Event Type: Outdoor

Wendy Yu
Artist

Wendy Yu is an interdisciplinary artist actively practising in the fields of dance and urban media placemaking. She is a Masters graduate in Interaction Design and Electronic Arts at the University of Sydney and intends to further her research on creative interfaces between dance and city spaces through further research.

Her works of urban media placemaking have seen installation in Atlanta USA, the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, Carriageworks, the Inner West City Council, Woollahra City Council, numerous  arts festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Poland, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Berlin, including Beijing Tech Arts Festival 2021, where she also gave a lecture on dance and computational design.

Wendy has also given lectures of dance and computational and interface design in Berlin as part of Stammtisch Arts Festival, Melbourne as part of Lucy Guerin and Temperance Hall, Sydney as part of Ausdance Australia and March Dance Festival.

Wendy Yu has undergone residencies with the Municipality of Woollahra, the Inner West City Council, Ausdance dance artist in residence residency program, March dance residency program, Bundanon residency program, Centre for Projection art residency etc. where she conducted theoretical research dance’s position in urban media art.

Bethany Reece (she/her)
Dancer

Bethany is a contemporary dance artist born in lutruwita/Tasmania. She began her training in 2016 at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). In 2018 Bethany was awarded the Palisade award for ‘most outstanding graduate’. Throughout her studies Bethany travelled to Taiwan as an exchange student with the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) in 2017, and the following year toured the works The Resistance and Panthea by Brooke Leeder and Natalie Allen. In the same year Bethany staged her first choreographic work, This Transitory Weight. In 2019 Bethany was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) with First Class Honours from WAAPA and was a member of LINK Dance Company under the directorship of Michael Whaites. In her time with LINK she performed in works choreographed by Niv Marinberg, Scott Elstermann, Raewyn Hill, and Michael Whaites, and toured both nationally and internationally.

In 2020 Bethany became a developing artist with Co:3 Australia, and worked as an understudy for the production of Leviathan, a collaborative work with Circa performing both Leviathan and Stephanie Lake’s Colossus in Perth Festival 2020. Bethany has since returned to build her practice in lutruwita/Tasmania. Bethany received a Regional Arts Fellowship in 2020 to develop a new work that is in continued development. In 2021 Bethany was a collaborative choreographer on DRILL’s Leviathan, and dance artist with Second Echo Ensemble in the development of Charlie Smith’s Outside Boy. Bethany also worked as a performing artist in the Faro Experience at MONA in 2021, and as a casual lecturer delivering the unit Movement For Performers at the University of Tasmania. In 2022 Bethany performed in Rachel Ogle’s And The Earth Will Swallow Them Whole in the Perth Festival to great critical acclaim. Bethany is invested in work that is community centred, inclusive and has a social justice focus. Bethany believes dance has the ability to inspire a sense of belonging, and she is passionate about sharing this experience with dancers and nondancers alike.

Kyall Shanks
Dancer

Kyall is a Naarm/Melbourne based contemporary dance artist. His career has focused on finding a balance between performance, choreography and teaching work, and he is passionate about using the skills from these areas to increase the accessibility of dance through youth and community work. Since receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance from the Victorian College of the Arts he has danced for Tasdance, Antony Hamilton Projects, Chunky Move, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Opera Australia, The Delta Project and Liquidskin Dance Company. In 2017-2018 Kyall undertook an 8 month international residency program with DanceBox in Kobe, Japan, and then spent 3 months in Sweden as a member of ilYoung 2018. Through various programs and projects Kyall has engaged with community youth groups and schools as a teacher and choreographer, examples of this being the Arts Centre Melbourne/Matthew Bourne ‘Lord Of The Flies’ project, the 2019 Dance Massive work ‘Simulcast’ and Stephanie Lake’s 2020 mass community work/film ‘Multiply’. He works as Artistic Director to preprofessional youth dance company Yellow Wheel and through teaching work has represented the Victorian College of the Arts, Chunky Move, Ausdance Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne, DRILL, Transit Dance and The Space Dance and Arts Centre.

Emma Porteus
Panel facilitator: ‘Dance in Urban Media Art’

Emma holds a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts (Honours). She believes deeply in the positive power of art to transform individuals and communities positively. Emma has over 15 years’ experience working as a performance-maker and producer of dance, community, and festival projects throughout Australia and internationally, including with Vrystaat Festival (South Africa), ANTI Festival (Finland), Sydney Festival (NSW), Dancehouse, FOLA, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Next Wave (Vic), Tracks (NT), Dark Mofo, Mona Foma, Tasdance, Ten Days on the Island, Festival of Voices, Junction Arts Festival, and Tasmania Performs (Tas). In her current role as Executive Producer of Situate Art in Festivals, she is really interested in performance and art-making models that connect people and places. She helps artists create and produce tourable live, visual art, and festival events that can be delivered in any community, in any country, to produce rich experiences that speak directly to the place, the people, and communities who help create it. 

Adam Wheeler
Panel facilitator: ‘Dance in Urban Media Art’

Adam is a Tasmanian born, Stompin and Victorian College of the Arts Alumni. Adam has performed for Chunky Move, Jo Lloyd, Circa Nica, 2NDTOE and Opera Australia and has made work for Lucy Guerin Inc (Pieces for Small Spaces), Stompin, QL2, Steps Youth Dance Company, fLing Physical Theatre, Tasdance and Chunky Move. As an Artistic Director, founded Yellow Wheel and 2NDTOE. Led AYDF in 2014 and 2017, The Space School of Performance Arts, Short+Sweet Dance and is currently the Artistic Director of Tasdance. Adam is curious about interdisciplinary making, providing pathways for artists to develop practice, and getting the community moving – all from his regional home of lutruwita/Tasmania.

Davina Wright

Davina Wright is a site-specific artist currently living and working in nipaluna/Hobart. She is interested in making site specific, nonlinear and immersive theatre that looks at loneliness, suburbia, violence and feminism. Recently she wrote and directed This is Grayson; a performance for audience 8+ with her collective Gold Satino. This is Grayson explored death, loneliness and family and was an immersive experience. This is Grayson received four Green Room Award Nominations in the Contemporary and Experimental Performance panel and received the awards for Innovation in Site Responsive Performance and Performance for Young Audiences.

Georgie Vozar

Georgie is an artist who predominantly works with clay. As a second generation potter she grew up in a functioning pottery where she absorbed many skills that she now applies to her own practice, from there she gracefully introduces these magic techniques onto others.  With this medium, she practices art therapy within communities, collaborating, exploring the process and spontaneity together, her work is of acceptance and transience.  She finds great stimulation when collaborating with other artists and programs within the arts realm. Georgie often undertakes experimental and performance projects, solo and collaboratively and has exhibited and performed within arts organisations locally and nationally. Recent projects include, QVERI, 2018 ‘Hidden Egg – (Qvuvri/Amphora)’ As a part of group show: Across The Coals curated by Constance Ari at GASP, Tasmania Collaborator, Adam James. Constellations Underground, 2019 for the Ceramics Triennale ‘Kyklosis’ Performance and Installation Collaborator, Julia Drouhin. ‘Ritual’, 2016 Schmorgasbaag, 130 Murray Street, Nipaluna/Hobart, Duration 1hour Performance with visual collaborator, CUSS THIS.

Isabella Stone

Isabella Stone is a dance artist from Perth, Western Australia, which is Whadjuk Noongar Country. She is a dance performer, choreographer and teaching artist with over a decade of experience in Western Australia and Tasmania. She is currently living and working in nipaluna/Hobart as the Artistic Director of DRILL Performance Company Inc. Her experiences have taken her across the country and internationally, working in both major cities and remote areas, within professional and community contexts. Isabella believes in dance as a language that crosses borders and unites communities; that the act of dancing facilitates a space for sharing – shared stories and shared experiences – and creates space for change. Her approach is centered around people and kindness, play and imagination, liberation of self and the importance of community. Isabella is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and LINK Dance Company.

Heath Brown
Heath Brown is a Tasmanian composer and Associate Lecturer at the University of Tasmania.

His work ranges from film and TV to performing arts and installation. He has written scores for four feature films (The Comet Kids, Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla, 41 and El Monstro Del Mar!) and over 40 shorts, with his film work having been recognised throughout the world with a number of awards for original music composition, including the award for Best Original Score at the 2012 Maverick Movie Awards for his score to 41. He also composed the score for the multi-award winning web series Noirhouse(funded by Screen Australia, Screen Tasmania and the ABC) the ABC documentary series Bespoke, and the second season of the Shaun Micallef comedy series The Ex PM.

In 2015 Heath collaborated with Aly Rae Patmore in composing a performance-based musical element for Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey‘s large scale installation The Shadow’s Callingat Detached and presented as part of DarkMOFO 2015.

As producer, sound designer and performer, Heath is a member of the Radio Gothic collective, which produces original live-performance works inspired by the tradition of broadcast radio drama. Radio Gothic has produced three episodes, all of which have been presented as part of Dark MOFO.

Heath has written extensively for the theatre, notably for Terrapin Puppet Theatre (The Riddle of Washpool Gully, Red Racing Hood, Big Baby, The Waltzing Tree) and Tasmanian Theatre Co. (Sex With Strangers, Born From Animals, An Inconvenient Woman, Bakersfield Mist).

His work has appeared in a number of arts festivals including Ten Days on the Island (Babel) and DarkMOFO (The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone – a collaborative installation work with Oscar Ferreiro, Radio Gothic Eps 1 – 3) and The Tasmanian International Arts Festival (Radio Gothic – Episode 1: The Pit).

Heath has also written music for television and radio commercials, winning the 2012 Tasmanian Advertising Design Awards category of Best Original Music and the 2016 Diemen Award for Best Sound Design.

Heath holds a BA (Philosophy) and BMus (Composition) from The University of Tasmania, where he now lectures in music theory and screen music composition.

Ryan Mahony | Tech Consultant
Ryan is an audio engineer, production manager and technical director from Brisbane, Australia. Over the last decade he has worked extensively both in Australia and around the globe, assisting in presenting works to over a million people across 22 countries in circus, puppetry, musical theatre, drama theatre and live music. Ryan is currently the production manager for Hobart based, contemporary puppetry company, Terrapin.

Gianni Posadas-Sen | Stage Manager

Gianni Posadas-Sen is a flutist, singer, and composer. His music practice consists of classical

performance alongside experimental improvisation and collaborative music-making, with forays into electronic music.

Posadas-Sen had the privilege of performing Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise with the UTAS

Experimental Music Ensemble for Mona Foma (2021), and was a part of Fflora’s MAKE SOME NOISE Project for Mona Foma (2022). He is a member of Silikill, an eclectic band of musicians who explore a range of styles and concepts through experimental improvisation. Posadas-Sen is committed to the Hobart Wind Symphony, and to the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra as principal flutist.

He is currently completing his Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance, flute) at The Hedberg School of Music under Mardi McSullea.

Michelle Boyd | Costume Mentoring

Michelle is a Tasmanian designer working between fashion, costume, interior and stage design.   With an honours degree in design from RMIT and a lifetime of experience in stagecraft, she has designed within the performing and visual arts industries nationally for independent artists and orgs such as Chunky Move Dance Co., Mona, NGV, Arena Theatre and Terrapin Puppet Theatre and festivals Dark Mofo, State of Design, Sydney Festival and Mona Foma.  Her own work explores relationship and embodiment through colour, sculpture and graphic design and she collaborates with a broad range of practitioners in complementary fields including architecture, dance, public art and sound.  Michelle has more recently become a design mentor and teacher and is enjoying these new exchanges with Tasmanian design students across cultures, age and abilities.    

Greg Wells & The Blackwater Band

Greg Wells & The Blackwater Band are a five piece band from Hobart playing their original folk/roots/storytelling style songs. The band comprises Al Campbell (bass guitar), John Britcliffe (drums), Emily Wolfe (violin), Dave Elliston (mandolin) & Greg Wells (guitar & vocals).

Jake Walker

Jake Walker was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia in 2000. His practice is inextricably linked to the natural and cultural landscapes of New Zealand. Walker admits that as a child he ‘didn’t really know there were too many other kinds of painting’ aside from landscapes. His works are constantly shifting and revisited after some time, with chance and instinct at the core of his working practice. Sometimes this results in works of ‘weightlessness of accident and incident.’ Exploring themes of modernist architecture and abstract perspectives, Walker’s free and loose sense of play embraces material forms. Walker sees paintings as objects, not flat two-dimensional images. This openness to experimental processes has led to a series of works using clay- painterly forms and stoneware frames that lead from one thing, to another.

He is represented by Station (Melbourne), Gallery 9 (Sydney), Hamish McKay Gallery (Wellington NZ), Ivan Anthony (Auckland) and Dutton (NYC).