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Reflections on the 6th
annual Stamping Ground - Jan 2002
(by Helene Markstein,
Stamping Ground archivist)
More than 600 hundred dancers and new enthusiasts
attend Stamping Ground, Australia's oldest dance and action arts festival held in
the village of Bellingen on the outstanding mid north Holiday Coast, NSW. Stamping
Ground has the principal purpose of showcasing male dance and new ideas about it.
The 7th annual event gets underway next 1-16th January with a faculty of 25 dynamic
Aussie & international tutors, choreographers and specialists leading a broad
program of 45 workshops, short courses, forums and performance projects.
Last January's event was the largest in it's 6 years history. 641 guys, gals and
kids as young as 4, danced, breaked, beat boxed, stilt walked, acro-balanced, body
mind centered, tapped, tangoed, balleted, funked and stamped and more - for an exhausting
but exhilarating 16 days and nights. Among the feast of (sold-out) performances,
several stood out for me. Different groups of men and boys showed electrifying projects
developed during the festival with choreographers, Christos Linou (Stix & Stones) and
Stefan Karlsson (Behind the Larrikin). These performances dealt with issues concerning
behaviours and daily real life concerns, such as bullying, larrikin, sexist behaviour
and bashings. Seat-edge performances were followed by forums, with concentrated audience
exchange. A group of youths talked on about these themes until 4 AM. That's the intensity
of Stamping Ground with all its surprises and ideas, plus the opportunity to enjoy
a feast of daily classes, learn new skills, perform and party in Bellingen and its
stunning environs. As always, the diverse participant mix was fun and stimulating,
everyone buzzing with energy and inspiration and appreciation for their own and others
talents, and with an understanding that this was a unique experience - history being
made here, a witnessing of a new phenomena, with the largest group classes being
men and boys in Street and Break sessions - filling the Memorial Hall and other venues
to capacity with high testosterone energy and exciting dance. Classes were enormous
and exciting for ballet, contemporary, tango, jazz, acro, street and hip-hop. Amazing
tutors, as ever, and hundreds of young men and boys coming from all over Australia
and elsewhere, make this a truly unique event. Mature participants and parents can't
help but be impressed by the unified combustion of the festival - there are no barriers
or exclusions of age or skill levels - people are here to share their passion for
dance, whatever its form in a powerful environment, making bonds and creative alliances
with each other that will last a lifetime. Stamping Ground is an evolving fulfilment
of the vision of Peter Stock, the festival's facilitator. It is a collective and
individual experience of new awareness about creative processes, and the important
experience of working and striving collaboratively... shown in the ever-growing circle
of men, boys, women & girls participating in an exciting dance experience and
contributing to the important underlying themes of the event. Indications are the
forthcoming festival will be another record-breaker.
(Helene Markstein, Stamping Ground Archivist
- May 2002)
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