Nanette Hassall (born 1947) is an Australian dancer, choreographer and dance teacher.

Life and career

Nanette Hassall was born in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

, and studied dance at venues including Australian schools. She taught physical education at a girls' high school while pursuing her love of dance. In 1969, she won the Ballet Australia Choreographic Competition, using her prize money to help her continue her studies in the United States. There, she attended the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

, New York, on scholarship, with teachers including

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

and

Antony Tudor Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-1950 ...

. She danced with companies including the

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

Dance Company,

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, the Strider Dance Company ( Richard Alston) and Dance Company NSW (

Jaap Flier Jaap Flier (27 February 1934 – 18 March 2022) was a Dutch dancer and choreographer. Life and career Flier was born in Scheveningen, Netherlands, and studied with Sonia Gaskell. He made his debut as a dancer in 1950 with Ballet Recital and t ...

). Hassall taught at schools and colleges including

Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...

, Opleiding Moderne Dans School in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

Rusden State College Victoria College was a College of Advanced Education (CAE) in Melbourne, Australia. It was created as a result of the merger on 23 December 1981 of the State College of Victoria colleges at Burwood, Rusden and Toorak with the Prahran College o ...

, the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

, and

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

(department head, 1995). While working at the Dartingon College of the Arts, she met American composer

Bill Fontana Bill Fontana (born April 25, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio) is known internationally for his pioneering experiments in sound art. Life and career Fontana attended the New School for Social Research in New York and studied both music and philosophy. ...

, marrying him in London in 1975. Fontana joined her in working at Dance Company NSW. By 1983, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' was describing Hassall as "a leading figure in Australian post-modern dance." She co-founded Dance Exchange with

Russell Dumas Sir Russell John Dumas Order of the British Empire, KBE, Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (17 January 1887 – 10 August 1975) was a public servant and engineer who led several large works projects in Western Australia. Early life Dumas w ...

, and founded Dance Works in Melbourne (director, 1983–89). She left Dance Works in 1989 to ensure that the company continued to nurture developing choreographers rather than focusing too extensively on her own work. Hassall choreographed prolifically for Dance Exchange. She regularly commissions works from Australian composers for her choreography. Hassall is active on boards and panels as an advocate for dance and dance education, and is the author of papers and articles including: "

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports *Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback *Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 199 ...

" (2004).

Honors and awards

*Ballet Australia Award (1969) for ''Solus'' (music by

Peter Sculthorpe Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighboring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigin ...

) *"Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education",

Australian Dance Awards The Australian Dance Awards recognise excellence and promote dance in Australia. They are awarded under the auspices of the Australian Dance Council (Ausdance) for performance, choreography, design, dance writing, teaching and related professions. ...

(2002) *

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) "for significant service to the performing arts, particularly through dance education"

Works

Selected works (in alphabetical order) include: *''As the Crow Flies'' *''Faster Than Photos'' *''Forcefield'' *''Or Is It?'' *''Pyralis'' *''Rainbow Bandit'' *''Silken Tent'' *''Trespassing on Borrowed Time''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hassall, Nanette 1947 births Living people Modern dancers Contemporary dance choreographers Dance in New York City Australian female dancers People from Sydney Juilliard School alumni Members of the Order of Australia