The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance
The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance was established in 2003 and honours Caroline Plummer (1978-2003).
Caroline completed a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Diploma for Graduates in Dance, and was awarded the University of Otago Prestige Scholarship in Arts. What made her academic achievement most remarkable was she was diagnosed and treated for cancer during her study. Caroline completed her degrees in November 2002 and was given a personal graduation ceremony in March 2003. She died on 28 April 2003. The Fellowship acknowledges Caroline's outstanding scholarship at the University of Otago, her passion for dance, and her vision for community dance in New Zealand.
The annual fellowship is for six months (usually February until July), and is open to community dance practitioners, teachers and researches from New Zealand and overseas who have a proposed programme of activity, or project, that furthers Caroline's belief and aspirations for community dance in New Zealand. It provides the recipient with an office/dance space and not less than the minimum salary of a fulltime University Lecturer for a six-month period.
Previous Fellowship recipient
- Lyne Pringle, 2011
All previous Fellowship recipients
Hahna Briggs
Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance 2013
Hahna Briggs says winning the Fellowship was always one of her personal goals and she is delighted to have achieved it. She has danced in performances by two previous Caroline Plummer Fellows - Suzanne Cowan's 'House of Memories' (2010), and Lyne Pringle's 'Ocean Wave' (2011).
“The Caroline Plummer Fellowship emphasises the many connections between dance and the community. It removes dance from the 'stage', as something that is unattainable to most people, and reminds us that dance actually interweaves with community, culture and society, and is something all people can actively engage in,” she says.
Hahna has a Bachelor of Physical Education (Otago), a Postgraduate Diploma in Rehabilitation (Massey) and a Masters in Dance Studies (Otago). Her works include: dancer for “Done to Perfection ', Weave Movement Theatre, Victoria, Australia (2012); and “Dances About Love” (2011) in collaboration with local dance practitioner Lisa Wilkinson.