Chris Bath – Dancing with the Stars Series 3, 2005
It has been many years since I dreamed of a future in dance, pirouetting across the floorboards of St Andrews Church Hall, Parramatta during classes with Miss Wendy.
Despite flat feet, zero turnout and technique, (and a teacher who said I could sell anything from the waist up but lamented that she needed to break my hips and start again to make a dancer of me), I loved every minute of every class at the Wendy Greenaway School of Dance.
Jazz, tap, ballet, character, I loved it all. Back then, there was a new fangled thing called “contemporary dance”, that some bloke called Graeme Murphy was doing in the city but Mum said it involved nudity. We weren’t allowed to see it.
To this day I wonder whether turnout is required of a contemporary dancer and whether being exposed to a little nakedness at the Opera House may’ve challenged my notions of dance and led to a life of unitards rather than years of serious face and shoulder padded power suits.
And that’s why I am so excited to be on board as the patron of FORM Dance Projects.
There’s no need to go to the Opera House. FORM brings the joy of contemporary dance to the heart of western Sydney.
What FORM is achieving is wonderful. It’s punching way above its weight as a small company. It encourages and embraces what I know from personal experience, is a vibrant dance community in western Sydney. It also broadens the horizons of thousands of young people.
With performances that push the envelope, choreographic workshops & education, professional development or vital industry networking, FORM is a huge resource for western Sydney.
Even back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, dance opened up a whole new world to me. It showed me new possibilities, people and worlds previously not even on my radar. It showed me what was possible and that’s what FORM Dance Projects is doing now for a whole new generation of talented Westies.
I wish I could jump in a time machine and take FORM back to the early ‘80’s when I was an aspiring dancer.
But who knows, 50 is the new 30, maybe it’s not too late.
When’s the next workshop?
– by Chris Bath
