Toronto And The Hague Host Dance Conference - "Not Just Any Body: A Global Conference to Advance Health, Well-Being and Excellence in Dance and Dancers" - Toronto, Ontario - The Hague, Netherlands - Brief Article

TORONTO--High-tech has hit the dance world as both Toronto and The Hague simultaneously host a satellite-linked conference focusing on the philosophy of dance training. Toronto's National Ballet School is the Canadian sponsor while the three Dutch symposium partners are Theater Instituut Nederland, Holland Dance Festival, and Stichting Gezondheidszorg voor Dansers (Dutch Health Care Foundation for Dancers).

The official title of the three-day event, which runs from November 12 to 14, is "Not Just Any Body: A Global Conference to Advance Health, Well-Being and Excellence in Dance and Dancers." The wide-ranging conference brings together prominent dancers, artistic directors, choreographers, teachers, academics, healthcare professionals, and dance writers to share ideas on how the health and performance of dancers can be optimized.

"The issues discussed at the conference will be provocative ones; but only by taking a hard look into the past and carefully examining the present will dance be able to take a strong. and healthy step into the next millennium, says Mavis Staines, NBS artistic director. When the event was first announced, a serious tone was set by Sorella Englund, acclaimed former principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, who spoke passionately about her career-long battle with anorexia. Paul Bronkhorst of the Instituut summed up the heart of the conference by pointing out that discussions will center around the ways dancers have been taught, trained, choreographed, and managed, and how they are maintaining their health throughout their lives in dance.

Keynote speakers include Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, author of Addiction to Perfection: The Still Unravished Bride; psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience; and dance critic Deborah Jowitt. There are three satellite joint sessions as well as workshops, lectures, and forums specific to each city.

The transatlantic aspect of the conference came about when the Canadians and the Dutch discovered that they were both planning dance-health symposiums and decided to pool resources to ensure that the event would be of global significance. "The time has come for the dance world to rethink the way things have always been done," says Sam Wuersten, artistic director of the Holland Dance Festival.

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