Scottish Dance Theatre marks its 25th anniversary this year with a new programme of contemporary work travelling from home territory in Dundee to venues all over Britain.
If you had told people in Dundee 25 years ago that the newly-formed Dundee Rep Dance Company would survive, flourish and become an artistic flagship with a local, national and international profile, they might have said, “Aye, right!”
A quarter of a century later, with a change of name, a state-of-the-art studio, a growing audience and an increasing spread of talent keen to work here and acquire the kudos of an association with SDT, the company is still looking forward.
Building on the past, of course, but looking forward to the next show, the next tour, the next challenge. And it has been a challenge.
Artistic director Janet Smith admits it has been just that to get the best dancers and dance-makers to Dundee, to encourage a local audience, to get a top-quality act together and then take it on the road.
The Rep as a venue and a home has been central to the company since its birth 25 years ago with just three dancers Frank McConnell, Craig McKnight and Liz Gardner.
It began under the direction of dancer/choreographer Royston Maldoom, who has gone on to global influence.
Under Neville Campbell, the company became Scottish Dance Theatre in 1995 and in 1997, Janet Smith took over as artistic director.AwardsIn 2003, SDT won the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Modern Company Repertoire and in 2005 a Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, then last year came a nomination for a Total Theatre Award for the performances of The Life and Times of Girl A, also at the Fringe.
In 2004, the dance studio was opened at Dundee Rep, transforming working conditions for the resident dancers and allowing the company to offer dance classes to the community.
As well as forging international links, Janet has been credited with developing the scope of the company’s repertoire, encouraging clarity, simplicity, sophistication, honesty and communication.
Now we are living in interesting times and Janet is aware of difficulties looming, saying, “Dance has flourished in the UK and internationally where it has found a home and been supported.
“Places like Sadler’s Wells sell out throughout the year and take dance all over the world. Where there has been investment in dance programming, it has been a huge success, both in terms of quality and audience numbers.
“As a touring company, which we are, Scotland is an ongoing challenge because contemporary dance isn’t commercial. In a risk-averse climate, it’s risky, simple as that. Resources are needed to build an audience for dance because while young people in Scotland study music, drama, literature and art, there doesn’t tend to be the same exposure to dance in schools.
“Here, because we have a centre at the theatre building and a strong community link, we can offer ways for people to come into the place both as audience members and as participants, whether for fun or ultimately, as potential professionals.
“Our Dance Agent for Change, Caroline Bowditch, has challenged the idea of who can dance and what they can do and runs great Saturday morning classes that include wheelchair users, their carers and families. There is a wide age range, classes are cross-generational and it’s a completely open community.ReinventedDundee has largely reinvented itself since 1986 and has forged a creative bedrock without which projects such as V&A could hardly have been thought of.
Scottish Dance Theatre is a shining example of the art of the possible, given goodwill, talent, ambition, foresight and true grit.
It has put Dundee well and truly on the dance map, making all the right moves to highlight the city as a centre of excellence and the centre of a dance network that now spreads worldwide.
Janet explained, “One of the things I’m proudest of is the way the company is spreading we’ve been to Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Holland, Dubai, China.”
The 25th anniversary is a landmark, but not a throwback. As Janet says, “The best work will always be the next one.”
With that in mind, SDT’s February season opens this month with a US-inspired double bill, Letters from America, featuring Khaos by Benjamin Levy from San Francisco and Lay Me Down Safe by New Yorker Kate Weare.
Janet studied in the US, and this current season has been inspired by the scene there, its past and its current contemporary strengths and aesthetic.
An exhibition of photograph and poster images from the company’s 25 years including favourites chosen by company members past and present is now on show at the Rep and there will be a welcome for the public at Open Studio days where visitors can watch the dancers work and rehearse.
This follows in the footsteps of SDT’s first live streaming Meet the Choreographer event, which brought together people from Scotland to America’s west coast.StoriesJanet added, “Throughout the year we are going to collect stories and memories of the company and what it has meant to dancers and former dancers.
“We have an ambition to work on the archiving, but the nature of the company is that we live and work so much in the moment, we’re always concentrating on what is being created now.”
Janet is far from precious about the public awareness encouraged by TV shows highlighting dance in a way that seems very different from how the art form was viewed in the late 1980s.
Then, for example, ballroom dancing was considered rather naff now, telly viewers can’t get enough of it, celebrities are queuing up to take on the tango and even in vocalist-dominated talent shows, groups such as Diversity are coming out top of the popular polls as winning performers.”
Scottish Dance Theatre presents its latest productions at Dundee Rep from February 16-19 before going on tour to Jersey Arts Centre, the Macrobert, Stirling (March 9 and 10), London, Eastleigh, Newbury, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh (March 31), Coventry, Mull and Huddersfield.
The SDT Education Programme also continues with a series of interactive performances in Jersey, Stirling, Edinburgh, Perth and Mull.
The exhibition of photographs and memorabilia that opened on February 2 at the Rep is open from 10am daily except Sundays.
SDT Open Studio Days are currently from 1-2 pm on Friday, February 25, and Thursday, April 7.