Lucy Guerin Inc acknowledges and pays our respects to the traditional custodians, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations, on whose unceded land we live and create.
Make Your Own World (2019) / Image by Bryony Jackson
Split (2017) / Image by Gregory Lorenzutti
Motion Picture (2015) / Image by Sarah Walker
Untrained (2009)
Established in Melbourne in 2002 by Artistic Director Lucy Guerin, Lucy Guerin Inc (LGI) is an Australian dance company dedicated to challenging and extending the art of contemporary dance.
Lucy Guerin Inc (LGI) is an Australian dance company established in Melbourne in 2002 to create and tour new dance works. The company has been based at its own venue, WXYZ Studios in North Melbourne, since 2018.
Renowned for the skill and originality of its small group of performers, LGI is dedicated to challenging and extending the art of contemporary dance.
LGI realises this in two ways. Firstly, through the creation of new dance works which regularly tour nationally and internationally. Secondly, by supporting the work of emerging and established artists through its wide-ranging studio programs at WXYZ Studios in North Melbourne.
New productions are generated through an experimental approach to the creative process, and may involve voice, video, sound, text and design as well as Guerin’s lucid physical structures.
The company is a flexible model that values research and risk in the creative process and provides the conditions to question existing notions of dance. This is always a choreographic exploration, striving for visual, emotional and physical revelations that could not be generated or communicated in any other artform.
Over the last 20 years the company has evolved from a structure that enables Guerin’s choreographic projects, to an organisation that also supports the development of independent dance artists in Melbourne. Through a program of residencies, classes, workshops, presentations and mentoring opportunities, it is responsive to the shifting ideas and contexts generated by dance and choreography in the world today.
In 2021, Lucy Guerin Inc premiered PENDULUM, a collaboration with experimental composer Matthias Schack-Arnott which was commissioned by RISING Festival, Melbourne.
Other recent works include Metal (a 2020 co-commission between Asia TOPA, Arts Centre Melbourne and Théâtre de la Ville), Split (2017), and Attractor (a 2017 collaboration with Gideon Obarzanek, Dancenorth, and Indonesian music duo, Senyawa).
The company recently premiered its latest work, Flux Job, at Arts House Melbourne; and in October 2022 will premiere How To Be Us at Arts Centre Melbourne, commissioned by The Australian Ballet as part of Dance X.
Lucy Guerin Inc regularly tours works both nationally and internationally to Europe, Asia, Canada and the US.
For more information on all Lucy Guerin Inc’s works, please visit the Works page.
LGI acknowledges the generous and valuable support that assists the company in achieving its organisational and creative goals.
Government Support
Philanthropic Support
Major Benefactor
Industry Partners and Supporters
Wine Partner
Private Donors
Michael Agar
Stephen Armstrong
Kristy Ayre
Antony Hamilton
Ruth Bain
Michaela Coventry
Eloise Curry
Carey Lyon and Jo Crosby
Ann Lau and Anna Fairbank
Robin Fox
Phil Gardiner
Lisa Gorman
Ben Guerin
Lucy Guerin
Neil Masterton & Shane Williams
McCorkell Brown Group Services Pty Ltd.
Aneke McCulloch
Ian and Gill McDougall
Chloe Munro
Naomi Mulholland
Rupert Myer
Lorrae Nicholson
Gideon Obarzanek
Margaret Parker
Georgina Russell
Rosemary Walls
Pinky Watson
Linda Herd
Robyn Lansdowne
Jo White
Josh Wright
Susan Long
Nicholas Coghlan
Sarah Nichols
Anne Guerin
Shelley Lasica
Alisdair Mcindoe
Deirdre O’Brien
Donations help LGI achieve the extraordinary as both a world-renowned contemporary dance company and a valuable resource for professional dancers and dance-makers in Melbourne.
Our dance community is experiencing significant challenges in maintaining professional practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of studios and venues.
