20 NOVEMBER 2007
New Zealand School Of Dance Appoints New Head Of Contemporary Dance
Tiina Alinen
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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