 work.

What are some of the planned training and community collaborations?

We launched our Youth Engagement Strategy and Programme in 2011 and we have now run over five workshops and established a Youth Company, run a pilot schools programme and we will present a special Youth Engagement Matinee on Saturday 11th August. It’s been a great deal of activity and we plan to continue with workshops next year in the Mahurangi district and our touring towns.

How are you ensuring longevity for the dance company?

One of the key ways is maximising the number of tickets we sell today. The establishment of a donor scheme. The search for a building. The growth of partnerships. Attracting talent to our company. Nurturing that talent. And creating a real sense of ownership within the company.

What’s the overall mission and vision going forward?

Our vision is that audiences are moved by our exquisitely crafted and presented choreography and dancers.  New Zealand’s culture is invigorated by the courage and innovation we celebrate and the risks we take.  The profession and audience are uplifted by the art we create.

Our Mission: To create a sustainable, full-time, high-calibre dance company, with an Auckland home that contributes to the fabric of NZ culture and is dedicated to NZ’s finest contemporary dance practitioners.

To be a hotbed of creative collaboration, a safe place to be artistically brave and to present compelling work that moves and inspires our dedicated and growing audience.

We want this company to be a vanguard of NZ culture & identity.

* * * The Big Idea 10th Birthday Questions * * *

What does The Big Idea mean to you?

I feel connected and valued as an artist. Also brilliant at sourcing people.

What changes have you noticed in dance in the past 10 years?

A growth of confidence in the dance sector. More skill in marketing our work.

What are some of the opportunities and challenges for the next decade?

Building an audience for dance that is loyal and frequently ecstatic at what they see. Creating a touring network in Australia. Why is that Tasman so hard to crack?!  The opportunities are endless.

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• Shona McCullagh Bio
  

A New Zealand Arts Laureate, Shona is a cross- platform artist and New Zealand’s most versatile choreographer, director, filmmaker, educator and installation artist.

A Distinguished Graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance, Shona was a dancer with D’Arc Swan Theatre Company, Limbs, Douglas Wright Dance Company and her own company The Human Garden. Shona’s choreography has been seen in NZ for the last 30 years, creating at least one new work or film every year.
 
A pioneer in dance theatre works involving actors and musicians, Shona is a serial collaborator having created work with and for theatre companies (ATC, Downstage, The Actor’s Company, Watershed Theatre, Nightsong Productions), films (King Kong, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe), television (Xena, Hercules, Legend of the Seeker) and numerous writers, actors, composers and designers within her own work. Shona’s award winning films are internationally celebrated and she was also the Head Choreographer of the 2011 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony.