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55th ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING
ISTD HEADQUARTERS, Thursday 6th July 2000
Madam President,
Vice Presidents, Members of the Council and all members of the ISTD, it
is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you to our 55th Annual General
Meeting. We all love to attend functions when we can sit back, relax and
watch lovely dancing, but as there is no entertainment today your efforts
to attend are doubly appreciated. It is at this point that we remember
our valued members, who passed away during the year as already recorded
in Dance including one of our own Council Members, Ron Ferguson. We respect
the great contribution they made to the ISTD and in particular to their
own Faculty, I now ask you to stand to honour their memory.
Thank you.
This year there
have been many changes throughout the Society and as you will have seen
in the new look Annual Report, the financial standing of the Society remains
very healthy. You will also have read the departmental reports, giving
notice of the exciting reception in the House of Commons, the statistics
of the increase in membership and examinations, our continuing efforts
towards gaining national recognition through the Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority and notification of the revised Rules and Standing Orders.
The Reception in
April at the House of Commons hosted by Mrs Llin Golding MP was a great
success and was attended by MPs of all parties, Members of the House of
Lords and representatives of other interested organisations. The Rt Hon
Gerald Kaufman MP has accepted an invitation to join our Grand Council
together with 3 other distinguished personalities from our own Society,
namely - Doreen Bird, Betty Laine and Elizabeth Romain.
Our International
Examinations continue to flourish and we have appointed many new International
Examiners. With the continuing development of the Web site many of our
members and prospective members now find it easier to keep up to date
and communicate with Headquarters. I
was delighted to have the opportunity to visit 12 of our overseas centres
in Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. My purpose was to
explain the rationale behind the new marking system and the re-naming
of the Major Examinations. The warmth of the welcome which I received
everywhere was exceptional and enhanced the links which unite the ISTD
worldwide.
We are continuing
our discussions with Middlesex University with a view to developing a
Degree based on the Associate Diploma.
The first ever Theatre
Congress was held during the year in Falkirk, Scotland. We were encouraged
to see the high standard of work and the enthusiasm of the teachers, they
extended a very warm welcome to Headquarters Staff and the Faculty members
who attended.
Council appointed
members to a new Dance Sport Committee for The Alternative Rhythms Faculty.
They have already
produced syllabi in Salsa and Argentine Tango. The Mambo Syllabus had
already been developed by the Latin American Committee.
They are now looking
into the technique of "Lindy Hop". The Latin American Dance Faculty have
now completed the enormous task of rewriting the 5 Dances within their
technique book. The Disco, Free Style, Rock 'n' Roll Faculty has continued
to increase its numbers particularly in examination entries. They have
now completed the Country Western Licentiate Syllabus. The
Sequence Faculty had the highest number of entries ever recorded in their
Inventive Dance competition. The Modern Ballroom Faculty will sadly miss
one of their senior Committee members, Gordon Little, who sadly passed
away in June. The Millennium Award has proved extremely popular and gave
teachers the opportunity to introduce new styles to their pupils. The
detailed Examination Specifications for Grade examinations in Bharatanatyam
and Kathak have now been written, edited and published.
Two hundred and
fifteen dancers were selected to perform in the "Classical Greek Dance
Presentation" at the Royal Albert Hall - in the Physical Education Millennium
Spectacular. The Classical Greek Faculty were delighted to have been presented
with the Abbey Life Cup for 1999.
The National Dance
Group 'Northern Lights' formed by Miss Dixon-Phillip represented the ISTD
also at the Royal Albert Hall as part of The Physical Education Association
of the UK. The Jack McConachie Sword Competition was presented in a new
format which proved to be very popular.
In September 1999
Mary-Jane Duckworth retired as Chairman of the Cecchetti Society Faculty,
a position she had held most successfully for almost ten years. Linda
Pilkington was elected as the new Chairman. The revision of their Senior
Certificate examination has been completed and has now been retitled Pre-Intermediate.
Miss Ivy Baker
retired from the Imperial Classical Ballet Committee in October, having
been a valued member for many years. Mr Guy Niblett has been co-opted
onto the Committee. New uniforms have been introduced for Class Tests,
Grade and Major Examinations.
The Imperial Ballet
and The Modern Theatre Dance Faculty have each appointed 13 new examiners
and in January Daphne Peterson was presented with a special Millennium
Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the Modern Theatre
Dance Faculty.
All the Competition
and Award Days of both Faculties Boards again proved to be most successful
and are a constant reminder of the ever increasing standards presented
by teachers of each individual Faculty.
The very popular
Dance Sport Congress in Worthing was well attended and again gave the
teachers a variety of excellent lectures.
The Dance Sport
Refresher and Theatre Faculty Congress at the Royal Lancaster Hotel provided
a further opportunity for teachers to be inspired by new approaches and
were fully appreciated. The Dinner which followed was a huge success.
The 1999 Imperial Awards were presented to the following:
Yvonne Taylor-Hill
(Imperial Dance and Dance Sport Faculties Board)
Gaynor Owen (Imperial Dance and Theatre Faculties Board)
Carole Watson from Italy (International)
All very deserving
recipients.
The excellent Cabaret
was performed by Augusto Schiavo and Caterina Arzenton.
The Natural Movement's
first course for qualified teachers was completed in October. This consisted
of six modules covering all aspects of their work at a basic level. Of
the teachers who attended the course 5 entered for the assessment test
and all were successful.
The Dance Research
Committee continues its policy of publishing dances and music and is grateful
to the Radcliffe Trust for funding this notation project, the present
stage of which is ongoing and covers 19th Century Ballroom Dancing. The
final course of the year marked the retirement of their enthusiastic and
inspiring Chairman, Miss Phrosso Pfister. We extend a warm welcome to
Dr Susan Danby who takes over as Chairman of this Committee.
The History Course
held in April was attended by a total of 18 teachers and students proving
that the change of date from the Summer half term week to the Easter holiday
period is popular. The Anatomy Courses throughout the year were also well
attended.
I would personally
like to thank the Council Members who served on our Council with me during
the last 9 years for all their help and support and to likewise thank
the members of the Theatre Faculty Board who have worked tirelessly and
given so much to the ISTD during my 25 years as their Chairman. Robert
Grover and Michael Browne I know would like to join me in thanking The
Management Team together with all HQ staff, all our Organisers, Examiners
and Committee Members for their tremendous contribution to the development
of our Society. We wish all our loyal members worldwide every success,
may they continue to teach and create Dance in all its forms to the very
highest level of achievement, thus ensuring fulfilment and enjoyment for
all our teachers and students and therefore securing the future of the
ISTD throughout the 21st Century.
Miss Joyce Percy
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