Albury-Wodonga Dance Exchange

Hello, Albury-Wodonga!
Let me tell you about Grace McMillan's 152nd Birthday Bash!

At the June Dance Exchange Workshop, I announced my Grace A. McMillan project. For those of you who missed it, please take a moment to review the video and consider donating to my GoFundMe. Even a small donation is meaningful, because it will show the granting bodies that there is public interest in doing this project, and I will be applying for grants in August-Sept.

In October, I will be hosting a tea to celebrate Grace's 152nd birthday. If you signed up at Dance Exchange #3 to get more info on my McMillan project, then you will receive a birthday invite via email in early October. If you like the projects that I've been doing with dance, and if you are not signed up and would like to receive a birthday invite, please message me either here or on [email protected]. This will help me estimate the space that we'll need for Grace McMillan's 152nd Birthday Bash. It'll be a presentation and tea, mapping out the plan for 2024, and maybe a dance or two. We should also sing Happy Birthday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLZvv011Ixk

https://gofund.me/40c721cc

Please, please, please share these links with your friends! I need help to tell Grace's incredible story.

-Erica O.

The Grace A. McMillan Project, organized by Erica Okamura Hello! I'm Erica Nielsen Okamura, an American-born dance historian in Albury-Wodonga, Aus… Erica Okamura needs your support for The Grace A. McMillan Project

This is the fina video summary of the Albury-Wodonga Dance Exchange. Please enjoy!

Dancing Together in Albury-Wodonga The Albury-Wodonga Dance Exchange was a three-part multicultural community dance series organised and moderated by Erica Okamura in 2023.It was generously su...

GLORIOUS KIDS CONNEXIONS & OPEN DANCE FLOOR.
Workshop #3 officially wrapped up with an upbeat performance by Glorious Kids Connexions, introduced by Anne Musubao. Thank you, Anne, for telling us about this amazing youth group in our community, who adopt elements of different dance traditions into their choreography in a way that is personally meaningful to the dancers. What a great way to build a sense of empowerment, confidence, and social connection through dance! And by the way, the group is open to people from all cultural backgrounds.

Workshop attendees watched the girls' lovely performance while they nibbled on pizza from Larry's Pizza House in Lavington and desserts from the Lebanese Sweets Company. Then, it was time to get up and start the Open Dance Floor! This was an add-on to the main workshop series as the project gained momentum, because there was community interest to include more dance forms.

The Glorious Kids introduced workshop participants to the song "One Leg" by Jay Hover -- if you haven't heard this song yet, you should check it out! It's super fun.

Then, Erica shared a dance popular amongst her people in the American Midwest -- the Chicken Dance.

Bollywood was next, led by the Border Fusion Group comprised of Minakshi, Dhruv, Karin, and Sue. They demonstrated very well and really got people moving!

Greg Meggs got people improvising solo variations of the Charleston, a style of Swing Dance. Some people even caught the fancier steps! You can find Greg teaching at Albury Wodonga Swing Dancers on Monday nights, 7 p.m. at 561 Kiewa St, Albury.

Tulika Bose-Sundernathan introduced the group to a classical Indian dance called Bharatanatyam, with unique hand, head, and foot movements that we haven't seen elsewhere in the Dance Exchange. If you're looking to refresh your fitness routine with new kinds of movements, combined with a supportive sisterhood-like community, check out Tulika's class on Tuesday nights, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Hume Inn Motel Hall, 406 Wodonga Place, Albury.

Our very last dance was the Dance With No Name, facilitated by Sarah Bonnar. It was an improvised exercise about the newest dance in existence -- because it hadn't been created yet! We were going to be the ones to create it, on the spot, with some simple instructions. This exercise really encouraged us to be with our partner, in the moment -- and there were definitely some giggles. Thank you for encouraging Dance Exchange participants to create their own unique social dance, Sarah, as the very final dance for this beautiful community series.

