The Guild Dance Theatre Homepage

Introduction
Guild Dance Theatre is the longest running dance club of the Student Union at the University of Melbourne. It is a contemporary dance group that is all-inclusive in dance ability and performer experience. For example, the Guild dance audition process is cooperative rather than selective - interested performers actually choose choreographers that must present their ideas in an open forum.
Guild has been running since 1981, has staged at least one large dance production per year, and continues to thrive despite becoming independent of the union's theatre department where it was once run by the Union's Dance Director.
Since taking part in the group's productions as students, many performers have actually gained entrance to professional dance courses around Australia and in Europe. One member won a scholarship from Australia to study in London. Guild has spawned several other student dance groups in the last few years.
For the majority of Guild Dance members, dance is more of a hobby or aside from studies in the sciences, politics and almost all faculties at Melbourne University. Such academics - both undergraduate and postgraduate - have brought much to the flavour of contemporary dance that Guild is known for.
In particular, the influences of psychology were seen in Guild's Psychiatric Cabaret (1992) for which madness, hallucination and fantasy were the subjects. Recently, The Order of Things (1994) was concerned with orderliness in nature, machines, reality and dreams. The former artistic director of Guild at the time, Anastasi Siotas, introduced this mechanistic flavour from his experiences as a postgraduate in microbiology.
Guild Shows The format that Guild has come to settle on in each of its major shows is a collaboration of several choreographers with their performers shared between some or all pieces. An outside choreographer then designs the interludes between all pieces such that the dance is bound under one theme. Where possible, Guild has used projected colour stills and video, roving camera, live musicians and other enhancements to contemporary dance performance.
1996 In "Begin Search", Guild returned to the theatre where it started and on what its name was coined. The Guild theatre is possibly the University's best theatre for dance, being an open stage in an intimate space.
Begin Search featured seven choreographers creating original dance on the theme of "Hunting" in particular, hunting for information through technology.
An elaborate set was design by two Melbourne architects from 'UTEWORKS' that have volunteered their services. Several graduate and professional composer/musicians are in collaboration with individual choreographers. All music will be original and contemporary, and will be mastered onto a digital soundtrack for the show.
All creative work, rehearsals and collaborations took place over eight weeks from the 8th of July until September the 4th, when the piece opened to a successful season of ten shows. Begin Search had a cast of 20 dancers and 5 musicians.
1997 For "MetaFormosis", Guild has recruited the skills of seven Black Theatre performers. This piece will also include original music by three melbourne composers and a cast of 16 people.
MetaFormosis is the story of a nameless puppet who has scrubbing brushes in places of hands and lives a very unpleasant life as a slave dominated by a large multi-form monster called "Foo".
The piece explores the frightening life of the little puppet and the luxury of her fantasies. Sixteen dancers enact the elaborate escapism that the puppet exists on and conquers with.