Ausdance Queensland’s two day convergence, Get Queensland Dancing was held at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Art in Brisbane on 20 & 21 September 2019.

One of the key note speakers was Philip Channells, Creative Director of Dance Integrated Australia and Founder of the MOVE IT! dance fitness program designed for people of all ages.

The convergence brought together dance practitioners and community specialists to move and talk about how we can get more Queenslanders dancing and had 5 focus areas to discuss inclusivity, access and participation; LGBTIQAP+, OLDER PEOPLE & INTERGENERATIONAL, CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse), SENSORY & MOBILITY.

Dance practitioners were invited to explore how they make their practice more accessible to diverse communities, how they’ve developed their practice for specific populations and how they incorporate dance into their practice.

The 5 focus areas included:

LGBTIQAP+ – This focus area considers people who identify with a wide range of terms including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) and more.

OLDER PEOPLE & INTERGENERATIONALITY – This focus area considers people of a chronological age of 65 and upwards as well as the concept of Intergenerationality and interaction between people of different generations.

CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) – This focus area considers people from culturally and linguistically diverse background and communities from which English is not the main language and/or cultural norms and values differ.

SENSORY – This focus area considers people with sensory disabilities or impairments that affect one or more of a person’s senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste, smell, or spatial awareness. This can include a range of neurodiversity such as Autism and ADHD, as well as mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and PTSD.

MOBILITY – This focus area considers people with total or partial loss of bodily function, such as wheelchair users, people with physical disabilities or injuries, and other illnesses that affect mobility such as chronic fatigue and arthritis.

Discuss my key note speech here…

Living in the Byron Bay and Hinterland region of the NSW Northern Rivers, Philip realised a gap in the market for people interested in dancing.

MOVE IT! began as one class held in Byron Bay and in 12 months of operations, has since expanded to include 5 classes across the region with a team of teachers. as a form of socialisation whilst developing fitness and improving an over all sense of well being.

The video below shares some of the presenter’s & participant’s responses to the themes for the 2 day event.