Your 100% tax deductible donation will directly assist LGI to:
Delivering online classes for professional dancers while our physical studios are closed;
Providing residencies and other professional development opportunities, with distancing and hygiene protocols;
Fostering new choreographic voices through our annual season of PIECES commissions;
Bringing our collaborators together to continue to develop LGI’s next ground-breaking work; and
Support the development and employment of Australian independent artists.
For everything your support enables us to achieve, we offer a heartfelt thank you.
As a donor, you’ll receive complimentary invites to all of our private studio showings, events and functions. We also proudly acknowledge all donations over $100 on our website, unless you request to remain anonymous.
The LGI Archive documents the company’s history through artefacts such as programs, photos and video footage. This physical archive is located at WXYZ Studios.
Now, thanks to an innovative partnership with the Digital Studio at the University of Melbourne, it is now possible to explore the history of Lucy Guerin Inc digitally, via the Theatre and Dance Platform.
Theatre and Dance Platform
Explore archival resources in the extensive Theatre and Dance Platform from the University of Melbourne.
This leading Australian digital repository showcases a wide range of theatre and dance collections, including the Lucy Guerin Inc archive. Easily search valuable resources including photographs, scenic and costume designs, video recordings, posters and textual material such as programmes, reviews and correspondence.
This is an ongoing project and recent works will be added periodically.
Inhabiting the Archive, Digital LGI Tour
In 2018, the Digital Studio at the University of Melbourne collaborated with Digital Heritage Australia to create a content-rich visualisation resource. Based at the former Lucy Guerin Inc Studio in West Melbourne, this digital tour offers an interactive experience of digital content from the LGI Archive.
LGI’s Commitment to Access
LGI is committed to improving access and inclusion for Deaf and Disabled dance artists. Ongoing improvements will actively aim to address barriers to access and participation, and enable Deaf and Disabled artists to access LGI’s programs and studio resources with the same opportunity, ease and freedom as any other artist. Download our Commitment to Access.
Disability Action Plan
LGI’s Disability Action Plan 2020-2024 (DAP) lays out a five-year plan to improve the provision of access and inclusion for Deaf and Disabled artists at WXYZ Studios and in the Company’s studio programs. A summary of LGI’s DAP is available to download here.
Access Partners
Arts Access Victoria: Partnership to increase the engagement and to build capacity and knowledge in the broader community. Read more
e.motion21: Partnership supporting the Artistic Capacity Building program, a professional development program for artists with Downs Syndrome. Read more
Opportunities
Find information on art making opportunities, learning new creative and artistic skills and discovering accessible arts and cultural events to attend through Choose Art.
‘Alone together, Lucy Guerin Inc’s Flux Job is an existential evocation of lockdown, played out on the field of dance.’
Philipa Rothfield for The Saturday Paper
Adena Jacobs is a theatre director and the Artistic Director of independent company Fraught Outfit. Her distinct body of work incorporates queer and feminist renderings of ancient texts, hallucinatory landscapes and rich sound scores, created in collaboration with her creative team and performers.
Directing credits include TITUS ANDRONICUS (Bell Shakespeare), THE HOWLING GIRLS (Sydney Chamber Opera), SALOME (ENO), WIZARD OF OZ (Belvoir), ANTIGONE (Malthouse), THE BACCHAE (Fraught Outfit/St Martins/MIAF) and PERSONA (Fraught Outfit).
In 2014/15 Adena was Resident Director at Belvoir, and in 2012 Female Director in Residence at Malthouse Theatre. In Australia, her work has been seen at Melbourne Festival, Carriageworks, Dark Mofo, Malthouse, Belvoir, Sydney Opera House, MTC, Theatre Works and La Mama. Internationally, she has directed for the English National Opera in London, and presented at Tokyo Festival. In 2022, her production of DIE TROERINNEN (TROJAN WOMEN) will premiere at the Burgtheatre in Vienna.
As a dramaturge, Adena has collaborated on THE DARK CHORUS (Lucy Guerin Inc/MIAF), RE-MAKE (Melanie Lane/Chunky Move), NEVERNEVERNEVERNEVER (Aaron Orzech/Arts House) and Kamila Andini’s THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN (Salihara, Jakarta/The Esplanade, Singapore/AsiaTOPA Festival, Melbourne).
+Andrew Treloar (Costume Designer)
Andrew Treloar has been pursuing his art practice since 2009, concurrent with a clothing design career.
His practice is grounded in drawing and extends to painting, installation, performance and transdisciplinary actions. His first solo exhibition, A Figurative Relationship, was at Red Gallery in 2010, followed in 2012 by An Other Thing at Kings ARI. He completed his Masters in Contemporary Art in 2012 and is currently undertaking a Masters in Fine Art by research, studying the interrelationships of human movement within art practice. He has won a number of awards and grants including the Mary and Lou Senini award at McClelland Gallery and the Fiona Myer Award.
Recent works include drawings, a short series of dance films and a series of dance-based events performed in pre-conditioned spaces. He enjoys collaborative relationships with a number of emerging artists and choreographers and companies including Dancenorth, Henry Jock Walker, Leah Landau, Jo Lloyd and Shian Law. He has exhibited and performed with them in various projects in Melbourne and further afield.
Credits:
– Metal (2020) - Costume Designer
– Make Your Own World (2019) - Costume Designer
+Paul Lim (Lighting Designer)
Paul is a Melbourne based Lighting Designer with a broad range of experience in theatrical and event production.
His multifaceted knowledge has been used to provide integrated solutions for theatre, festivals and events around the world. Lighting design credits include: Metal, Make Your Own World, The Dark Chorus & Split (Lucy Guerin Inc); The Magic Flute (New Zealand Opera); Changes 變 and Siva (Black Grace Dance Company); Fault Lines (Le Shan Modern Dance Company); Trapper and Robot Song (Arena Theatre Company); Hot Brown Honey, Briefs: Close Encounters, Briefs: The Second Coming and Yana Alana: Queen Kong (Briefs Factory).
Paul is a Director of Additive, providing lighting design and technical solutions to the entertainment industry.
Credits:
– Metal (2020) - Lighting Designer
– Make Your Own World (2019) - Lighting Designer
– Split (2017) - Lighting Designer
– The Dark Chorus (2016) - Lighting Designer and Production Manager
Image: Gregory Lorenzutti
+Nick Roux (Sound Designer)
Nick Roux is an artist working in sound and video.
His work is primarily focused on live performance and has manifested itself in composition, instrument creation, computer programming and visual/spatial design. He has created work locally and internationally across a wide spectrum of artistic platforms from solo gallery performances to multi-million dollar main stage theatrical productions.
Matthias Schack-Arnott is an Australian artist, composer and percussionist, whose works span live performance, public art and installation. Over the last decade he has been building unique kinetic systems to create visceral and visually compelling sound worlds.
Described by The Guardian as ‘visually and sonically exquisite’, Matthias’ works have been presented by major festivals and contemporary art spaces including Sydney Festival, Melbourne Festival, Illuminate Festival (Adelaide), RISING Festival (Melbourne), Supersense Festival of the Ecstatic (Melbourne), Arts House (Melbourne), The Unconformity (Tasmania), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, La Comete (France), Spor Festival (Denmark),The Substation (Melbourne) and The National Gallery of Victoria.
Matthias has worked with many pre-imminent musicians including Steve Reich (USA), Claire Chase (USA), Unsuk Chin (Korea), Zeena Perkins (USA), Valerio Tricoli (Italy), John Zorn (USA), Liza Lim (Aus) and Steven Schick (USA) and as a performer has presented work internationally at the Barbican (London), Cafe Oto (London), Ruhr Triennale (Germany), Transart (Italy), Tage für Neue Musik (Zurich), Noordezon (Netherlands), Batteries (Geneva), Pioneer Works (New York), Kitchen (New York) and Form Festival (Phoenix).
From 2010-2018 Matthias was the Artistic Associate of Australia’s leading percussive arts organisation, Speak Percussion (‘virtuosic and adventurous’, New York Times). During his time with the company he worked closely with Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti in shaping the artistic program, including more than 60 commissions, many critically acclaimed interdisciplinary projects and performances in the world’s leading arts festivals.
