GUTS IS A FORCE FOR CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Founded in 2018 by dance artists Frankie Snowdon and Madeleine Krenek, GUTS Dance // Central Australia (GUTS) exists in a unique, diverse and complex place - one of the most isolated geographies in the world.
As an Alice Springs/Mparntwe-based contemporary dance organisation, we are the only platform for contemporary dance investigation, creation, training and performance within a 1500 km radius. GUTS supports experimental dance practices and production and is a hub for learning and exchange with a growing reputation in the landscape of Australian dance organisations.
OUR PURPOSE
GUTS is a responsive platform for dance practice, performance and engagement, situated in remote Central Australia. Reflecting our place and community, we add value and diversity to cultural expression locally and globally.
OUR VISION
Dance is critical to human connection, and a means of creating great art, meaningful experiences and empowered societies.
OUR VALUES
BRAVERY
in artistic processes, product and investigation
COMMITMENT
to community building through access and engagement
LOCALITY
to ensure our work is relevant to our community and responsive to place
LONGEVITY
of form (dance) and its impact on and importance to our society
CARE
enacted through practices in process and presentation
ARTISTIC RATIONAL
GUTS exists because of a steadfast commitment to support and champion brave and brilliant independent dance makers across regional and remote Australia. We are demonstrating a cultural shift - centering the experience and treatment of artists, celebrating diverse stories and practice, and de-urbanising where great art is funded, made and experienced.
At GUTS, we fiercely believe in the decentralisation of our artistic economies and contemporary practice’s capacity to enable us to evolve and respond with grace, hope and power to a rapidly changing world. We believe community practice, organisational integrity and artistic excellence can and must coexist - this drives our purpose and shapes our work.
GUTS exists in the belly of the country, a place of vast expanse and depth, that can be overlooked as a place of vitality and opportunity. We are one of a tiny handful of dance specific organisations situated outside the coastal cities of so-called Australia. A small but strongly beating heart - we link practitioners, peers and organisations to the country’s centre. We proudly assert the importance of equity in artistic and cultural opportunities contributing to full and enjoyable lives, no matter where you live. We are here for the betterment of our community, but also the evolution of the sector.
GUTS has a place within the Australian dance ecology, creating a vibrant, well resourced regional stronghold from which to expand and explore the boundaries and opportunities of dance including the impacts it can have on people and places. We contribute to the elevation of dance to a place where it is ubiquitous and celebrated, to encourage a return to the body and a connection to our communities and stories that is active and undeniable.
WHAT IS GUTS?
A truly artist-led evolution, the GUTS story began in 2012 when Frankie Snowdon and Madeleine Krenek founded Alice Can Dance.
2012
Alice Can Dance: developed alongside Adam Wheeler, our first project in Central Australia
2017
The Perception Experiment premiere at Araluen Arts Centre - our first professional contemporary work
2018
GUTS arrives: incorporated NFP with DGR and charity status
The Lost Dance Project premieres in Mparntwe, Alice Springs
2019
Home at Araluen Arts Centre: first company in residence and now our permanent home
First tour for GUTS: The Perception Experiment tours to festivals in Melbourne, Mexico and Darwin
2020
The Perception Experiment tours nationally to regional Australia, over 5 states and territories
Premiere of Dance (a short homage) at the Darwin Festival
2021
Brave Bodies and SPILL (your GUTS) launched
Our first program partnership with Tasdance: Collision, a work by Jo Lloyd and Pete Matilla
First GUTS commission: Value for Money
Spring.Loaded.Dance. Festival launched in Mparntwe
GUTS awarded the 2021 NT Human Rights Commission Fitzgerald Award for Diversity
2022
Partnership with Parrtjima Festival showcasing emerging dance maker Toni Lord’s (Arrernte/Yankunyjatjara) first work
Launch of DETOUR Interconnected Dance Fellowship, a partnership between GUTS, Dance Makers Collective (DMC), Tasdance, Dancenorth and Tracks
Alice Can Dance celebrates 10 years, having engaged over 2,500 young people in public schools throughout remote Australia
2023
National tour, Value for Money, in partnership with Artback NT
Creative Australia’s Digital Strategist-in-Residence recipient
Premiere of SUB (Ash Musk x GUTS Dance) at the Araluen Arts Centre and tour to Tasmania
2024
Securing ongoing life of GUTS through multi-year operational funding from Creative Australia and the NT Government
Solidification of in schools program operating year round
National Touring of SUB to Sydney Dance Company INDance Program
Since becoming an incorporated association in 2018 GUTS has:
· employed 53 professional artists on 33 projects & programs in the NT
· toured work to 7 states and territories and internationally
· amassed a combined audience across all projects of 21,715 people
· engaged 3,204 young people in Central Australia in dance programs
· taught in excess of 720 public dance classes for Mparntwe community members
· paid 65% of our total revenue straight into the pockets of artists
· increased funding & investment in our organisation by over 350%, including securing federal and territory multi-year funding.
· premiered 5 new works - The Perception Experiment, The Lost Dance Project , DANCE (a short homage), Value for Money and SUB.