Colette Mardirossian from Armenian Sydney Dance Ensemble

1) Tell me a bit about yourself

Hi, I am Colette, an Australian born Armenian. I am one of the head dance teachers of Hamazkaine Armenian Sydney Dance Ensemble (ASDC). Away from dance I am a primary school teacher.

2) How long have you been dancing and how long have you been a teacher for?

I have been dancing for 28 years and have been a teacher for 16 years. My mother would tell me that even before I started dancing formally at the age of 3, I was always dancing putting rhythm to a beat. I went to Toomanian Saturday language school where I got my first taste of teaching dancing, at the age of 15. The year after this, after being a head soloist for many years, I was invited to commence teaching the youngest created group (the 4–6-year old

s) at ASDC and then very quickly moved onto instructing numerous groups within the company which consisted from 4- to 15-year-olds. Moreover, I have choreographed and instructed Armenian dance at many other Armenian Saturday schools, scouts, teaching; adults Armenian Zumba, Armenian dance at Alexander Aged Care and children as well as adults dances to perform at special occasions and events. To this day, I dance in the Seniors group and I am so grateful for my dearest colleagues who are my dear friends and fellow choreographers; Tina Natarian and Angineh Karabedian and supportive board members, led by Mr Harmick Hacobian and other team of instructors.

3) What attracted you to Armenian dancing?

My mum always told me that she put me into every type of different dance class, however, it was easy to realise that even from a young age Armenian dance had a special place in my heart. I believe that it had something to do with the culture and the music which was very familiar even from a young age.

My mother and my grandmother were in dance groups and my grandmother taught at one point so I believe that Armenian dance is in my blood.

4) What does Armenian dance symbolize to you?

For me, Armenian dancing is engraved in my soul. I believe that Armenian dance is such a huge part of our people, ancestors and history and plays such an imperative role in their everyday lives (especially in Armenia). Throughout our history and to this day, Armenian dance is used to celebrate, to grieve, to tell a story, to educate and to prepare for the best and more difficult days our people have and continue to face. Each step has a meaning, each step has been passed down from one generation to another. Every traditional dance, has a story to tell. Every piece of music and/or lyrics accompanied to our dances are incredibly special.

5) Why is it so important to preserve our Armenian dance groups?

I believe it is one of the most important avenues that people will be able to get a sense of; self, connection and belonging through their culture. It gives all dancers the opportunity to learn about their beautiful culture.

I have found that for those students that don’t speak Armenian at home, dance classes provide an opportunity for the students to get an ear for the Armenian language in addition to learning our culture, traditions, celebrations and history through the art of dance. I truly believe that it opens the youth to love and appreciate all things Armenian and in turn this impact on the entire family.

I recently had the father of one of my students who is not of Armenian descent tell me that since his child started Armenian dance, they have become addicted to listening to Armenian music at home, particularly the singer Iveta, and that now it is something that the entire family enjoys listening to.

Many students have also professed a desire to visit Armenia and have enhanced interest and curiosity about their culture on the back of interaction with the dance group. The older dancers have saved playlists filled with our rich Armenian music and watch and discuss videos of Armenian dance and music clips. Dancers feel a heightened sense of self and belonging that they are Armenian. The more they begin to understand this, the more sense of pride, connection and joy they feel.

6) What do you look to happen to the ASDC group in the coming years?

The vision would be to show other cultures and teach other cultures the importance of Armenian dance. For example, I hope that we will be able to participate in a greater number of international festivals where we are able to display our dance culture.

At the same time, I would like to create greater bonds with Armenia and dance groups within Armenia. I feel that we have good connection with Armenian dance groups in other diaspora countries, yet there is a lack of collaboration with dance groups from Armenia.

Finally, I would love to be able to further educate our community on the beauty and the uniqueness of our dance culture. I hear people comment that all the dances are the same or are very similar. This could not be further from the truth, showing the unique beauty of each dance is something that I would love to teach our community. Armenian dance consists of such a rich diversity of genres in style and music. Thus, I am constantly inspired to create new and meaningful choreography and dances, as well as showcase our traditional dances.

7) What is an important quality you look for in your dance students?

Passion and commitment.

It is not uncommon to see passion in even our smallest dancers. When I see that passion from even the 4-year-old dances I know that is a dancer that will glorify our culture.

8) What do you hope for your students to take away from dance?

I want to instil the importance of Dance as being one aspect of our amazing culture and to appreciate our culture and our history.

ASDC held a concert in 2019 with the theme being ‘Tradition Medley’. This concert really helped educate our students on aspects of our amazing celebrations and traditions.

I want to continue teaching our traditional dances in engaging and unique ways to preserve our culture and passion towards our culture. I want to instil the same love I have for our dance within our dancers.

9) What is your favourite music to accompany a dance performance?

There are so many wonderful music pieces to accompany our dances.

For me, I love the old songs as I feel that they offer a real connection to our traditions and culture, for e.g. music and songs by Komitas. I also love old songs that have been tweaked for today’s preferences. Anything with the duduk is always a winner for me as well.

10) What do you like to do away from dance?

I love spending time with family/friends of course and being a primary school teacher. At the moment I am hooked on watching and listening to; Azgayin Yerkitch, concerts and songs from Garik and Sona, Aram MP3, Ladvina and similar artists, where they have re-tweaked for a modern audience, traditional folk songs. This type of genre is really fascinating to me. I have begun introducing this style of music and dance to our dancers as well and the dancers really enjoy this. It is really important to always introduce and teach varied genres of Armenian dance and expose the dancers to all of our different styles of music as well.

Interviewer: Toros Kassabian