Key Points
- In Australia, 'dance movement therapy' is a form of psychotherapy.
- South Australian dance artist and holistic movement practitioner Ben-Hur Winter launched 'Dancetopia' workshops aimed act learning about mindful movement.
- Dance is also a way to "connect, explore, discover and nurture community".
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'Dancetopia': Therapeutic movements for the mind and well-being by Benhur Winter
15:03
'Dancetopia'
"Dance and self-expression really are my passion and help me in building a community as well as a sense of belonging," dance artist Ben-Hur Winter shares.
From Adelaide, South Australia, the dance artist, producer and holistic practitioner is bring 'Dancetopia' to New South Wales.
"It's a fun, therapeutic dance and movement workshop and we'll be able to connect with the community and explore, discover and nurture through the community as well through getting in touch with our body."
In Australia, '' is a form of psychotherapy. Dance and other forms of arts including visual arts, drama, dance movement, and music are employed to support physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Artist Ben-Hur Winter launched 'Dancetopia' during last November's Feast Festival in Adelaide "as an ongoing project to work with the community through dance therapy and therapeutic movement". Credit: Supplied by Ben-Hur Winter
It comes from mindfulness practice which is one way of addressing mental health.
"You get to focus on what you're experiencing internally, instead of external factors. We can connect and tune into our bodies and how we move in relation to ourselves, others and also the space that we are in.
"We get to practice self-care, mindful movement, creative dance and self-expression."
The "Dancetopia in Sydney" was held at ACI Central in Campbelltown, NSW, in early March, in cooperation with Flagcom and Friends as part of the Sydney WorldPride Festival.
Winter first launched the Dancetopia project in November 2022 as part of the Feast Festival in Adelaide.
The Feast Festival is an annual LGBTIQ+ Queer Arts and Cultural Festival that celebrates "Pride and Diversity", and gives a safe and inclusive platform for the LGBTIQ+ community where they can share and express themselves through arts and culture.
'The Dance of Two Left Feet'
In the last week of Sydney WorldPride, Ben-Hur Winter is proud to present the independent Filipino film 'The Dance of Two Left Feet' (Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa) through Anahata Community and Flagcom and Friends.
The featured film was shown at the 'Karangalan (Honour): Cultural Film Night on March 1 this year.
The film is starred by Filipino actors Paulo Avelino, Rocco Nacino and Jean Garcia directed by Alvin B. Yapan.
The Karangalan (Honour) Night is a community film screening and cultural exchange that hopes to ignite conversation about diversity, inclusion and the Filipino diaspora.
"The film, 'The Dance of the Two Left Feet' is a film from the Cinemalaya Film Festival," Winter adds.
Sydney WorldPride's Karangalan (Honour): Cultural Film Night features award-winning Filipino independent film 'The Dance of Two Left Feet' that tackles the themes of love, friendship, and attraction explored through dance. Credit: Still image from The Dance of the Two Left Feet, via Pride Amplified Website
"The film has won the Gawad Urian Award Winner for Best Film (2012) and Gawad Urian Dekada Award Winner for Best Film of the Decade (2021)," Ben-Hur shares.
A timely film to watch as part of the Sydney WorldPride as talks about "complex relationships but at the heart of it all, it's all about love, self-care and it doesn't really matter who you love as long as you know how to love".
Dance and culture
For an artist like Ben-Hur Winter, it is not only his art that is of great value but as well as its origin.
"My cultural root has helped me shaped my identity as a Filipino-Australian but also find ways to now work with the wider multicultural community using my professional as a dance artist."
Winter was only 14 when he started to do 'folk dancing' in South Australia which paved way for his practice and community involvement.
"From there, I took up training in full-time dance at university and worked at that sector since then.
"I also went back to explore my cultural roots and got to study with different choreographers and teachers in the Philippines, including a style I'm particularly fond of called the 'pangalay' which is a dance from the southern Philippines.
It was consequential for the founder of that he was able to learn the different types of folk dances in the Philippine where he was originally from and now can share them with more Australians of Filipino heritage.
"Going back to the Philippines was so important because I've got to consolidate my passion for our culture.
