Footnote Dance-in-Education programmes were born in 1983 as an opportunity for children to experience live performance as part of their cultural experience. Founding Director, Deirdre Tarrant felt that the experience of dance needed to be specially developed for the learning and physical environment of school as a chance to not only watch but also actively participate in kinetic learning…dance!

BP sponsored the early years and ‘energy’ was the theme. Fossil fuels and the principles of action and reaction were part of a widely toured science programme. Coal, oil and gas were ‘discovered’ and visual images added much to the students’ perception and study. As part of the then QEII Arts Council’s Performers-in-Schools programme Footnote Dance moved on to develop a programme series specifically designed to give movement opportunities to all students. Accessibility and innovation in learning have always been important ingredients of all that the company does and now the new Arts curriculum is in place, Deirdre Tarrant’s dream of ‘the chance to dance’ for every child is a reality in New Zealand.

Equally important is the opportunity for students to see contemporary dance as an expressive and relative art form. All choreographies used are made on the company dancers by New Zealand choreographers and are part of the company’s Made in New Zealand repertoire touring season in theatres throughout the country. The chance for students to meet and to work with ‘ real’ professional dancers is a very important ingredient in the ‘magic’ of a visit by Footnote Dance.

A real need for an interface between the dancers of the company and the freelance and wider dance community has resulted in Choreolab. This is now the most significant professional development event for contemporary dance in the year and attracts dancers from here and overseas to work in an intensive series of workshops over a three week period in the summer in Wellington. Cuba Mall becomes the centre for networking and making dance. There are lab choreographers, allied arts workshops and master-classes led by an international guest tutor and all with the focus on process and exploration of moving and thinking in contemporary dance. An exciting time and the connections and liaisons continue into the year as projects are conceived and ideas are discussed without the external pressure of product that comes once a project is a reality and ‘the show must go on’!