New Head Of Contemporary Dance

20 NOVEMBER 2007

The New Zealand School of Dance is delighted to announce that Tiina Alinen has been appointed Head of Contemporary Dance. Tiina has enjoyed a diverse career as a dancer, teacher and choreographer with a number of high profile companies and training institutions including Tasdance, Expressions Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre, Leigh Warren and Dancers, National Indigenous Academy of Theatrical Arts, Queensland University of Technology, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University, Victorian College of the Arts and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

"I am truly honoured to have been appointed Head of Contemporary Dance at the School", says Alinen. "The New Zealand contemporary dance language is unique and I wish to support and raise this profile further nationally and interntionally".

Tiina is originally from Mt. Isa, Queensland where she lived near the Australian desert. She has a long association of living and working with Australia's Aboriginal people and has worked internationally recognised Indigenous writers, musicians, composers and dancers. From the isolation and beauty of North-West Queensland, Tiina went to study at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, graduating in 1982. Following which, she undertook further study in New York in the dance techniques of Merce Cunningham, Erik Hawkins and Jose Limon.

"We're delighted that Tiina has agreed to assume leadership of the Contemporary Dance programme." says NZSD Director Garry Trinder. "The recent achievements of the programme under the direction of Wendy Wallace have created a superb platform for future success. Tiina's lifelong passion for dance and her creative vision will inspire many artists, audiences and young people, who will be drawn to the New Zealand School of Dance in the coming years."

The New Zealand School of Dance, internationally recognised as one of the Southern Hemisphere's leading tertiary dance institutions, offers two-year and three-year intensive training programmes in both Contemporary Dance and Classical Ballet. The School accommodates approximately sixty students undertaking full-time study at any one time, approximately half of whom specialise in Contemporary Dance.

"I want graduates to leave this institution as emerging artists with excellent technical skills, interest in other artforms and with a curiosity of the world around them. As the newly-appointed Head of Contemporary Dance at the School of Dance I wish to support New Zealand's unique dance identity" Tiina says.

ENDS

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