Draft:Stephanie Burridge

Stephanie Burridge (born 1954) is an Australian choreographer, performer, dance writer, educator and academic. She was the Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre[1] (formerly Canberra Dance Ensemble) from 1978 to 2000. She has resided in Singapore since 2001 and is recognised for her contributions to dance and her Routledge publications on Asian dance.

Early life and education

Stephanie Burridge was born in Hobart, Tasmania. She began dancing at four years Mischa Slavensky[2] in the Vaganova ballet system[3] .She studied danced throughout her school years at Clarence High School and Hobart Matriculation College (now Hobart College) and was a competitive artistic gymnast winning Tasmanian state championships.

In 1974 Stephanie studied contemporary dance and choreography at the Laban Art of Movement Studio (now Trinity Laban) in London. She was the inaugural intake of the new Dance Theatre course helmed by Bonnie Bird[5], an original member of the Martha Graham Company, New York.

In 1978 she became Artistic Director of the Canberra Dance Theatre (then Ensemble) and also completed a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University majoring in Fine Art and Anthropology from the Australian National University[6]. In 1988 Stephanie completed a Graduate Diploma of Education at the University of New England, NSW. (Formerly named College of Advanced Education Armadale)

In 1998 she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Contemporary Dance from London Contemporary Dance School in association with the University of Kent (UK). It was a practiced base degree with her thesis entitled ‘The Influence of Aboriginal Dance on Dance in Australia with a Practical and Creative Study’[7]. As part of the research, she spent time in the remote Aboriginal communities of Ramingining and Yirrkala in Arnhem Land[8], Northern Territory, Australia.

Career in dance

From 1978 – 2001 Stephanie served as Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre[9] where she choreographed over 40 dances and commissioned many of Australia’s leading artists and choreographers including Elizabeth Cameron Dalman[10], Cheryl Stock[11], Kai Tai Chan[12], Graeme Watson[13]. Burridge performed in and produced a recreation of Jean Cocteau’s Wedding on the Eiffel Tower[15] in 1993 in association with the National Gallery of Australia’s Surrealism Revolution by Night exhibition[16] earning a Canberra Critics' Circle Greenroom Award for dance.

In 1996 she was awarded the inaugural Choreographic Fellowship at the Australian Choreographic Centre[17] and an Australian Capital Territory Lifetime Achievement Award[18].

Burridge choreographed musical theatre productions in Canberra including three with director Terence Clarke[19], Annie, The Pirates of Penzance[20] and Anything Goes [21](1994) that won a Canberra Critic’s Circle award for Music Theatre.

Stephanie began lecturing at LASALLE College of the Arts in 2001 and remained in Singapore teaching in various capacities at LASALLE and also Singapore Management University (2007-2022).

In Singapore her choreography has been shown at the M1 CONTACT Festival and with the company Flamenco Sin Fronteras [26] including “The Rites Project” [27](2018) and films ‘Men Dancing Project’ [28]supported by the National Arts Council, Singapore and ‘Bubbles’, a collaboration between the Australia Council for the Arts and the Singapore National Arts Council.

Her choreography has been performed in Australia at the BOLD Festival Canberra (2017), Australian Dance Festival (2018), and Canberra Dance Theatre 40^th anniversary gala (2019). In 2021 she was commissioned by MADE Dance Company Tasmania[29] in association with the Ten Days on the Island Festival[30] (Tasmania) to create a choreography for ‘If These Halls Could Talk ‘– it was titled Belvedere Ballroom.[31]

Publishing

Stephanie has published anthology collections and is the series editor for Routledge ‘Dance in Asia and the Pacific’ series of nine books and ‘The Routledge Companion to Dance in Asia and the Pacific’. Narrative research is special feature of her work is her approach to researching dance in the region through incorporating and mentoring artists. Dance, as a non-verbal text, has often been instrumental in transforming lives through crossing barriers of language and context, opening up channels for communication. An important focus of her numerous Routledge articles and books has been to highlight the dance artists’ perspective on their work and its cultural and philosophical contexts and histories. This attention on the self-narration of the dancer allows them to present their views on the preservation and heritage of dance in their region or community as well as issues such as globalization and the ‘contemporization’ of traditional dances.

The “Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change’ with co-editor Dr Charlotte Svendler Nielsen series features three books on dance education. She has also authored numerous book chapters, journal articles and dance reviews for various publications and given conference presentations in many countries.

Other roles and activities

• 1984-2000 Australian Institute of Sport[32] in Canberra taught dance and choreographed Olympic Games, World Championship and Commonwealth Games floor routines.
• 2005-2020 Co-chair of the Research and Documentation Network of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific[33].
• 2023 she exhibited paintings with Maya Gallery[35] for ‘Small Matters’, ‘Homelands’ group exhibitions and Affordable Art Fair, Singapore[36].