Matthias’ recent work ‘Everywhen’ won ‘Work of Year: Electro-Acoustic/Sound Art’ at the 2020 Australian Art Music Awards. He has also been awarded the 2016 Melbourne Prize for Music (Development Award), the 2014 Green Room Award for ‘Outstanding Work by an Emerging Artist’ for his work ‘Fluvial’ and four Australian Art Music Awards for his work with Speak Percussion, including the 2019 ‘Performance of the Year’.
Matthias has also created new works with some of Australia’s most celebrated choreographers. He co-created ‘They Want New Language’ with Antony Hamilton in 2017 for La Comete (France) and recently collaborated with Lucy Guerin to create a large-scale interdisciplinary work commissioned by RISING Festival in association with National Gallery of Victoria.
Groundswell (2021), his first interactive public artwork, was co-commissioned by Sydney Festival, Melbourne Fringe and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. This large- scale participatory work invites the public to activate an expansive world of kinetic sound. Groundswell premiered at Circular Quay for the 2021 Sydney Festival and will be a keynote event at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2021.
Matthias was commissioned by Naomi Milgrom to create an immersive audio-visual installation for the 2015 MPavilion in collaboration with Bluebottle. The work was experienced by thousands of people across its four month season in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens.
As a musician, Matthias has been a soloist and collaborator with many of Australia’s leading arts organisations, including Australian Art Orchestra, Chamber Made, Liquid Architecture, Topology, Clocked Out, Elision and Aphids, as well as both the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.
Credits:
– Pendulum (2021)
Image: Keith Saunders
+Harriet Oxley (Costume Designer)
Harriet Oxley has collaborated with Lucy Guerin on Split (original production), Attractor (co-production with Dancenorth and co-choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek) and on the multiple Green Room award-nominated The Dark Chorus.
She has designed costumes for choreographers Gideon Obarzanek (Chunky Move and Sydney Dance Company), Stephanie Lake, Michelle Heaven, Ros Warby, Victoria Chiu and Sean Curham (NZ).
For Victorian Opera, Harriet has designed six productions including the 2016 coproduction with Circus Oz Laughter and Tears, and the co-production with Chunky Move, Assembly. Her design for Angelique won the Green Room award for Design for Opera in 2011.
Harriet has also designed for Tamara Saulwick, Dislocate Physical Theatre, NICA, VCA’s music theatre department, and the big-budget musical Moonshadow.
Harriet is a graduate of VCA theatre design and Fashion at RMIT.
Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and sound designer recognised for his expansive and highly layered film, theatre and dance scores. A multi Green Room Award winner and Helpmann nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including; Malthouse Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company. Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria, Chamber Made Opera, Back to Back, Arena, Windmill, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, Aphids, Stuck Pigs Squealing, Rawcus, and more.
Recent works include: Distant Matter (Staatsballett Berlin), Common Ground (Chunky Move/Dance Massive), Rumplestiltskin, (Windmill/Southbank Centre London), Paul Capsis & the Fitzroy Youth orchestra (Sydney Festival), Rita Dreaming, (in collaboration with Meow Meow for Sgt. Peppers 50th anniversary Festival, Liverpool)
Jethro has won Green Room Awards for his work on; Song for a weary Throat, (Rawcus), For the One who walk away (St Martins) The Bloody Chamber (Malthouse Theatre), Moth (Malthouse Theatre / Arena Theatre), Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre / Arena Theatre) and Irony Is Not Enough (Fragment 31). In 2018 Jethro Was the recipient of the GRAA Technical achievement Award.
+Bosco Shaw (Lighting Designer)
Bosco Shaw works primarily as a Lighting and Set Designer.
His interest is in work that involves bodies and movement, how light feeds and influences the performing space and collaborations that propose alternate light sources and means. He works with Paul Lim and Tom Wright as ADDITIVE, a collaborative lighting design company.