WORKSHOP 3, SESSION 3 - SCOTTISH HIGHLAND DANCE.
For the last official movement session of the Dance Exchange series, participants were introduced to Scottish Highland Dance, led by Deanne Burr of Albury Wodonga Highland Dance. Deanne began by providing context to the dance form through costumes and an informative PowerPoint presentation. Next, her assistants Jenna and Eleanor demonstrated a sword dance with lots of jumping. It was a good thing the participants had already warmed up with Garba and Belly Dance! Then the participants learned the steps to a sword dance. Those who felt confident in the steps even attempted progressively turning 45 degrees whilst doing the footwork. We concluded the session with a routine called the Highland Hustle to a pop tune. Bravo, everyone, for giving Highland Dance a go! You can learn more about Highland Dance classes locally by checking out the Albury Wodonga Highland Dance page in the comments.

WORKSHOP 3, SESSION 2 - BELLY DANCE.
The second session of Workshop 3 was led by Sam Moore of Border Bellydance. To begin, Dance Exchange participants watched a choreographed routine by members of the local Border Bellydance team who participated in the 2023 Shimmy Mob (a global belly dance event -- see shimmymob.com). The Dance Exchange participants then put on hip scarves and followed along as Sam demonstrated different movements. Attempting to accent different body parts and coordinate muscles in new ways was both fun and challenging. Some of the photos make it seem like we're just standing around, but I promise you that we're actually working very hard on subtle movements! The session concluded with some cultural context about the history of belly dancing as well as a "fashion show" of traditional belly dance costumes from different parts of the world. If belly dancing piques your interest, you can learn more about it at borderbellydance.com.

WORKSHOP 3, SESSION 1 - WEST INDIAN DANCE.
Albury Wodonga Dance Exchange Workshop #3 began with a Garba workshop featuring dance traditions of Gujarat (West India). Nandita Patel gave an informative presentation about the history of Garba and pointed out that there are regional differences in how the Navaratri festival is done. One of the unique variations from Gujarat is a dance with sticks (dandiya). Everyone had a lot of fun learning Garba steps, spinning around, and clapping to the beat of the music. Thank you to Nandita Patel and Amita Mahida from Albury Wodonga Indian Australian Association (AWIAA) for sharing with us!

The Dance Exchange team is excited for our final workshop tomorrow, made possible in large part by AlburyCity and Murray Arts CASP. We've got W. Indian Dance, Belly Dance, and Scottish Highland Dance, followed by a Glorious Kids Connextions performing, and then an Open Dance Floor. Erica is also going to announce her next professional research project -- and she needs help from adult beginner dancers! You won't want to miss the opening remarks at 9:45. Here is a little clue.

"An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance" -- an article I will reference in Workshop #3. I'm posting a link on here in case anyone wants to investigate it in greater depth.https://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/acceleratedmotion/primary_sources/texts/ecologiesofbeauty/anthro_ballet.pdf

-Erica O

www.oberlinlibstaff.com

Hello! The teachers, volunteers, and I are looking forward to seeing you at the final Dance Exchange Workshop #3 this Saturday!

Notes about the food: At Workshop #2, our attendees did an awesome job chipping in for the pizza, and we'll do the same cash donation recommendation of $5 or $10 again (the pizzas are not covered by the grant funding). Options will be: Hawaiian, Meat Lovers, Vegetarian, Cheese, Vegan Eggplant. Based on feedback, I'm ordering more of the Hawaiian and Meat Lovers this time around. Secondly, there will be some amazing Lebanese desserts available for cash purchase. You won't want to miss out! Plan accordingly.

-Erica O

A new month, a new Dance Exchange!

Workshop #3 will feature W. Indian Dance, Belly Dance, and Scottish Highland Dance. After the movement sessions, there will be a special performance by Glorious Kids Connexions.

As this is our last workshop, there will be an Open Dance Floor starting at 1:30 p.m., moderated by Erica. Community members can put on their own music and do dances from their own cultural backgrounds while Dance Exchange attendes follow along, using the skills they've developed throughout the workshop series.

Erica's next community-based dance project will also be publicly announced. Here's a clue: what do Scotland, Sweden, and Melbourne have in common? Gotta come at 9:45 a.m. to find out!
-Erica O.

Our Indian Dandiya sticks have arrived for Workshop #3 on June 24th :)

For Dance Exchange Workshop #2, I'd like to thank AlburyCity with their Community and Cultural Grants program, the Murray Arts Country Arts Support Program - a devolved funding program of Create New South Wales, and Albury-Wodonga Multicultural Events for their financial contributions that helped the Dance Exchange get off the ground when it was but a whisper of an idea.

