Bryn Wackett – CHAIR
Beginning her dance career in Sydney, NSW and Perth, WA, Bryn began her involvement in the NT Dance Sector in 2007 teaching in schools, private studios and remote communities throughout the Top End, volunteering for Ausdance NT events and performing with Baru Kadal, now Gary Lang NT Dance Company.
Her involvement in the Top End dance sector then extended to the Desert Country at the end of 2008 when she spent time out at Docker River teaching and sharing dance with local youth for a Corrugated Iron Youth Arts project. In 2009 she utilised an Independent Support Fund (jointly funded by Arts NT & Australia Council for the Arts) to bring interstate Professional Development Masterclasses to Darwin and Alice Springs and has been determined ever since to extend such Artform Development opportunities in the NT and further our contacts both nationally and internationally.
Bryn worked for Ausdance NT in 2009 & 2010 as both Programs Manager and Acting Director and has now gone back to freelance dance whilst accepting the role of Chair for the organisation for 2011. Bryn brings an extensive understanding of the wider needs of the NT Dance Sector along with positive contacts and has the energy to support the organisation with her corporate knowledge and strategic thinking.
Dr Garry Lester – VICE CHAIR
Garry Lester has over 30 years experience working throughout Australia and overseas as a choreographer, performer and teacher. He relishes the challenges and opportunities of working with diverse groups of people ranging from mainstream professional theatre and dance companies through to a broad range of community groups. He believes the value of any project can be measured by the passion, enthusiasm and commitment that each and every person brings to the experience. Garry has a Ph.D in Dance History, Criticism and Analysis after completing an MA in Visual and Fine Arts. Garry has been Head of Dance at two Australian Universities and has taught at many more. He has been published widely in Australia and internationally and is also affectionately known by many as Doctor Dance. Garry is a descendent of the Wonnarua people of the Hunter Valley in NSW and has a strong commitment to indigenous issues. He has recently been working for the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), which is a connection he has maintained since the mid 1970s.
Garry recently worked with Artback NT on the Indigenous Traditional Dance Program in 2010 to assist development in mens traditional dance in the NT as well as the annual showcase event, DanceSite 2010, held at Tennant Creek.
Janice McEwen – TREASURER
Janice McEwen came to Darwin for nine months in 2001 to complete Honours in Visual Arts from what was then NTU. She took on the so-called part-time role of Ausdance EO within a few months of her arrival and ended up staying in the job until 2004 when she moved on to Top End Arts, where she is now Director.
Working for Ausdance introduced her to the accessibility of dance in the Northern Territory and she still counts herself as a strong advocate for its unique joys.
She is passionate about letting people know about the arts through strong marketing.
Louise Partos – SECRETARY/PUBLIC OFFICER
Louise Partos began as Executive Officer of Artback NT: Arts Development and Touring in June 2007 and joined the Ausdance NT Board in 2008. One of Artback NT’s key programs is the Indigenous Traditional Dance Project based in Alice Springs. Louise looks forward to ways in which the two organisations can work together to facilitate skills development and dance opportunities for Northern Territory performers.
Louise has an extensive background in the not for profit arts and culture sector including project management and cross cultural development. She has worked for many years within communities, particularly Aboriginal and within the museum sector. Previous roles have also included Manager, Bula’bula Arts Aboriginal Corporation, Producer, Bunjilaka Aboriginal Centre, Melbourne Museum, Curator and Project Coordinator, Indigenous Cultures Department, Museum Victoria and Art Coordinator Ernabella Arts.
In 2009, Louise Partos won an AbaF Margaret Lawrence Scholarship which enabled her to undertake professional development at Melbourne Business School, Mt. Eliza Campus, perfect timing as she embarks on broadening the scope and delivery of Artback NT.
Jenny Milne – GENERAL BOARD MEMBER
2011 has seen Jenny return from the UK where she worked as one of the Regional North West Dance Development Officers for Fylde Coast. Happy to be associated with Ausdance NT again, as she has had a 13 year connection with the organisation, as both a member of the Board and later as Project Officer (2003-07).
Jenny is a tireless advocate for dance with extensive networks Australia wide and overseas. She brings with her 15 years of Festival and Arts Project Management plus performer and dance teacher experience. Specialising in multicultural and community cultural development, Jenny enjoys capacity building in communities, supporting them to reach their potential through the arts medium and is now also looking forward to enriching the NT community dance perspective through Ausdance.
Vicki Kerrigan - GENERAL BOARD MEMBER
Vicki Kerrigan likes stories: tall tales and true. She has worked in Scotland as an arts reporter, in post war Kosovo training young journalists and in India making radio documentaries. Her work has taken her from Broken Hill to Townsville, Hobart to Byron Bay and from Melbourne to Darwin. She currrently presents the Drive program between 4 and 6pm on 105.7 ABC Darwin.
For more than a decade she has worked in the media. She worked at Triple J until she got too old, Radio National where she felt too immature, commercial radio where she was “too ABC” and now ABC local radio which she says “feels just right”.
She spends most of her pennies admiring the artistic souls in our community, checking out local galleries, obsessively listening to music and being inspired by dancers who combine the visual with the musical to create works of magnificent beauty. A lover of dance and her community Vicki hopes she can contribute whatever she can to the Ausdance NT board.
