Six QUT Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance Performance students will grace the stage of the 2015 Beijing Dance Festival as part of its Youth Dance Marathon program, while two QUT Technical Production students will join them as support crew.
The students, now in their third and final year at QUT's Creative Industries Faculty, will perform an excerpt from Zaimon Vilmanis' The Giraffe is on Fire, a work that premiered at QUT's Essentially Dance Season in June.
Associate Professor Gene Moyle, QUT Head of Discipline - Dance said the QUT dancers (Cara Betty, Aiden Birney-Kilner, Alexandra Frazer, Chloe Lindbeck, Bonnie Ross and Georgia Taylor) and Technical Production students Kieran Cerato and Skye Lilliss head to China today.
"Their performance at the Beijing Dance Festival will take place on Monday 27 July as part of the Youth Dance Marathon," Professor Moyle said.
"The 2015 Youth Dance Marathon will feature 47 original works by young choreographers and dancers from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as from Australia, USA, Malaysia and Korea.
"Zaimon Vilmanis is wonderfully talented and along with QUT Dance alumni Lizzie Vilmanis, is nominated this year for an Australian Dance Award in the 'Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance' category for their first full length work White Porcelain Doll.
"The Giraffe is on Fire was choreographed by Zaimon in collaboration with the third year QUT dance performance students and is inspired by the Salvador Dali painting The Giraffe is Burning."
The Beijing Dance Festival was launched in 2008 and has hosted international and national programmes in alternating years. This year, the festival offers a two-week program - one week of educational activities and the other of national and international performances and showcases.
"This is an incredible opportunity for QUT's dance performance students to be seen on the world stage and make long-lasting professional connections," Professor Moyle said.
"Not only do we strive to foster local collaborations and connections within Australia, we also try to seek this kind of international exposure for our students. That approach has a lot to do with QUT's ongoing reputation as one of the best places to study dance in Australia."
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