Background
Nanette Hassall was born in Sydney, Australia, and studied dance at venues including Australian schools.
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Nanette Hassall
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There, she attended the Juilliard School, New York, on scholarship, with teachers including Jose Limon and Antony Tudor.
Career
She taught physical education at a girls" high school while pursuing her love of dance. She danced with companies including the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Ballet Rambert, the Strider Dance Company (Richard Alston) and Dance Company NSW (Jaap Flier). Hassall taught at schools and colleges including Dartington College of Arts, Opleiding Moderne Dans School in Amsterdam, Deakin University, Rusden State College, the Victorian College of the Arts, and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (department head, 1995).
While working at the Dartingon College of the Arts, she met American composer Bill Fontana, marrying him in London in 1975.
Fontana joined her in working at Dance Company NSW. By 1983, the The Age was describing Hassall as "a leading figure in Australian post-modern dance." She co-founded Dance Exchange with Russell Dumas, and founded Dance in Melbourne (director,1983-1989). She left Dance in 1989 to ensure that the company continued to nurture developing choreographers rather than focusing too extensively on her own work.
Hassall choreographed prolifically for Dance Exchange. She regularly commissions works from Australian composers for her choreography.
Hassall is active on boards and panels as an advocate for dance and dance education, and is the author of papers and articles including: "Phillip Adams" (2004).
