“Forty years for a contemporary dance company is, I think, in any climate, but especially this one, something to be proud of.”
So declares Amy Hollingsworth, CEO and Artistic Director of the Brisbane based Australasian Dance Collective. Founded by Maggie Sietsma and Abel Valls in November 1984, and debuting on stage the following year, the company has survived recessions, pandemics and generations to cement its place in the nation’s dance pantheon.
In that time, the company has been steered by three directors: co-founder Sietsma for 24 years, Natalie Weir for a decade and Hollingsworth for the last six years. This year, the trio will be central to the company’s 40th anniversary season in May.
“We were all having a little ‘in jest’ the other day,” Hollingsworth reveals, “saying that we can all agree that turning 40, whether it’s as an arts organisation or a person, or dare I say, even a marriage, is no small feat. You know, it really illustrates the passion and perseverance.”
For the current AD, connecting with her predecessors is very much part of how she works. “I think a lot about the two incredible women who ran the company before me…and they just have such courage and respect for our artform that it inspires me every day.”
Yet, heritage value and marketing opportunities aside, anniversaries can also be a trap. Celebration can easily morph to sentiment, and thence to tackiness. As an artist, Hollingsworth knows this. Thus, despite the big four zero, she remains clear. All programming, she insists, abides by at least one, “if not two or three,” of the company’s quartet of strategic commitments.
For the upcoming landmark season at QPAC in May, a triple bill called Blue, these commitments remain front and centre. In short, this means, “Investing in the artform and the artists, re-imagining spaces and mediums, striving for a creative, civic mission, and actively seeking out and forging imaginative partnerships.”
If that sounds like highly polished, corporate speak, Hollingsworth soon gives it texture. “With the lens of 40 years, I feel that the real signature of this company is plurality. There are so many voices that have contributed. So, with that, I guess we really started to dig into how we could best reflect that plurality, and also how to be poetic about it.”
The result is Blue. By utilising the anniversary motif, then linking it back to wedding traditions, the creative team were duly inspired. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something… From there a triptych emerged.
As the company head explains, “The leaping off point was thinking about how to embody our heritage and our future.” Blue will therefore feature an excerpt from former AD Natalie Weir’s When Time Stops, a new creation from Australian/Javanese choreographer Melanie Lane, and a restaging of Israeli dancemaker Hofesh Shechter’s breakthrough work, In Your Rooms, the original cast of which featured none other than Hollingsworth.
“The beauty of triple bills is, I guess, the contra-point can be very satisfying for audiences,” she notes. “It can really lead them through a journey.”
Here too, connect points. Turning 40 is an invitation to think about your own journey. “So, both the previous directors will feature on the evening, as well as a little bit of myself, in terms of my proclivities as an artistic director.”
In particular, company matriarch Maggie Sietsma will feature as part of the celebration. “I am also deeply grateful for everything she did for this company, so the entire foyer at QPAC will have beautiful images and footage of all the things she brought to this company over her 24-year tenure,” Hollingsworth says. “Oh, and a few other little treats in there that I want to keep as a surprise.”
Drilling deeper, the process of pulling together the various threads of past, present and possible future has prompted a new appreciation for that which sits at the core. Namely, the name. Australasian Dance Collective.
Pondering this, Hollingsworth states, “We really stand in our truth with that. Actually, it was one of the linchpins of my application for this job. That is, I really want to understand how other people want to contribute to our artform. I don’t like to lead from a hierarchical position. I prefer to really elevate all the people I work with…and make sure that we really do make art collectively. I do honestly think that if you want to make art for many people, you should make it with many people.”
Sometimes, the root of regeneration is in the DNA — in this case, a word. From such simple and singular beginnings, surprising outcomes may emerge.
Or, as Hollingworth illustrates, “The magic of making work is that we don’t have ultimate control. We can’t accurately predict and map our way to what we ultimately think is going to be there, because of that delicious alchemy of exchange.”
All of which sounds very dance.
For tickets and more information, visit australasiandancecollective.com/performances/2025.
By Paul Ransom of Dance Informa.
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