Design projects include: Antony Hamilton - Meeting, Tim Darbyshire - Stampede the Stampede, LGI and Dancenorth - Attractor; Chunky Move - It Cannot Be Stopped, Matthew Sleeth - A Drone Opera, Stephanie Lake - Double Blind, Replica, Colossus; Luke George - Erotic Dance, Chamber Made Opera - Permission to Speak, Between 8 and 9, Asia TOPA - XO State; Nick Power - Between Tiny Cities, Mel Lane - Nightdance, Cambodian Living Arts - Bangsokol: Requiem for Cambodia; Mona Foma - Faux Mo 2018/2019, and Dark Mofo - Night Mass.
Credits:
– Attractor (2017) - Lighting Designer
+Geoffrey Watson (Costume Designer)
Geoffrey Watson SC is a Melbourne-based artist, whose work is rooted in choreography and has branches in wearable design, text, lighting, sculpture and photography. Geoffrey’s work exists as a miscommunication between the exterior: using distraction, misdirection and myopic devotion in this attempt.
In addition to his own performances, Geoffrey’s designs have appeared in works by Lucy Guerin Inc, Nana Biliuš-Abaffy, Lilian Steiner, Brooke Stamp, Matthew Bird, Phillip Adams BalletLab and Chamber Made, and have been showcased in exhibitions at Melbourne Fashion Week and Virgin Australia Fashion Festival, 10 Days Festival and the Adelaide Biennial.
As a performer, Geoffrey has worked with companies and artists including Phillip Adams BalletLab, Lucy Guerin Inc, Nana Biluš-Abaffy, Natalie Abbott, Lee Serle, Alisdair Macindoe, and Gekidan Kaitaisha.
Geoffrey’s performance works include Camel (Next Wave Festival 2016), Loving You Ad Nauseam (Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2016) DISTRACTION: Smackdown! (Melbourne Fashion Festival, 2017), DISTRACTION: T.C. Is a piece of shit (Counihan Gallery, 2017), Geoffrey’s Corpse (Uferstudios, Berlin, 2019), Rachael Wisby (Newport Substation/Lucy Guerin Inc., 2019) and It Happens to me Every Summer (video work for The Australian Ballet’s TEC program, 2021).
Since 1991 Scanner, British artist Robin Rimbaud, has been intensely active in sonic art, producing concerts, installations and recordings, connecting a bewilderingly diverse array of genres.
He scored the hit musical comedy Kirikou & Karaba (2007) and Narnia ballet (2015), Philips Wake-Up Light (2009), the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and in 2016 installed Water Drops at Rijeka Airport in Croatia. His work Salles des Departs (2003) is permanently installed in a working morgue in Paris.
Committed to working with cutting-edge practitioners he has collaborated with Bryan Ferry, Wayne MacGregor, Mike Kelley, Michael Nyman, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan. Scanner worked with Lucy Guerin on the 2016 commission for Rambert, Tomorrow.
This entry is a reflection on my Make a Start residency at LGI for ‘Destiny State’ in December 2022. Standing at a slight distance to the experience, I now recognise the major outcomes as being; – The c…
About Amelia’s Residency “During the LGI Moving Forward residency Janelle Tan and I will be developing A Certain Mumble which will be performed early this year. About A Certain Mumble Amelia is a…
This essay presents the resources I used in the creation of my work Roses and explores how I have analysed and interpreted them in the making of the performance. I am using the ballet Giselle as my…
We’re thrilled to announce LGI’s Moving Forward Residents for 2023. LGI’s Moving Forward residencies provides artists with time, money and support to further develop projects that are ready to be …
In celebration of Lucy Guerin Inc’s 21st year, we’re offering the dance community a special, one-off 6-month Unlimited Class Pass to attend Morning Class for the first half of 2023. …
About Sarah’s Residency “During my Make a Start residency at WXYZ Studios, I will be retracing a collage of memories gathered within diaries, calendar notes, voice memos, video footage and the h…
LGI Residency: Weave Movement Theatre & Black Hole Theatre
08 Dec 2022
About Weave Movement Theatre & Black Hole Theatre’s Residency “Weave Movement Theatre and Black Hole Theatre will collaborate in a first stage creative development, as part of…
2023 Resident Director / Rebecca Jensen
29 Nov 2022
We are delighted to announce Rebecca Jensen as Lucy Guerin Inc’s Resident Director for 2023. This year-long program was created for choreographers approaching mid-career — supporting their s…
LGI announces $2 million bequest from Chloe Munro AO
17 Nov 2022
Ian McDougall, Chair of Lucy Guerin Inc today announced that Chloe Munro AO, the former LGI Chair who passed away in June 2021 has made a bequest of two million dollars — the largest ever for A…
