Prof Gary Gordon, Head of Rhodes University Drama Department, will take up a post at the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts (HKAPA) for two years.
Gordon says: “It’s a very exciting move in one sense because it’s one of the great conservatoires in the world; it has a wonderful international reputation for training in the arts.”
Prof Gary Gordon, Head of Rhodes University Drama Department, will take up a post at the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts (HKAPA) for two years.
Gordon says: “It’s a very exciting move in one sense because it’s one of the great conservatoires in the world; it has a wonderful international reputation for training in the arts.”
Gordon will be take up the post as Head of Academic Studies and co-ordinator of the master of fine arts programme in dance.
“I’m looking for a wonderfully exciting adventure, to have a break from Grahamstown and to go and work in one of the world’s great cities.”
One of Gordon’s goals is to set up a network between Rhodes and HKAPA: “This is going to create some very exciting possible exchanges in the future.”
Gordon believes that the post will be fulfilling on both a personal and a professional level “I’ve had a long association with Rhodes;I’ve been here from the mid-70s.
I’ve only been away for five years,
when I studied at Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London and taught there. It’s something that I need on a personal level, to find rejuvenation and replenish ideas and also to get into a more international environment of the arts.
And when I’m away it allows other artists and academics to come in.” Dr Anita Donaldson, HKAPA Dean of the School of Dance, says that there were a number of key things about Gordon that interested he appointments panel: his longstanding experience in dance and theatre; the broad range of his expertise; the integration of practice and theory (one of the school’s primary principles) and an understanding of both conservatoire and university contexts.
“He is a good example of what the academy deems the ‘artistpractitioner- scholar’ and is just right for the rather complex and allencompassing post, which might well be described as needing multimulti- skilling.
He also has strengths in a number of areas which we are in the process of developing in our programmes most notably choreography. His experience in dance education and in establishing a graduate performance company will also be very valuable.”