Selected awards and grants1993 -

• 1993 Canberra Critics' Circle Greenroom Award for dance (Wedding on the Eiffel Tower)  
• 1994 - Canberra Critics' Circle Greenroom Award for Music Theatre (Anything Goes)

• 1996 - Choreographic fellowship the Australian Choreographic Centre
• 1996 - New Zealand - Choreographers and Composers Course - selected as one of three Australian choreographers.

• 1978-2020 Burridge and Canberra Dance Theatre received grants on a project basis from the Australia Council, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Arts Development Board (from 1996 known as the Arts ACT) and various private sponsorships including the National Gallery of Australia, Capital Arts Patrons (CAPO), Caltex and the Department of Education and Training.
• 2015-2020 Grants for creation, research, professional development and publishing projects from the National Arts Council and the Singapore International Foundation.

Selected publications

Burridge, Stephanie (Series editor) - Routledge Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific (books on Cambodia, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, the South Pacific, North India and Thailand)

https://www.routledge.com/Celebrating-Dance-in-Asia-and-the-Pacific/book-series/CDAP

Burridge, Stephanie and Svendler Nielsen, Charlotte (eds) Dance On! Dancing through Life (2023), Routledge U.K. https://www.routledge.com/Dance-On-Dancing-through-Life/Burridge-Nielsen/p/book/9781032310138

Roche, Jennifer and Burridge, Stephanie (2022) Choreography: The Basics, Routledge, UK. https://www.routledge.com/Choreography-The-Basics/Roche-Burridge/p/book/9780367896164

Burridge, Stephanie (ed.) (2021) Companion to Dance in Asia and the Pacific: Platforms for Change, Routledge, India. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Dance-in-Asia-and-the-Pacific-Platforms-for/Burridge/p/book/9780367748760

Burridge, Stephanie (ed.) (2020) Embodied Performativity in Southeast Asia: Multidisciplinary Corporealities, Routledge UK.

https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Contemporary-Southeast-Asia-Series/book-series/RCSEA

Svendler Nielsen, Charlotte and  Burridge, Stephanie and (eds) (2019) Dancing Across Borders: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, Routledge U.K. https://www.routledge.com/Dancing-Across-Borders-Perspectives-on-Dance-Young-People-and-Change/Nielsen-Burridge/p/book/9780367442590

Burridge, Stephanie and Svendler Nielsen, Charlotte (eds) (2017) Dance Access and Inclusion: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, Routledge U.K. https://www.routledge.com/Dance-Access-and-Inclusion-Perspectives-on-Dance-Young-People-and-Change/Burridge-Nielsen/p/book/9781138674080

Nielsen, Charlotte Svendler and Burridge, Stephanie (eds) (2015) Dance Education around the World: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change, Foreword Sir Ken Robinson, Routledge U.K. https://www.routledge.com/Dance-Education-around-the-World-Perspectives-on-dance-young-people-and/Nielsen-Burridge/p/book/9780415743631

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[1] https://canberradancetheatre.org/

[2] https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2029829

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaganova_method

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Royal,_Hobart

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Bird

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_National_University

[7] https://kar.kent.ac.uk/85976/

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnhem_Land

[9] https://canberradancetheatre.org/a-proud-history/

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cameron_Dalman

[11] https://www.cherylstock.com/about

[12] https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148836212/view

[13] https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2284040

[14] https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/de-jong-sarah

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_mari%C3%A9s_de_la_tour_Eiffel

[16] https://nga.gov.au/stories-ideas/surrealism-revolution/

[17] https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/589184033

[18] https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/multicultural/awards

[19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Clarke_(composer)

[20] https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126965252

[21] https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126923077

[22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANU_School_of_Music

[23] https://www.lasalle.edu.sg/

[24] https://www.smu.edu.sg/

[25]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284484954_CREATIVITY_REPRESENTATIONAL_PRACTICES_IN_ARTISTIC_DOMAINS

[26] https://www.flamencosinfronteras.com.sg/

[27] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksUJ9X38kLw

[28]https://www.facebook.com/groups/302069577667244/people/?should_open_welcome_member_composer=1

[29] https://madecompany.com.au/

[30] https://www.tendays.org.au/

[31] https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/dance-review-if-these-halls-could-talk-belvedere-ballroom-262170-2370433/

[32] https://imisstaging.gymnastics.org.au/images/national/News/Flickin_Back_Archive/mar_86.pdf

[33] http://www.wda-ap.org/

[34] https://www.facebook.com/FASS.SG.Singapore/

[35] https://www.mayagallery.com.sg/

[36] https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/singapore/

[37] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Murphy