About Jonathan’s Residency I Am Carisma is an evolution of my practice mixing musical, emotional, and anatomical. My love for somatics, mental health and street dance all co-exist in this Moving F…
We’re thrilled to announce the three choreographers creating new work for PIECES 2022—Melanie Lane, Amber McCartney and Rachael Wisby. Presented by Lucy Guerin Inc and The Substation, PIECES is a…
About Ruby’s Residency “My current developing work Hold Still is a reflection on perception of self through the perspective of the inner and outer experience. During my time in the Make A Start r…
In this Dance Dialogues, LGI’s First Nations Resident 2022, Peta Strachan, shared insights into her work in development ‘Garrigarrang Badu’, in conversation with Priya Srinivasan.…
About Caroline’s Residency “During this Moving Forward residency, at LGI, I will build on ideas seeded during a residency last year in Geelong, and continue to develop my practice at the i…
Make a Start residencies / August - December 2022
08 Aug 2022
We’re thrilled to announce 10 new Make a Start artist-in residence projects, taking place at WXYZ Studios between August - December 2022. Our Make a Start residency program is for projects in the e…
About Amber’s Residency “During my Moving Forward residency I will be revisiting my film work Softtrap through the lens of live adaptation. Softtrap is a body horror, originally commissioned b…
About Amelia’s Residency A Certain Mumble is multicultural dance work that brings forth the perspectives and identities of Chinese Malaysian dance artist Janelle Tan and First Nations…
For my Moving Forward Residency, I’ll be developing my upcoming dance work (UP)HOLDING. It’ll be my first time revisiting the work since its initial research phase in October 2020 during a residency at …
Across 2022-2023, the program will see Georgia and Riyo working together in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia and Solo/Surakarta, Indonesia—hosted by LGI and EDC respectively. Supported by LGI’s Artistic Dir…
Listen Again: Dance Dialogues w/ Harrison Hall and Alisdair Macindoe
20 Jun 2022
On 14 May 2022, we welcomed Harrison Hall and Alisdair Macindoe to WXYZ Studios to discuss their perspectives on art-making, with a focus on new technology and traversing digital and live worlds.…
About Nana’s Residency The Lucy Guerin Inc Moving Forward Residency will be an early stage development of a new work which will be presented at Chunky Move in the last week of July this year. The w…
Lucy Guerin Inc (LGI) is delighted to announce Darug woman Peta Strachan as First Nations Resident for 2022. The First Nations Residency will support Peta with a fee, production support and dedicated…
About Tegan’s Residency “This LGI residency will be an opportunity to both define my solo dance practice having spent several years choreographing on others, as well as focus on the development o…
Out of Bounds is an exciting choreographic ideas sharing platform presented by Lucy Guerin Inc and Temperance Hall. The program invites Victorian artists to present showings of recent choreographic…
Applications close: Tuesday 24 May, 5pm (AEST) Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early Enquiries: Brendan O’Connell, Executive Producer b…
About Erin’s Residency The space is contaminated by a collection of dismembered female mannequin parts. Objectification. Perfection. Ideal. Idol. The male gaze is protrusive. During my Make a…
About Ashleigh’s Residency “During this Moving Forward residency I will continue to develop a durational installation, From Infancy. The work is concerned with terraforming - the…
We’re thrilled to announce LGI’s Artists-in-Residence for 2022. In 2022 there are two types of residencies available at LGI: Make a Start residencies, for projects in the early stages…
Meet the artists participating in Out of Bounds, 2 – 3 April 2022. Aimee Schollum Aimee is a Naarm/Melbourne based, New Zealand born dancer, choreographer and graphic designer. She graduated with a B…
About Prue’s Residency “This LGI Residency is the final development of a new work CASTILLO that will be presented at Dancehouse, 3-6 March 2022. CASTILLO is a new dance performance…
First Nations Graduate Internship 2022 / Shana O’Brien
10 Feb 2022
This paid internship offers a tailored program of professional opportunities for a recent graduate from NAISDA Dance College. Over a four-week period, the internship may include participating in LGI…
Listen Again: Dance Dialogues w/ Amaara Raheem and Siriol Joyner
