^{Cover Image: Co3 Artistic director Raewyn Hill is stepping down after securing the company’s future. Image by Rift Photography.}

Major changes are afoot in the Perth performing arts and national dance scenes. The long-standing artistic directors of Sydney Dance Company and Dancenorth are moving on over the next few years, while in Perth, Kate Champion’s tenure as AD of Black Swan ends this year and, next month, Jo Thomas steps back from her CEO role at Artrage/Fringe World to become its creative director. A final change that spans both sectors is Raewyn Hill’s departure from Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia at the end of this year. All of these changes will have an impact on the country’s performing arts ecology but perhaps, given her status as co-CEO and founding artistic director of Co3, Hill’s move will be the most significant. 

I recently spoke to Hill about her tenure at Co3 and, specifically, her experience as an outsider coming into the Perth scene. But before that, some background. 

Born in New Zealand, Raewyn Hill trained in classical ballet. After a career as a dancer, she moved into choreography. From 2001 to 2009, she led her own company, Soapbox Productions, and had significant success on stage, in film and on television. In 2007, she retired from performing and moved to Hong Kong. Two years later, she came to Australia to become Artistic Director of Dancenorth, a position she held until 2015, when she moved to Co3. 

Hill’s international profile is substantial. The second international choreographer commissioned by the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she has been artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), the Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York) and the School of Dance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Her work has been presented at the Bolshoi Theatre (Russia), Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York), the National Arts Centre (Tokyo) and the Sydney Opera House, as well as the Hong Kong International Arts Festival and other festivals in New Zealand and Australia. She has taught at and/or choreographed work for The Juilliard School (New York), Beijing Dance Academy and WA’s Academy of Performing Arts, among other leading institutions. 

By her own estimation, the key turning point in her career was the move to Australia. Until then, her focus had been on her own creative work, but at Dancenorth her role was to take dance into Queensland and nurture a community of dance artists. The significance of this is further highlighted by the fact that, in accepting the position, she turned down one in Paris that would have furthered her own creative endeavours. It is a major step for any artist to set their own work aside while working for a community. Hill’s commitment to this went up a notch when she joined Co3, her brief then being to establish a new dance company with a strong community focus. 

Co3 grew out of the Perth dance scene as it was in the first slice of this century. There were then three state-funded dance agencies: Buzz, a dance theatre company for children and young people; Steps, a youth dance company that focused on mentoring and workshops; and STRUT, a choreographic centre for Australian artists to explore dance and create new work. Significantly, although they all presented mainstage productions, this was an adjunct to their core activities, not the focus. 

By 2014, it was apparent that funding three administrations in Perth was not sustainable, especially with their emphasis on artist support not presentation. Hence, it was decided that Buzz and Steps should merge. The intention was to continue mounting youth-orientated activities while presenting a profile program of mainhouse productions for an adult audience. With the blessing of the funding agency, Co3 was born. 

The key to Co3 lies in the name. ‘Co’ is short for both ‘company’ and ‘contemporary’, while ‘3’ refers to the three pillars of its operations: performance, a program of mainstage productions and tours; engagement, a youth program; and pathways, a suite of support services for dance artists ranging up to the presentation of new works of scale. 

The philosophy underpinning this is another triad: curate, commission, create. The AD’s role is that of a curator, mentor/teacher and creative, though on the pathways pillar they work in consultation with a reference group. Hill sees her position as that of a custodian. It is not ‘her’ company but a community endeavour that she nurtures and shepherds. This follows in the spirit of Co3’s community orientation. 

So why has Hill chosen now to step down? 

“My long term goal when I took on the position was to make sure that each of the three pillars was funded independently and sustainable. The final phase was to secure a significant partner for the engagement program. Now this is in place, my job is done, I’ve achieved what I set out to do.” 

Increasingly, the leading arts positions in Western Australia are advertised nationally, some internationally, and there are a growing number of people travelling to Perth to take on these roles. With Hill’s international profile and background, her experience in this is telling. 