Additional support in numerous ways has come from, in alphabetical order: Aisha Flow Yoga, Albury Wodonga Highland Dance, Albury Wodonga Indian Australian Association, Albury-Wodonga Swing Dancers, Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau, Bev's Dance Group, Border Bellydance, Coffee in the Hood, Dinawan's Connection, the Filipino Australian Community of Albury Wodonga, Glorious Kids, Greek Eats, Johnny's Rockers, Larry's Pizza House, Mirambeena Community Centre, and Simon Reich Music.

Last but not least, thank you to all of the volunteers, participants, and even the people who have simply reached out to me with really great ideas over social media. You have helped to make this series possible and to customize it for the people of Albury-Wodonga in a very special way! I couldn't have gotten this far without you. -- Erica Okamura

To conclude Workshop #2, Johnny's Rockers put on a spectacular performance while the workshop participants ate pizza and cupcakes, for Nicholas Okamura's surprise birthday celebration! (Special thanks to the workshop volunteers for keeping that a secret and helping to effectuate the plan!) Johnny's Rockers wowed everyone with superb attention to style and technique, unfaltering choreographic unison -- and they even threw in some pretty cool flips, lifts, and jumps. But as the Dance Exchange organizer, my favourite moment was when someone who had grown up in another culture told me that he'd never seen anything like it. That's what the Dance Exchange is all about, folks; sharing across cultures!

The third movement session of Workshop #2 featured Lux Khanal teaching Sakela, a Nepali dance that's important to the Kirati people's twice-annual Sakela celebration. Coincidentally, our own Sakela session coincided to-the-day with "Sakela Ubhauli 2023" -- I encourage everyone to Google this! How is that for magnificent timing?!
The Sakela session began with Astha and Susma sharing a fusion dance, bringing together modern and traditional elements from their culture. Their demonstration reinforced a concept introduced earlier in the workshop, that dance is dynamic; it must change in order to remain culturally relevant.
Then, Lux brought out props and, together with Astha, demonstrated elements of Sakela dance. The workshop participants then learned a series of "sili" or step patterns from Lux. I wondered how Lux would find yak tails, a traditional Sakela prop, but he came up with such an clever substitute: pom poms! Now, that's what I call creative problem-solving.

The second movement session of Workshop #2 featured Amaraba, a traditional Rwandan dance, taught by Kelly Ndayisaba. Dancers dressed in lightweight fabrics, which were held by hand and used to accentuate the flowy quality of the dance. (A special thanks to Heather for bringing extra fabric!) In addition to learning several movement phrases and trying them out in a circle formation, as dances are typically done in Subsaharan Africa, workshop participants learned a few things about the Banyamulenge people including their appreciation for their cows.

The movement component of Workshop #2 started with the Balkan Dance session. I gave an overview of traditional Balkan dance history, drawing from my fieldwork in Bulgaria in 2004 and subsequent related research. We then did a pravo horo to a South Bulgarian instrumental song, lesnoto to Makedonsko Devojce from Macedonia, and a choreographed dance to Koce Beberot also from Macedonia. In addition to learning the basic steps, the dancers learned how to enter/exit a circle dance (the dances can last 45 minutes or more, until the musicians get tired!), and how to negotiate spatial constraints such as when dancing in a crowded restaurant. - Erica Okamura

Link to Erica's Balkan presentation before the movement session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9XgB2luYg

Albury-Wodonga Dance Exchange #2 started with 25 people, but by the end we were between 60-70! It was amazing seeing so many people from different cultural backgrounds dancing together and learning about new dance forms. I'll make separate posts for each of the sessions. Our theme of this workshop was "The Elements of Dance," or B.A.S.T.E.: Body, Action, Space, Time, Energy. To learn more about the B.A.S.T.E. framework, check out https://www.elementsofdance.org/.

The Elements of Dance The Elements of Dance are the foundational concepts and vocabulary that help students develop movement skills and understand dance as an artistic practice. The acronym BASTE helps students remember...