04 Feb 2022
On 4 November 2021, we welcomed Amaara Raheem and Siriol Joyner via zoom to discuss their perspectives on practice and art-making. This conversation was part of our Dance Dialogues series:…
Listen Again: Dance Dialogues w/ Melanie Lane and Eko Supriyanto
04 Feb 2022
On 5 October 2021, we welcomed Melanie Lane and Eko Supriyanto via zoom to discuss their perspectives on practice and art-making. This conversation was part of our Dance Dialogues series:…
About Rachael’s Residency “During my Moving Forward residency at WXYZ Studios, I will be interrogating and refining a line of physical enquiry that underpins and supports my solo dance.…
We’re delighted to be welcoming you all back to WXYZ Studios for LGI Morning Classes. The health and wellbeing of LGI’s community is paramount, and we continue to adhere to Victorian Government hea…
Ian McDougall is a Founding Director of ARM Architecture.
He was registered in Victoria as an architect in 1980 and was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 2004. His design work has had recognition in the professional arena for individual projects and as an urban designer. Ian was also awarded the Federation Medal in 2000.
Ian began his studies at the University of Adelaide, completing his architecture degree in 1979 at the RMIT University and completed his Master of Architecture at RMIT in 1993. In 1992 he was made an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at RMIT, and has taught in the undergraduate and masters course at RMIT, as well as visiting teaching positions of University of Western Australia and The University of Sydney.
He served as the President of the Victorian Chapter of the RAIA and was National Treasurer from 2000-2002. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for his contribution to Australian Architecture. He was elected as a National Councillor of the RAIA in 2006 and as Treasurer in 2007.
Ian is Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Adelaide and was recently appointed to the Melbourne Festival Board of Directors.
+Lorrae Nicholson (Deputy Chair)
Lorrae is the Manager of Philanthropy Partnerships at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Lorrae brings more than 20 years’ experience in Philanthropy and Business Strategy to the LGI Board. Lorrae has had built and led Philanthropy teams in large, national non-profit and arts organisations including, Lifeline and Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation, ACMI, the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Throughout her career, Lorrae has focused on developing and delivering strategies for diversifying revenue streams through fundraising, government and philanthropic grants, corporate partnerships and where appropriate, fee for service offerings.
Lorrae is a highly experienced and successful relationship manager, committed to sustainable business practices. Her practical experience is complemented by formal qualifications in Business, Marketing, Sustainability and Governance.
+Katie Parker (Treasurer)
Katie is a Chartered Accountant and experienced Finance and Corporate Services executive.
She has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, including over 12 years’ experience in arts administration. Her areas of expertise include organisational leadership, financial management, project & change management, corporate governance and risk management.
Katie is the Head of Finance at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Prior to joining the NGV, Katie spent four years in Sydney where she was the Director, Finance and Corporate Services of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and the Head of Finance and Administration at Sydney Festival. Katie began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) before relocating to New York, where she held a senior finance position in publishing with McGraw Hill. In 2009, Katie returned to Melbourne and joined Arts Centre Melbourne, where she served for 5 years and held the position of Manager, Governance, Risk and Compliance. Following this, Katie was the Finance Director of BAR Studio, a Melbourne-based international interior design studio.
Katie has previously served on the Board of Next Wave Festival (2015-17) and Rawcus Theatre Company (2014-2022). She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, holds a Bachelor of Business and has completed the Company Directors Course (AICD).
+Lucy Guerin AO (Secretary)
Artistic Director of Lucy Guerin Inc
For more information, please see Lucy Guerin in the Staff section.