“The creation of Co3 was deeply inspiring. It was a huge opportunity for me personally and an exciting prospect for the Perth dance community. However, once I arrived here, I quickly realised that the closure of Buzz and Steps had been traumatic for some people. This was not my doing; I was appointed to create something new that would benefit the professional dancers working in WA. But the community was divided. Some people thought that Buzz should have continued, others had wanted Steps to keep going. I made a conscious decision not to take sides in this argument, but to stay committed to the reason I moved my life here. I wanted to bring my expertise to the job and to build something that would benefit the whole sector, not merely one group or another. But I also didn’t want to let the legacy of these companies slip. That’s why it was so important to make sure that each of Co3’s three pillars was secured and sustainable. Through this, I believe the legacy of Buzz and Steps will be maintained.” 

Regarding the response from the community to her appointment and the mission she was given, she says: 

“Some people were on side from day one; they understood the plan. Others didn’t come on board. But until you are heading up an organisation, in the driver’s seat, you don’t really know what factors you have to deal with. From the outside, it’s easy to say a company should do this or that, but rarely do these people know how complex the juggling act is and the number of balls you have to keep in the air.” 

“People often identify a company with the individual driving it, and anyone on the opportunity end of change is subject to contention. You either have the personality for it or you don’t. I am a strong and determined person. I stick to my purpose and see things through.” 

After eleven years, Co3 is now the leading performance dance company in Perth. Not since the 1990s, when the Chrissie Parrott Dance Company was in full swing, has there been such a high-profile dance company based here. Co3’s stature has been consolidated over the past year by the move into the Liberty Theatre, the tour to the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, and the recent production of Gloria: A Triple Bill, its first full-evening presentation in His Majesty’s Theatre. Hill’s take on this success emphasises the community nature of the company’s work. 

“A focal company provides dancers with an opportunity to grow. They are able to refine their technique, tour, and face challenges like delivering a show in a cyclone or performing to 10,000 people. All of these things help artists become more resilient.” 

“There’s a lot of good energy in the company. Many good people have come through it and made a good life here. Some of the dancers have been working with the company for more than ten years. It has been wonderful to watch them grow into the professionals they are today.” 

“But Co3 is way bigger than the individuals involved and the company’s success has also been of benefit to the whole sector, across all areas of production, administration and design. In this way, a focal company contributes back to the community.” 

Eleven years is not long in the lifespan of a company, still Co3’s successes have been slow and incremental. As Hill puts it: 

“A truly sustainable model for engagement takes a long time to build, so it was essential that I kept my attention fixed on this long-term goal. The upheaval of COVID meant the process took much longer. It is only now, five or six years later, that the mission is finally complete.” 

“We’ve had a huge amount of support and positive acknowledgement of the work we’ve done. We are all proud of that. It has been extremely rewarding but not easy—if it had been easy perhaps I may not have stayed.” 

Over this period, the broader dance scene has also changed. 

“I have watched the Perth sector grow. It is strong, stable and rich in character and ability. Co3 is a big part of that, but not the be-all and end-all. STRUT, the independents and WAAPA are all vital and doing great work. The overall ecology is working; the companies interact well and reinforce each other. The fact that more artists are now able to base themselves here and build lives and careers proves that there is a better environment than there was. And it’s not just limited to the city. Marrugeku in the north-west and Annette Carmichael in the south are both creating extraordinary work and making waves around the country.” 

Naturally, the elephant in the room is what will Hill do next? Does she have plans, is there a job in the offing? 

^{Co3 Artistic Director Raewyn Hill. Image by Rift Photography.}

“As I tell my dancers when we embark on a new project, ‘we leave no bird behind’. I feel that I’ve been carried beautifully by many people here, and now it is my time to fly away. The new AD will have a different role to the one I had. For one thing, they won’t have to start from scratch. Their role will be to build on what has been established. That requires a different skill set and personality. It will be exciting to see what happens.” 

Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia presents GATHERING.2 at the Liberty theatre across three weekends 18 June – 4 July, visit the website to find out more.