I'm having a blast looking through my old Bulgarian dance fieldwork photos and videos in preparation for Dance Exchange Workshop #2. I'll show some original videos during my session, and we'll cover simple dances from three different places in the Balkans. Then, Kelly and Lux will take over for Rwandan and Nepalese dance, respectively. Can't wait to see you there! Don't forget your light cloth (scarf, etc) for Kelly's workshop. And Lux has some special props for us to dance with, too. It's going to be super fun. - Erica O.

Hello, lovely dancers! This is a reminder that I'm ordering pizza on May 6th. Coffee in the Hood, of course, will also be providing free coffee and cake throughout the workshop (and I will also bring some museli bars to carry people over until the pizzas arrive).

Could you let me know if you'll be eating pizza with us? This will help me estimate how many to order from Larry's Pizza House. I'll ask them for at least three different types of pizzas. If possible, Cash or GoFundMe donations will be very much appreciated.

The other two teachers and myself have been meeting behind-the-scenes to develop the workshop content, and I'm excited for what's in store in Workshop #2 (Balkan, Rwandan, Nepalese). Where else do you get that in Albury-Wodonga?

And then, I'm very honoured that renowned dance group Johnny's Rockers will close out the event with a special performance. It's going to be a one-of-a-kind dance event, not to be missed! Ask your friends to come along, the more the merrier!

(Photo of "Dancers Without Borders" performing Macedonian dance at the most recent National Folk Festival in Canberra -- you'll hear more about them in my Balkan dance session)

Make sure to bring a large piece of light fabric for the Rwandan dance workshop on May 6th! I will bring a couple extra (it would be great if some other people could bring extra too). This is a shower curtain in the pic, but we can also use shawls, scarves, table cloths, etc. our teacher Kelly will tell us more about how to put them on!

The Albury-Wodonga Dane Exchange is excited to have Larry's Pizza House catering for our Workshop #2 on May 6th!

The Dance Exchange is Thurgoona resident Erica Okamura's independent creative project. Erica is an American expat who used to teach dance theory courses at a uni in the USA. Her Dance Exchange idea began small, and grew and grew as community members gave her advice and support, ultimately leading to grant support from AlburyCity and Murray Arts CASP.

F-R-I-D-A-Y

We are OPEN TONIGHT going into work tonight with a positive attitude and working towards supporting our dear friend Matt Kean as he participates in "Stars of the Border Dance for Cancer"

Larry's Pizza House is donating $1.00 for every Large Pizza sold on a Friday & Saturday night and matching what is made (our busiest nights) up until May 12 🙏🙌🏻

Come on Larry's Pizza lovers 🍕 let's show our support for ALL those battling Cancer past/present ♥️

We are open tonight from 5-10, available for Pick up & Delivery. Menulog also. Let's ALL overwork Larry & the boys at the Pizza bar🍕, Giselle will promise not to laugh at a stressed out Larry and may even help 😂

Call us on 6025 1101 - located at Shop 4 361 Urana Road Lavington

For Workshop 1 of the Dance Exchange, I want to thank Albury City with the Community and Cultural Grants program, the Murray Arts Country Arts Support Program - a devolved funding program of Create New South Wales, and Albury-Wodonga Multicultural Events for their generous financial contributions which helped to bring this project to a professional level.

This project has been a big community effort, made by and for the people of Albury-Wodonga. For believing in the Dance Exchange concept and helping the project to grow to what it is today, I extend additional thanks to Aisha Flow Yoga, Albury Wodonga Highland Dance, Albury Wodonga Indian Australian Association, Albury-Wodonga Swing Dancers, Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau, Border Bellydance, Coffee in the Hood, Dinawan's Connection, the Filipino Australian Community of Albury Wodonga, Greek Eats, and Simon Reich Music. I must also mention and thank Bev’s Dance Group, Johnny’s Rockers, and Glorious Kids for joining us in the second phase of our planning, after the general plan, themes, and progression were fleshed out. Your contributions help showcase the diversity of Albury-Wodonga’s dance culture.

A tremendous thanks to my husband, Nicholas Okamura, who has been incredibly helpful throughout the whole process. I'm appreciative of Sam Moore, who took photos and videos with my phone during Workshop 1 so that I could focus on moderating. I'm extremely grateful also to the numerous volunteers who helped Workshop 1 to run smoothly and ensure that the centre looked tidy and clean when we left. Well done, everyone. And, of course, thank you so much to Mirambeena Community Centre!

