Eight young dance graduates are hard at work in Canberra, taking apart everything they know about dance and themselves.

As part of Soft Landing, the group presented (in)human on 4th and 5th of March — an informal dance performance and discussion developed by research and response to the four weeks of challenges.

(in)human was an informal dance performance by eight dancers, developed by research and response to four weeks of new ideas and challenges that have surfaced during the project. A discussion with the artists will follow the showing.

Project assistant for QL2 Dance’s Soft Landing project Amelia McQueen believes audiences were to be challenged about the big questions for an artist.

"What do I need to be not just as a dancer but as a dance artist? How can I make my creativity work in society?" questions McQueen

McQueen is working with independent dance artist and producer Solon Ulbrich, running a four week intensive project for graduates during the difficult transition from university into the dance profession, held at Canberra’s QL2 Centre for Youth Dance in Braddon.

Together they create a tough but supportive environment where physical training, challenging discussions and improvisational exercises push dancers to identify their unique goals and seek the tools they need to develop their own arts practice. McQueen says Soft Landing reflects a change in the dance world, where there are fewer employed performers, so graduates need a new way of thinking.

"There’s a definite shift in the industry to a more freelance way of working. And as a freelancer you need a broad base of skills, you’re not likely to employed consistently. There’s such a tough transition from study to practice: you can be trained to be a technical dancer, but after that, what kind of artist are you? You don’t develop that at uni because you’re just there to develop technical skills."

Over five years, working with over 60 young graduates, QL2 is proud many alumni are now working at the forefront of contemporary dance in Australia and abroad.

"Soft Landing gave me the belief in myself that enabled me to create honest work that pushed my own boundaries and went on to win the Melbourne Fringe Festival award for Best Dance." says 2010 attendee Emiline Forster.

"Soft Landing is a learning environment like no other in the Australian dance landscape. Accomplished and trained dancers are challenged to engage their artistry as people, as initiators, as advocates." says dancer/choreographer/musician Matt Cornell

QL2's Soft Landing program gives graduate dancers from tertiary courses around Australia a chance to find their feet in a mentored development project in Canberra. It is a unique opportunity to maintain and extend dance training, share knowledge and skills with interstate graduates, forge creative partnerships and launch a creative practice for the future. The program has been developed over several years and has supported many recent graduates during the difficult transition from the tertiary course into the dance profession.

8 performer/ collaborators are involved in Soft Landing 1 2011:

• Ashleigh Berry,
• Caitlin Mackenzie,
• Emma Fishwick,
• Gabriel Comerford,
• Gemma Dawkins,
• Janine Proost,
• Kate MacDonald,
• Rebecca Taylor