Future direction of Queensland Ballet.

In addition, there are the small contemporary companies with between seven and ten dancers. These include Dance North, Leigh Warren and Dancers, Chunky Move, and Expressions. At present there is an explosion all over the world of this kind of choreographic theatre. For example Switzerland with a population of only 6 million has 48 such companies - they have become the norm rather than the exception.

Apart from these, Australia has Bangarra. Its fusion of aboriginal and western dance styles is unique in the world, but the number of dancers it employs remains small.

Together, these companies can only provide professional employment for approximately 130 dancers.

With Australia’s population of 18 million inhabitants, one of the first consequences of this is that we have few choreographers as, in the great majority of cases, to be able to choreograph one has to be able to dance reasonably well. Choreographers cannot be created simply through a system of grants.

Music, by contrast, offers many more opportunities. For example there are easily 150 positions for professional classical musicians in Brisbane alone.

A second problem confronting dance in Australia is that the audience is not very large.

This situation is not always helped by the presentation of works conceived with the taste of critics rather than audiences in mind, or by lacklustre performances of traditional ballets which only serve to confirm the worst fear of a great part of the Australian male population, that ballet is an effeminate art.

Third, dance in Australia has now become an academic discipline. While it is encouraging to see the art form receive this recognition, academic institutions by definition are conservative, tending to support what is established, rather than anticipating or leading the next movement.

A fourth issue that confronts dance is that well meaning art organisations sometimes appear to think that the arts can be helped by simply organising the ‘fireworks’ of a festival. While such celebrations do bring work for a while, they are not a real investment in the arts as it needs years of clear artistic direction to get a top orchestra, theatre or ballet company.

The fifth problem is to find good dancers, especially males.

It requires seven years to learn how to dance, and a minimum of three years on stage to start to be a good soloist, provided there is talent and a nurturing environment. In Australia, the principal dance training organisation is the Australian Ballet School. It is a good school which to date has had the advantage of attracting the most talented bodies in the country. It is, however, almost the only source of professional dancers for The Australian Ballet, West Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Rarely do mature dancers from Australian companies change company, and some of the best private schools encourage their most talented pupils to go to Europe.