Pictured: SCIMM Dance Company performs ‘Paracosm’

SCIMM’s artistic directors and co-founders, Scott Pokorny and Tim Barnes have recently announced their second round of auditions for the latest Pre-Professional Full-Time Training Course commencing next Autumn. Founded 10 years ago, SCIMM’s constant evolution and growth has made the company passionate about changing the dance landscape for aspiring dancers. While this process may not be overly easy, the two have since discovered a holistic approach that seamlessly aims to transition students from the studio to the dance industry, while being guided by the artistic directors and co-founders themselves, SCIMM Dance Company members and choreographers. SCIMM relishes the opportunity to be able to provide extensive training programs such as these and is expected to attract a whole host of new talent this October. I was recently joined by both Scott and Tim who revealed a number of exciting things in the works, including audition tips, performance plans, special guest choreographers and how dancers can prepare for life after their SCIMM experience.

Energetiks: What inspired you to form such a comprehensive Pre-Professional Full-Time Training Course for prospective dancers?

Tim Barnes: As Scott and I both come from full-time ballet training, we found our voice in the contemporary world after our ballet training. We feel like classical ballet and contemporary within training are segregated, but both work hand in hand. We just thought that there was a gap missing for contemporary dancers to find a course that not only had a contemporary focus, but that strong ballet focus as well. So that was our inspiration, to fill that gap and train diverse contemporary dancers.

E: How do your current training programs being offered like Ascension, differ from the latest Pre-Professional Full-Time Training Course?

Scott Pokorny: Ascension is a program that runs one night a week, so it is much more condensed than a full-time program. It's there primarily as our first stepping stone into SCIMM and is for dancers that want to train with us and gain the knowledge that we have that applies to our style and values. Dancers train to build or fine-tune that technical base. The Pre-Professional program will primarily train professional dancers to get a job.

E: Is there a certain age group that can apply or is it open to all?

SP: For the full-time course program, we're looking for dancers aged 16 and up, dancers that have finished their education or that are willing to take that step and start their full-time training earlier. We will also be allowing them to continue doing distance education if they choose to do so […]. We've had a bit of a mix so far. We have had some kids that have stopped doing distance and want to focus on their training from ages 16. Then we have other kids that are going into year 11 and 12 who will continue doing their distance education on the side.

E: SCIMM prides itself on valuing innovation, what kind of opportunities will graduates be granted whilst undergoing the course units?

TB: We’re deep in the planning process at the moment and have got some really, really great teachers. We're going to be getting quite a few guest teachers that work professionally, which will be a great opportunity for dancers. We also have access to our professional company. So, we are going to be incorporating them into the full-time course, allowing dancers the chance to second with the company throughout the year and see what the process is like when creating professional works. It’s going to be a really exciting venture for us.

E: How will the professional dancers within SCIMM Dance Company help broaden graduates’ dance experience?

SP: Something that often gets missed in full-time training is that ability to be exposed to the professional world while training, as this isn’t always offered from a teacher or a choreographer in the studio. We're really lucky that we are, at least in Melbourne, the only full-time course that has a professional company alongside it every week. I think it'll be a really good way for the students to be able to see the difference between full-time training and professional contemporary work, as there are a lot of things that they don't always think about in full-time or they're not exposed to. Just to even be able to speak, see and coerce with the dancers will allow them to learn a lot and pass their knowledge down almost as mentors.

E: Could you give us a hint as to which special guest choreographers you have lined up?

TB: I think we can definitely give you a few names that we've got going for us at the moment. So as part of our core teacher group, we will have the beautiful Andie [Dashwood]. She's going to be heading the ballet side of things. Alongside her we also have Paul Knobloch whose going to be teaching as well. He's heavily involved with The Australian Ballet, so we're really excited to have him on board with us […]. We have quite a few amazing contemporary people coming in to work with students, one of which is Melissa Pham, whose currently working with Chunky Move and Stephanie Lake. She's also been in our company before, so we're super excited to have her.

E: What can graduates expect the main focus to be for the Mid and End of Year performances? A concept, a focus on a dance style, technique?

SP: We're going to try and separate both of the performances into slightly different types of seasons. I think the mid year is going to be more of a versatile showcase. We will still include our ballet, contemporary works and we'll also have some commercial works as there's a little bit of commercial still implemented in the course […]. The end of year will most likely be a triple bill, where they will get to work with choreographers for more of a length of time to create conceptual works that they'll get to perform. That will run for roughly 15 to 20 minutes and be more of that creative task-based process, while the first will be a choreography and showcase style event.

E: What professional pathways can these graduates embark on in the dance industry?

TB: This is something that we are really passionate about. Scott and I spend a lot of hours discussing different professional pathways for this industry, especially in this country […]. We've got incredible teachers and dancers in Australia and unfortunately the range of jobs isn't as vast as the amount of dancers coming out of the education system. So, we always discuss different pathways and the importance of not limiting performance to Australia and instead looking overseas, at different companies, even different schools that feed into other companies overseas. There's so many places in Europe that have an abundance of jobs, so we'd love to access that and see if we can start to send people abroad. Even if their journey isn't to become a professional performer, graduates can use their skills to either become a choreographer or to work in the art sector within grants, grant writing or administration. There are plenty of jobs and opportunities that we hope that we can educate them for that's not just the one career path.

SP: We are obviously hoping that our full-time course slowly starts to feed into our company as well. So, dancers that really want to get into our company are going to have a better chance if they complete our course. They will be getting firsthand training from Tim and I who obviously direct the company and we will be looking for dancers throughout the course to take into our professional company as well.

E: The second round of auditions take place on October 15th, what piece of advice would you give to those attending?

SP: I think something that young dancers, especially those going into a full-time course forget to realise is that it's okay to make mistakes in the audition. Some people come in quite reserved, and from an audition panel perspective, it is sometimes hard to really get to know them. We're looking at you as a base of what we can get and create out of you, and often people come in limiting their options or are scared to try things they might not be as comfortable with. So, definitely come in very open-minded and with a lot of energy. A big thing that we also do is interview all of the people that audition. Make sure that you’re clear about what you want out of the course, ask us a million questions as we're totally fine to answer away - and be willing to learn […]. Doing a little bit of research about the company or about our business so you really know what you're getting into is ideal too.

For those intrigued by this fantastic opportunity, complete an online application and be sure to attend the SCIMM’s full-time auditions held on Sunday 15th October 2023 at Circle Dance Studios.

Register to audition

We’re giving away tickets to SCIMM Dance Company’s opening night performance of ‘Mechorstra’. Be sure to enter here or purchase tickets here.

Enter our giveaway to win Mechorstra Tickets

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SCIMM Dance Company is proudly sponsored by Energetiks.

Article by Lara Divitcos

Image courtesy of T-Studios and photography by Elly Ford

SCIMM Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Auditions are underway for 2024