IN|FORM | Amy Hollingsworth
An interview with Amy Hollingsworth
Artistic Director, Australasian Dance Collective
Do you still dance for pleasure? What kind of thing?
This question made me laugh out loud…one might say I am always dancing. I am in perpetual motion in everything I do. When I talk, I tend to gesticulate expansively, and I simply cannot stand or sit still especially when watching others move. I love dancing. I occasionally join the dancers for class when time permits and, during creation of new work or re-staging, I am always on my feet using my physicality to convey ideas. That being said, I am also guilty of dancing around at home - especially when in the kitchen preparing meals with great music playing.
What’s your current role? How do you explain it to non-dance people you meet?
I am the Artistic Director of Australasian Dance Collective and I have been in this role for just over 2 years. My job is to craft the artistic vision for the company which includes driving the decisions around the collaborations we may undertake, selecting the choreographers we will work with, as well as creating dance works myself. It is an entirely creative job, made up of a balance of time in the studio with the dancers alongside the curatorial decisions, creating and deep work in design thinking and strategy. It requires me to be present and aware, noticing the world, assessing the ‘temperature’ of our society and striving to ensure our art reflects the environment we live in. Contemporary art, including contemporary dance, can at times intimidate people as they are not sure what it entails. In that ambiguity I see great opportunity – we can make anything we can dream of, giving us the potential to surprise, thrill and engage with people in new ways. Our latest collaboration Aftermath was with amazing Brisbane-based musician, Danny Harley of The Kite String Tangle. The resulting show was very different to our usual work – it was described as part gig, part dance performance, part rave….so much fun.
What is the most rewarding or fun part of your job and why?
Working with unbelievably inspiring, creative and talented souls! For me it is the robust conversations, the playtime in the studio watching incredible dancers find new ways of moving and communicating with their bodies, smiles and sweat aplenty. It is also the delicious process of creativity feeding further creativity – working with the ethos of being collectively extraordinary means that we invite and test many ideas, and each idea germinates another. Some are great, some are awful, and some are downright weird, but it provokes a sense of freedom to be constantly trying new things.
What are the things you’d wish you known when you took on your leadership role?
I wish I had known just how many things would be out of my control. But it is not what happens to you, rather how you deal with it that defines you, so I try to meet challenges with a calm and measured response. I give energy and vigour to what I can change and am honest about what I cannot – the perfect example being COVID. I couldn’t control the impact of restrictions, but I could, and did, have influence over our response as an organisation and our creative output.
What advice would you give someone just starting their career in dance / or starting a role similar to yours?
It would be the same advice in either scenario - you get out what you put in, so don’t shy away from doing the work. As a dancer, I loved the hard graft, working at something, refining, exploring and striving until I was communicating through dance to the best of my ability. Slowly crafting myself as the dancer I wanted to become. That appreciation for rigour permeates my work now. I enjoy holding myself accountable for the quality of my work and I don’t mind the effort that is required to achieve bold ideas. I have a Post-it note above my desk that I wrote for myself many years ago and I still look at it every morning. It says You will never regret excellence, only mediocrity and I take this as a mantra… it’s not about attaining perfection but turning up, literally and figuratively, to put the effort in…
A few thoughts on Leadership
Authenticity, consistency, and the ability to listen are, for me, paramount.
Authenticity is a word used often, but it is always born from knowing your ‘why’. I always take time to remind myself of my ‘why’ and it helps me audit my actions and priorities. It also means that I communicate clearly and honestly and with consistency.
Listening is the most powerful of tools – I try to really hear what those around me are saying, to give space to that and then have the confidence to put those ideas into action. I have found the strongest teams are those that have the trust to have the hard conversations, to test each other’s ideas with robust but respectful energy, and full of people who enjoy feeding into the growth and creativity of the organisation.