Festival / “The BOLD Bites 2024 Festival”/ March 8-10. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The BOLD Bites 2024 Festival has a particular focus on intercultural and intergenerational dance, and this year took the opportunity to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Curated by local dance dynamo Liz Lea, the BOLD Festival has become an annual affair aimed at bringing together dance aficionados of all genres of dance to meet, perform, discuss and swap ideas and opinions on all things dance.

This year financial restrictions dictated some scaling down, hence the word “Bites” in the title. Nevertheless, the ever-resourceful Lea managed to gather together an impressive roster of performers, speakers (international and local), and enough workshops to keep even the most energetic of the attendees busily engaged. They took place in locations as varied as the Canberra Museum and Gallery, The National Film and Sound Archive, the Canberra Dance Theatre, the QL2 Dance Theatre and the Gorman Arts Centre gardens.

Among many highlights was an extended informal dance class conducted by Morag Deyes, who until recently was the artistic director of Dancebase, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh.

Later, while being interviewed by dance critic and author Michelle Potter during one of several public conversations conducted by Potter, surprised everyone with the revelation that she had been a dancer with the Lindsay Kemp Dance Company and a member of the cast of his notorious production, “Flowers”, when it performed in Edinburgh.

Potter’s conversation with festival patron and dance pioneer Elizabeth Cameron Dalman revealed fascinating details of Dalman’s strong connection with Lake George (Weereewa) and how that connection influenced the establishment of her famed dance retreat, Mirramu.

Mirramu and Dalman were also the focus of a new film by Sue Healey, Lake Song, which received its world premiere at the festival.

In still another conversation, Potter shared some fascinating insights on dance criticism with author and critic Emma Batchelor.

Your correspondent had the privilege of conducting the last conversation of the conference with youth dance pioneer Ruth Osborne, who at the end of this year will retire after 25 years as artistic director of QL2 Dance. Ruth charmed her audience with her reflections on Legacy and the circumstances that flamed her passion for youth dance.

Among the workshops, indigenous dancer Tammi Gissell explored the power of connection to country, self and identity, through the lens of LGBTQI+ experience. Health and welfare coach Liz Wenzing led a yoga session, while dancer Vaidehi Subramanyan conducted a workshop focusing on the eye, neck and facial movements integral to the Bharatanatyam technique.

There was a session devoted to dance films, particularly those of Sue Healey, and a number of talks and films streamed during the festival, which are still available on the BOLD Festival website, including one by 107-year-old dance legend, Eileen Kramer and another by former Canberran, Stephanie Burridge, who is now based in Singapore.

One of the most popular sessions of the festival was one entitled a BOLD Sharing at which several Canberra dance companies including the Chameleon Collective and the First Nations contemporary dance group, Project Dust performed on the lawns of the Gorman Arts Centre.