- Di von Essen
Professional Platform for Dance in Newcastle
For those involved in the dance world or those of us that just love catching a performance or two, Catapult Dance Choreographic Hub is well known both locally and internationally. This month we sat down with Founder Cadi McCarthy to learn more about 'The Hub'.
Hi Cadi. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Catapult is practically an institution for the region's talented dancers. Can you please explain what Catapult is all about?
We're a professional contemporary dance and choreographic not-for-profit arts organisation for mid-career choreographers, professional dancers, multi-disciplinary artists, emerging artists, young people, and the community.
We provide a platform for professional artists to develop and present new dance works for main-stage presentations, site-specific locations, installations, galleries, studio showings and digitally. In addition, we support artists through company contracts, commissions, choreographic residencies, and international exchanges.
When was Catapult founded, and where did the inspiration come from?
Catapult was founded in 2014. I had been the Artistic Director of a full-time professional dance company before moving to Newcastle. My vision was to set up a professional choreographic hub in Newcastle where choreographers and artists could develop new works, transforming Newcastle into a regional centre of professional choreographic practice with regional, national and international reach and recognition.
What are the main goals of Catapult for the creative arts community?
One of my goals was to sustain the careers of professional dance artists living in the Hunter through paid opportunities and contracts and to draw professional dancers and choreographers to the region. I have always advocated for employing and contracting artists on wages equivalent to any other career. Too often, artists are asked to work for free, for exposure,
or provided fees that do not equate to the extensive training, rehearsal time, and skills that professional artists have. We have achieved this, as Newcastle is now home to some exceptional professional dancers.
Catapult runs a number of different programs. Can you please tell us a little about each?
We run five main programs. Catapult Company commissions full-length works by established choreographers, on a cast of professional dancers, with scores by Hunter composers, while Propel Choreographic Residencies curate local, national and international choreographers to collaborate with multidisciplinary artists to develop new work.
Now that borders have re-opened our International Programs can restart. This program provides a platform for professional cross-global collaborations and commissions with artists from Sweden, Israel, Canada, America and the UK. In addition, The Flipside Project is our pre-professional youth initiative, bringing choreographers to create full-length works in collaboration with young people. The Flipside Project is not a dance school, but a youth ensemble. Finally, Catapult Community is our outreach program incorporating weekly drop-in classes, masterclasses, schools’ workshops, intensive programs, and teacher professional development.
What have been the main challenges you have overcome over the last eight years, and in what direction do you see Catapult heading in the next eight?
Covid has been a difficult time for the performing arts in general. We have had to cancel, postpone and re-schedule our
programs. Now that the doors have reopened, we have been extremely busy with our professional work. So far this year we have performed Drift at MAP MIMA, toured Awkward regionally, Scar- our dance film exhibition commissioned by The Lock-Up opened, and our youth and community projects have recommenced. So, things are looking up. We are looking forward to re-igniting all our programs again.
Discover more of What's On at Catapult at www.catapultdance.com.au