Because everything ran on time, we were able to squeeze in a short dance by our Nepali friends during a break! A couple of participants even got up to give it a go. Excellent work, ladies.

Huge thanks to Greek Eats and Coffee in the Hood (and Volunteer Resource Bureau) for being there for our hungry participants.

Bev's dance group closed out the workshop with a dance demonstration by eight couples, including a dancer who is 3 months shy of 99! Amazing! The dancers moved in total synchrony and were beautiful to watch. Bev's dance events raise money to give to important causes like cancer, and so far they've raised over $60k! Well done, Bev & friends, demonstrating the power of a dance community to do social good. You can find Bev's group dancing at 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Mondays at Mirambeena Community Centre.

Session 3 featured opened with a special video by Quito Washington, Swing Dance teacher in Darwin, NT, and director of the original movie "Swing It" (inspired by his grandmother who grew up swing dancing when it first took off in North America). Quito spoke a bit about the importance of Swing Dance in American culture, contextualizing it as a fun activity that helped to get people through a very difficult time with the Great Depression and World War II. Greg Meggs with Albury-Wodonga Swing Dancers then provided the Albury perspective, sharing some insights about how Swing Dance gained popularity in Albury. The participants then learned some basic dance movements, focusing on the six-step swing, the open and closed partner hold, and the under-arm turn for beginners who wanted a little more challenge. We had a range of skill levels, but I noticed that even the self-proclaimed "total beginners" were getting the step pattern by the end. You can find Greg's group dancing at 561 Kiewa St., Mondays at 7 p.m.

Josie Maxwell with FACAW facilitated session 2, Filipino Dance. It began with a demonstration and description of Carinosa, a traditional Filipino dance from Spanish colonial times, and formerly the national dance of the Philippines. The national dance now is the Tinikling, and we were lucky enough to get an impromptu performance -- but we didn't have bamboo sticks, so we used mops! Now that's on-the-spot creativity! Josie then took us through Carinosa step-by-step, and after some practice we all made it through this fun, flirtatious dance. You can learn more about upcoming Filipino cultural events by following FACAW: Filipino Australian Community of Albury Wodonga Incorporated.

Workshop 1 opened with Aunty Edna Stewart doing the Welcome to Country. I gave a brief overview of the history of ethnochoreology (dance anthropology) and the importance of studying dance from the cultural insider's point of view. Johnny Murray and Dinawan's Connection then demonstrated and provided some context for traditional Aboriginal dance. The participants had great fun trying some of the dances! I particularly enjoyed being an emu. Johnny kindly took some participant questions at the end, as well. To learn more about Dinawan's Connection, I highly recommend to check out their page: https://www.facebook.com/dinawansfootprint/ .

At Workshop 1, I spoke a little bit about Henry Ford and his dislike of the jazz dances of his era. He was okay with European-style ballroom dances. His favourite were the Quadrilles (an ancestor of the Square Dance we see in America today). He liked the social component of these dances. But African-American derived jazz dances he couldn't stand. Dancing with the same person the whole time, doing loose and improvised movements, hinged posture at the hips -- the horror! Here's his book from 1926. He says something about the jazz dances beginning to "lose popularity," but I think that's more wishful thinking on his part.

Remember, Franz Boaz said we need to look at every culture based on their OWN terms. If Ford had taken a course from Boaz, maybe he would've looked at things a bit differently.

"Good morning" : after a sleep of twenty-five years, old-fashioned dancing is being revived by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive 2 preliminary leaves, 8-169 pages : 18 cm

Here's the info about our Open Dance Floor segment on June 24th.
Please read the rules, objective, and layout before you email me.
I'm happy to answer any questions or to meet with you one-on-one to discuss the best way to share your dance with others. Let's have a successful Open Dance Floor that allows everyone to experience the basic characteristics/patterns of diverse dance forms.

Altogether, we had at least 75 people participate in Dance Exchange #1 yesterday. This was a fantastic turnout!

And that’s a wrap for our first workshop day! Thank you to our sponsors (see comments for everyone who’s helped us) plus all of our teachers and especially our participants!

We’ll be back on May 6 for our second workshop day 😀

Our lovely baristas from Coffee in the Hood surprised us with a lunchtime performance of Nepali dance 😍