Allison Hendricks, the executive artistic director of Dance for All in Athlone, will be part of the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) discussion panel taking place on Thursday July 22.
While the SAIBC at Arstcape has been postponed to October, the two panel discussions with South African and international dancers and experts will be going ahead as planned, on Tuesday July 20 and Thursday July 22, at 4pm.
The discussions will be live-streamed via the SAIBC’s Facebook page and YouTube channel at no cost.
The competition already has 140 participants from across the globe and to accommodate the date change, SAIBC founder and CEO Dirk Badenhorst will be accepting entries, including video submissions, up to Friday July 30.
The first discussion, to be facilitated by the London-based organisation called The Healthy Young Dancer Project (THYDP), will focus on the optimal mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of a dancer, also addressing pressing issues around how to cope with not being able to practice or perform in stringent lockdown phases, and how best to manage this and other setbacks.
The second discussion on inclusivity will be chaired by Amsterdam-based ballerina Michaela DePrince who will be joined by Hendricks; Charmaine Hunter from the Orlando Ballet Company and School in Florida in the USA; and Cooper Rust, the executive and artistic director at the Dance Centre in Kenya. South African dancers joining in include Washington Ballet’s Andile Ndlovu; National Ballet of Canada’s Tanya Howard and Xola Willie from Mzansi Ballet in Johannesburg.
Hendricks has also been appointed to the SAIBC jury panel.
As a graduate of the University of Cape Town School of Dance (renamed UCT Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies) and former Western Cape Education Department (WCED) arts focus school educator, Hendricks is focused on nurturing performing artists.
Dancers, vocalists and musicians have gained training, grounding, skills development and mentorship through her work as a teacher, performance coach, director, producer and adjudicator.
Hendricks is a member of the International Dance Council and after more than 30 years in the dance industry she continues to strive for bringing out the best in individuals, not only as artists but also as human beings.
“Being able to discover new and aspiring young dancers at the SAIBC lays the foundation for a new era of an affluent ballet, dance and performing arts industry,” she said.
She is one of three South African judges who will be present in the Artscape auditorium during the competition.
She will be joined at the theatre by choreographer Sean Bovim from Claremont and dancer Xola Willie from Mzansi Ballet in Johannesburg. The other 15 judges will adjudicate remotely.
The new date for the competition week is Tuesday October 19 to Saturday October 23, at Artscape, the venue that has hosted the SAIBC since inception in 2008 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
For more information visit www.saibc.com