5 Questions with Kate Champion

The artistic director of Black Swan State Theatre Company, Kate is a multi-award-winning artist with decades of experience working in theatre, dance theatre, opera, musical theatre, film and circus. For Black Swan she has directed the critically acclaimed Never Have I Ever, Things I Know to Be True, Dirty Birds, The Pool and Prima Facie. Kate was the founding artistic director of Force Majeure, an influential dance theatre company based in Sydney, premiering five original mainstage works for major festivals and touring regionally, nationally and internationally. Kate works extensively on large-scale projects, and for major theatre companies as well as in the small-to-medium and independent theatre scene. Kate had a 26-year career as a performer and dancer with both Australian and international companies and created two acclaimed solo shows.

Q1. What has been your best career move?

It’s been knowing when to leave and having the courage to leave. I've been in a dance company where I thought I wasn't going anywhere, and people were like, “But it's so hard to get into a company at this level – you can't just walk away from it.” But I knew I wanted to do my own work. It’s not being scared to jump into the abyss. As an artist, the precarious existence, especially as you get older, can become tiresome financially and security-wise, and it’s human nature to want a permanent place to live, or some sense of the future beyond your next contract. But you can't be in the performing arts if you don't embrace that precarious [sense of] “what's next?” The best thing I did early on was take that as an exciting possibility rather than, “What am I leaving behind that I might be making a mistake about?” I've never regretted it, so I keep jumping off those cliffs, even at 63.

Q2. Given your time over, what would you do differently?

When you start your career, dancers aren't encouraged to express their own opinions; you’re a vehicle for someone else's moves. So I found it hard, particularly as a young woman, to get the confidence to express myself. I just wish I had backed myself earlier in that regard. I looked a certain way – blondish hair – and back in the day, there was this assumption that you didn't go to university because you weren't smart enough, which is ridiculous. You were probably just waiting to have kids and find a rich man – I remember that being said to me. I just wish I hadn't felt meek … but I’ve made up for it since.

Q3. Do you have a professional hero?

I have many, but because it's today, I want to say the woman whose memorial I was just at: Fiona Winning. She was the most incredible arts advocate, an artist in her own right, and the artistic director at Performance Space, which is where I cut my teeth. She ultimately became head of programming at Sydney Opera House. We were all gathered at the Opera House today – independent artists right up to CEOs and ex-CEOs of the Opera House and festivals. This woman was one of the most inspirational people, and had such an influence on the cultural life, not just of Sydney, but Australia. They gave out a fantastic card, What Would Fiona Do? It reads, “Turn up, do the hard work, see what needs to be done and do it. Find the humour.” There's a lovely line about artists: “Cultivate empathy for the fragilities and precarities of artists’ lives. If you're interested, make it clear; leave no one hanging. In defeat don't be bitter; it's probably not about you. Take a breath. Imagine the kindest way; choose that way. Summon superhuman patience in the face of bureaucracy. Stand your ground, take courage, find your own way to keep winning.”

Q4. What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

Listen, pay attention and never stop learning. Because I didn't train at an institute, I always had a chip on my shoulder that I hadn't learned properly, but it instilled in me the realisation that I had to learn everything on the job. I can learn from people much younger than me, from people who have different skills. I’ve never thought, “I've been around for decades. I know how it all works.” Remain curious. It took a long time [for the chip to disappear] – it probably took close to my late 40s. I also only did three years of high school, so I used to hide that. Now I yell it from the rafters, because I want to encourage people who have any hang-ups like that to know that intelligence and wherewithal and ability aren't always something that has a certificate attached to it.

Q5. Have things changed for women in dance and theatre in the past 10 years?

There are more women in positions of power in theatre, but I still don't think it's equal. There tends to be more women in the secondary administration roles than in the top jobs.

It takes the men to acknowledge that … not quotas. It's always easy to reincarnate in your own image – we do it subliminally – so [they need to] just think twice about who's out there. I do think some women lead differently to men – it doesn't come across as “leaning in” or whatever it is, but there are other ways of leading that can be just as effective. If we can't pick those people in the arts, then where can it happen? If I think of Belvoir, where I'm working at the moment, there are almost only female directors coming up as the next generation, and that gives me huge encouragement. We all keep thinking that we should be further than we are with things like wage equality but there's hope with every new generation. What we're passing down does accumulate and will lead to a rising tide – and has already – so I have faith in that.

Kate Champion is the director of Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes – a cabaret retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale – now playing at Belvoir Street Theatre in Surry Hills. Women in Media Hub members are invited to a special performance this Thursday evening, 23 October, with pre-event drinks thanks to our friends at Belvoir. Only a couple of seats remain! If you’re a Hub member and would like to join with a guest, email events@womeninmedia.com.au to secure the final tickets – first in, best dressed!

Interview by Susan Horsburgh