NEW NAMES, NEW PEOPLE
PERFORMANCE REPORT

                 COOMA 2000

                 SCHOOL TOURS

                 PROM PRAISE 1999

WESLEY INSTITUTE FOR MINISTRY AND THE ARTS
PRAYER PAGE - March 2000

NEW NAMES, NEW PEOPLE
Hannah Cooper
... And so the happy couple are married (i.e.. Hannah and Steve). You may also be interested in knowing that Peter Hallet conducted the ceremony, which was held in a garden in Ryde, Sydney.  So, Hannah is now known to the wide world as Hannah Cooper, and Steve is now known as Steve Cooper ... umm ... well ...

There are also other new names in ask dance theatre (phew!). We are very blessed to have able seaman (seaperson?) Kathy Byatt on board until the next port of call when she may depart to get her land-legs (begin a new job).  Kathy is helping us with some administration and is very welcome aboard. Another new crew member is Karen Chapman who will be our very own expert in morse code and flag signaling (i.e. she is helping to produce this very newsletter!). We are also in the process of considering taking on an apprentice navigator (choreographer) and first mate (production coordinator) for the year. We'll keep you informed of how the winds treat us.  Haargh me hearties - WELCOME ABOARD.

COOMA 2000
Hannah Cooper

The Australian Christian Music Seminar (which also incorporates most art forms) was once again held in Cooma, country NSW, in January.  Steve, Phillippa and Hannah all went, with Phillippa and Hannah on the dance faculty and Steve serving on the committee for the conference, and performing various other miscellaneous roles.  As well as teaching, performing and facilitating performance, we also performed one evening as ask, with Phillippa sharing what the company does followed by a showing of Disa pear.  We all felt happy with the response we received from the delegates and our peers.

SCHOOL TOURS
Hannah Cooper
During November last year, ask took the work Disa pear (directed by Phillippa Oakden-Patch) on the road.  Over two different visits we ran chapel sessions for all the high school students at Ravenswood (a girl's school run by the Uniting Church in Sydney).  Through the dance work, Phillippa’s testimony, prayer and bible readings we shared the idea of living for Christ in everything we do.  We had good response from the students, including some interesting conversations, and were thanked by the school. 

Later in the month we visited Glebe High School through a scripture program run by St John's Anglican church in Glebe.  On this occasion we performed Disa pear as part of a program designed by the scripture teachers around the theme of death and the afterlife.  The work was chosen due to the closing statement “... what happens when we disappear forever?”.  Once again there was a good response, and several Year 9 students commented that they were interested in learning more about Christianity. 

We considered the schools tours very worthwhile and are hoping to visit more schools during the course of 2000.

PROM PRAISE 1999
Steve Cooper
What a buzz!  What a blast! Anglicare’s third annual performance extravaganza, Prom Praise!!  The Sydney Entertainment Centre again!  And this time, I knew how to get to the stage door!  At least I thought I did ... What?!  They must have changed it!  Umm ... oh, excuse me - how do I get inside?  Oh I see, thanks.

How do the other people know where to go? How do they know whether or not to walk up to the guy in the booth and say their name, or their director's name, or the show they're part of - or a secret password!?  Am I the only one who isn't sure? 
Is there an Entertainment Centre backstage access bulletin at the bottom of page 13 in the Herald for people ‘in the know’ to check on their secret rendezvous requirements?

Yet still we managed to arrive, prepare and perform well alongside school choirs, massed choir and orchestra, the Sydney Youth Theatre Company's Godspell crew, Jack Jones, Peter Stacey, Phil Swan's award winning worship song and a whole bus-full of other items, acts and interesting occurrences.

And so ask dance theatre presented itself alongside six of our fine musical friends led by Mike Kenny, and five of the fine young ladies in WIMA’s dance department in the work If You Are Willing (also performed at the Bible Society's Bible Challenge in June).  Rehearsals and technical plotting in the venue went very smoothly, with the performance receiving a mixture of enthusiastic applause, polite applause and confused facial expressions. 

Despite the mixed response, we were pleased with our own performance.  Thus we were content to acknowledge that the style of our performance - modern jazz with contemporary dance in a piece that had been created in a relative hurry - was perhaps less than ‘hit’ material in this particular setting, where the program is heavily punctuated with classical music, hymns and pop music.

Phillip Heath, the creative director was particularly encouraging to us and expressed his concern for our ‘vital contemporary/fresh input’ to the program.  This became apparent in pre performance planning, during the show and afterwards as we talked over the success of the overall show. 

Prom Praise rests in 2000, so perhaps the next time we visit the Entertainment Centre, Pip and Drew will have created additional family member(s) and we should  perform in Pram Praise!
 

WESLEY INSTITUTE FOR MINISTRY AND THE ARTS
Phillippa Oakden-Patch
Wesley Institute, the place where it all began. It was in a Dance Ministry class that I heard Hannah’s twenty year vision and shared my two year vision with the suggestion that we give it a try together the following year. 

The Dance department under the direction of Evelyn Defina are very accommodating, allowing me to fit my classes around the company schedule. The advanced students are able to join the company for class on Fridays and in this way get an insight into the company. ask dance theatre is very open to discussing possibilities of incorporating graduates (and some undergraduates) into the apprentice program currently in development. Jenny Dennis, another dance lecturer, has also been a wonderful sounding board, encourager and  advisor.

Wesley Institute continues to be the major supporter of ask dance theatre. We are provided rehearsal space, office space, use of a computer, filing cabinet and postal facilities and finance for our quarterly newsletters and promotions. Additionally, numbers of the staff and students support us as Friends and financial supporters of ask dance theatre, by performing with us and by attending or assisting at performances. 

We greatly appreciate the support of Wesley Institute and invite you to visit their website: http://www.wima.edu.au

PRAYER PAGE

ask chapel  4-5pm Fridays
This year Peter Hallett will visit us every second week. We are very grateful for his support and input into our spiritual well being. Peter has a wonderful ability to listen to God's Spirit. Last year, we were constantly amazed by how his words, prepared before he arrived were just what we needed to hear.

Alternate Fridays we will share what God has been teaching us with each other and once a month Steve is organising a special visitor. We were thoroughly blessed by Corinne and Robert Urquhart (Crea Ruach) last Friday and we  look forward to Max and Morna Harding then Steve Everist visiting in the not too distant future.

We discussed with Peter our goals for this hour each week and he summarised them as follows:

ask is foremost a Christian company and although it will be working in the world with a variety of people, its first allegiance is to Jesus Christ.

This priority flows out of the personal relationships each member has with God but is enhanced, strengthened and deepened by their corporate relationship with God - the working of His Spirit, the enriching of His Word and the power of prayer.

Friday from 4-5pm is an opportunity in the week for other Christians to come alongside ask members and collaborators to assist with the following goals: