The NAISDA Dance College (usually referred to as simply NAISDA) is a performing arts training college based in

Kariong, New South Wales Kariong () is a locality of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia west of Gosford along the Central Coast Highway. It is part of the local government area. History Kariong's first British settler was W.H. Parry in 1901. Th ...

for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

people in Australia. It was established as the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme (AISDS) in 1975, which became the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) in 1988. The date of establishment of the college is usually cited as 1976, although some sources report it as 1975. The dance troupe

Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT) was the first dance company used to train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students on their dancing career, and grew into a performance group. Originating in the National Aboriginal and Islander Sk ...

(AIDT) arose in 1976 from AISDS, from which several dancers and choreographers went on to form Bangarra Dance Theatre.

History

1975–1999

The Aboriginal/ Islander Skills Development Scheme was founded by

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

dancer Carole Johnson in 1975. She had toured Australia, performing in

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and

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, in 1972, as part of the Eleo Pomare Dance Company of

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, and was commissioned by the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

to run dance classes for Aboriginal people in Sydney. After a display performance of Indigenous dance at the Black Theatre in 1975 there was a six-week workshop, the Six Weeks Performing Arts Training Programme, held in Redfern. A performance by Pastor Brady's Yelangi Dance Company and Stephen Mam's Torres Strait Island or Waiben Dancers opened the workshop. Tutors included Johnson (

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

); Eddie Pau and Henry Peters (traditional dance of the

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and Mornington Island); Brian Syron, with Ann Swan (drama); and others who taught speech, sound and lighting, karate, and writing. The participants in the workshop included John Bayles, Euphemia Bostock, Laurel Briggs, Fred Buckskin, Irene Casey, Betty Colbund, Aileen Corpus,

Lillian Crombie Lillian Crombie (born 1958) is an Aboriginal Australian actress and dancer, known for her work on stage, film and television. Early life and education Lillian Crombie was born in 1958. She is of the Pitjantjatjara/ Yankunytjatjara people of cen ...

, Jack Davis,

Christine Donnelly The Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern (ADTR) is an Australian non-profit organisation providing cultural and dance programs for Aboriginal Australian, located in the Sydney suburb of Redfern. It was founded in 1979 by Christine Donnelly, who r ...

, Elizabeth Duncan, Ros Forgan, Monica Hoffman, Yvette Isaacs, Andrew Jackomos, Rhona Keys, Pearl King, Lorraine Mafi, Shireen Malamoo, Hylus Maris, Zac Martin, Wayne Nicol, Dorathea Randall, Fred Reynolds, Ralph Rigby, Cherie (Cheryl) Stone (co-founder of Bangarra Dance Theatre), Georgina Telfer, Maureen Watson, Roslyn Watson, and Darryl Williams. After the workshop, a three-year professional course called "Careers in Dance" was created. Preliminary funding for three months was provided by the Department of Education. CC-BY icon

Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 2.0 Australia (CC BY 2.0 AU)
licence. The Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme was established in 1975 to train

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

in dance. It arose from a collaboration of choreographers trained in Western dance styles and cultural custodians of traditional Aboriginal dance, led by Carole Johnson. Its first intake of students, who started in October 1975, were

, Wayne Nicol, Michael Leslie, Dorathea Randall, Cheryl Stone and Darryl Williams (who had participated in the workshop), and new students Richard Talonga and Roslyn Watson.

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia ...

people were involved from the beginning, owing to strict rules that traditional dances could only be performed if a traditional owner of that dance was present. There was an emphasis on developing a unique style of contemporary Indigenous dancing. In 1976, Careers in Dance became a subsidiary of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme (AISDS), which was established as the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association in 1988, and is now NAISDA Dance College. NAISDA refers to 1976 as its foundation date, although some sources cite 1975. Founding members of NAISDA, apart from Johnson, were Lucy Jumawan from the Philippines, the principal teacher, and students Lillian Crombie, Wayne Nicol, Dorathea Randall, Cheryl Stone, Darryl Williams, Michael Leslie, Richard Talonga, Malcolm Cole, Kim Walker and Philip Langley. Over the years, Johnson engaged many other dancers and choreographers from around Australia and worldwide, and together they developed what is now known as Contemporary Indigenous Dance Technique. The

(AIDT), which arose out of NAISDA in 1976 and comprising NAISDA students, was the first contemporary Indigenous Australian dance company. It toured nationally and internationally, becoming known as the most toured dance company in Australia. AIDT remained a part of the NAISDA under the artistic direction from 1989 of Raymond D. Blanco, former student of NAISDA and the first Indigenous person to lead a dance company in Australia. It disbanded following the departure of Blanco in 1998. Johnson founded Bangarra Dance Theatre in 1989, with Stephen Page taking the reins in 1991. In 1997, NAISDA achieved the status of Registered Training Organisation, and became a founding member of the federal government's "

Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence Performing arts education in Australia refers to the teaching of different styles of creative activity that are performed publicly. The performing arts in Australia encompasses many disciplines including music, dance, theatre, musical theatre, c ...

" (ARTS8), comprising a number of "elite training institutions" directly funded by the

Office for the Arts The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA), formerly Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (DITRDC), is a department of the Australian ...

. It was intended that Johnson's vision of training style should persist.

2000–present

Until 2007, NAISDA was located in the inner

suburbs of Redfern, Glebe and then The Rocks, before moving to their present location in the Mt Penang Parklands, near

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

. Shortly after the move, former student Kim Walker was appointed Executive Director and Head of Dance. the board appointed alumnus Kim Walker as Executive Director and Head of Dance. As of 2008, NAISDA was funded as an arts education " Centre of Excellence" by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...

and was also supported by the New South Wales Government. It was a registered training organisation (RTO) offering Certificates II, III and IV and a Diploma in Careers in Dance, and was a member of the Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence. Between 2008 and 2010, Walker, in close collaboration with the NAISDA Performing Arts Advisory Committee, developed a new

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

, which was implemented in 2011. In March 2012 a new building, housing a number of purpose-built studios, was opened. In 2016, founder Carole Johnson, along with three college graduates, undertook a six-week performing tour of the United States. Also in 2016, NSW Arts Minister Leslie Williams announced of new funding for NAISDA. In November–December 2016, the 40th anniversary of NAISDA was celebrated in an exhibition at Carriageworks at Redfern. ''Naya Wa Yugali'' ("We Dance" in Darkinyung language) featured oral histories, photographs, film footage and artwork by Tracey Moffatt, Michael Riley,

Juno Gemes Juno Gemes (born 1944) is a Hungarian-born Australian activist and photographer, best known for her photography of Aboriginal Australians.Lee Chittick and Elaine Kitchener as well as a specially commissioned work by Vicki Van Hout and Marian Abboud. An auction was held to help raise funds for the planned new international college, Naya Wa Yugali. NAISDA has built close ties with Badu and Saibai Islands in the Torres Strait, Elcho Island and Yirrkala (NT), and Turkey Creek (WA).

Description and governance

NAISDA is based in

Mount Penang Parklands The Mount Penang Juvenile Justice Centre is a heritage-listed former juvenile detention centre, now a parkland and redevelopment precinct known as Mount Penang Parklands. It is situated on the Pacific Highway at Somersby, Central Coast, Ne ...

in Kariong on the Central Coast of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, on Darkinjung land. Graduates have worked in arts management, dance, music, theatre and film, both at the elite and community level. , NAISDA Ltd is a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

that runs the Dance College, and is governed by a board which includes Wesley Enoch and Elizabeth Butcher and is chaired by Maryah Sonter. The NAISDA Foundation is a separate fund-raising entity, whose patron since its establishment in December 2013 is Dame Marie Bashir . It continues to be funded by the Australian and New South Wales Governments. Its funding as one of the

ARTS8 Performing arts education in Australia refers to the teaching of different styles of creative activity that are performed publicly. The performing arts in Australia encompasses many disciplines including music, dance, theatre, musical theatre, circ ...

group of eight elite training organisations in the performing arts is through the

. NAISDA achieves a completion rate of around 84 per cent, compared with the national rate for completion of 34 per cent in the VET sector.

Future plans

Plans are under way for new international art education centre, Naya Wa Yugali (meaning "we dance" in Darkinjung language) to be built adjacent to the current campus. Plans include an expanded curriculum of accredited courses across the creative industry, helping to increase the number of qualified artists and leaders. It will also provide training and retraining for people already in industry, and will include a program of "open courses, classes, concerts, performances, arts exchange forums, school programs, outreach and engagement opportunities for our regional, national and international communities".

In film and television

NAISDA was the subject of an

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

documentary, ''From Dreamtime to Dance'', narrated by Stan Grant and broadcast in 2002.

People

Malcolm Cole (1949-1995), was an Aboriginal and South Sea Islander man from Far North Queensland, later a teacher and counsellor at the college. He is especially remembered for his participation in the 1988 Sydney Mardi Gras, in which he took the role of Captain Cook in an enactment of the

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landing, in which a boatful of black sailors was pulled by a white man. This was the first ever Aboriginal float entry in the parade. Along with Lillian Crombie, he was the first co-presenter for the

's ''Blackout'' in 1989. He also taught dance as an

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at many Australian schools. His legacy includes the Malcolm Cole Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Performing Arts Scholarship at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

; the Alexandria Public School weekly awards called "Malcolms"; and Malcolm Cole Terrace in the Canberra suburb of Whitlam.

Staff

Other teachers not mentioned above, among many others, included David Gulpilil and Larry Gurruwiwi.

Prominent alumni

Wayne Nicol and Dorathea Randall were the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander choreographers who graduated from NAISDA. Other notable alumni include: * Christine Anu *

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(of NT Dance Company) * Stephen Page *

Russell Page Montague Russell Page (1 November 1906 – 4 January 1985) was a British gardener, garden designer and landscape architect. He worked in the UK, western Europe and the United States of America. Biography Montague Russell Page was born in Linc ...

References

External links

*
Guide to the Records of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association, 1973-2009

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...

* * * {{Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence Dance education in Australia Education in New South Wales Indigenous Australian education Australian vocational education and training providers Organisations serving Indigenous Australians 1975 establishments in Australia