+Amrita Hepi (Board Member)
Amrita Hepi is an award winning Choreographer and Dancer from Bundjulung (AUS) and Ngapuhi (NZ) territories.
Her work is characterised by hybridity and engages in extending choreographic practices by combining dance and movement with other domains such as visual art, language and participatory research.
An artist with a broad scope she has toured work in the form of performance and video nationally and internationally through theatres and galleries in Australia, Europe and the U.S.A. Amrita trained at NAISDA and Alvin Ailey Dance theatre, New York. In 2019 she was a commissioned artist for The National: New Australian art 2019 and the recipient of the dance web scholarship to be mentored by Anne Juren, Mette Ingvarsten and Annie Dorsen. In 2018 she was the recipient of the people’s choice award for the Keir Choreographic award and was also named one of Forbes Asia 30 under 30.
An artist with a broad reach, Amrita combines her interest in materials/objects and choreography in the search for allegory & advocacy for first nations sovereignty with a compelling and diverse physical practice.
+Georgina Russell (Board Member)
Georgina is Director of Commercial & Development at ACMI.
She is an executive manager who has happily combined her love of arts and culture with her day job over a career spanning 20 years in media, major events and the arts.
She has held senior leadership roles across Melbourne’s cultural and government sectors over the past decade, and led business development, brand, marketing, digital and communications strategy for prestigious Victorian attractions and events including Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne Writers Festival, NGV and ACMI.
Georgina is also the co-owner of Collingwood wine bar, Smithward.
+Michael Whitehead (Board Member)
Michael Whitehead is Regional General Manager at Vicinity Centres, overseeing iconic mixed use and retail assets including Chadstone, Emporium Melbourne, Sydney CBD assets and South Australia and Tasmanian regions. Total combined value of more than $10B of assets under management. Prior to this he was Centre Manager for Chadstone Shopping Centre responsible for the operational management of one of the worlds best retail destinations.
Previous to joining Vicinity centres and the property industry Michael has had significant senior management experience in a broad range of sectors including consulting, hospitality and tourism, arts and culture, venue management and transport industries over the past 20 years. Most recently he worked for Keoils Downer managing Growth and Innovation for Yarra Trams leading strategies to deliver over $2B of revenue and innovation across the group.
Michael has built a wealth of experience and capability including strategic thinking, change management, leadership and product development. In addition Michael is a Board member for Lucy Guerin INC and recently finished as a Board Observer program with 2 years on the Australian Ballet Board.
Deanne Butterworth is a performer and choreographer born in Perth and based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice is preoccupied with the investigation of movement and how it relates to the physical, emotional, and sonic space in which it is located. Since 1994 she has shown work across many platforms including Next Wave Festival, Dance Massive, NGV, Dancehouse, Melbourne Fringe, Dance New Amsterdam (NYC), Hong Kong, West Space, Bus Gallery, M Pavilion, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Temperance Hall, and more. Her work traverses public and private spheres to include incidental performances and the role of the spectator and has been situated in galleries, for film, theatre, museums, and outdoors. In 2017-2019 Deanne was a studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary creating multiple new works, in 2019 she was Resident Artist at Temperance Hall, and in 2021 Resident Artist at The Pavilion, Fitzroy Gardens. Deanne has performed in the works of Shelley Lasica, Sandra Parker, Phillip Adams, Lucy Guerin, Jo Lloyd, Shian Law, Lee Serle, Brooke Stamp and others. She has also performed in the work of many visual artists including Sally Smart, Linda Tegg, Justene Williams, and Michaela Dwyer. Her most recent full-length work ‘Slow Calm Drama’ premiered at Dancehouse April 2021. Across 2023 she is a participating artist in the Platform Arts LAB developing new collaborative works. Throughout the course of her almost 30-year career she has been nominated for multiple Green Room Awards.
+Tra Mi Dinh
Tra Mi is a dance artist based across Sydney and Melbourne. Studying at Victorian College of the Arts, she graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) and the Orloff Family Charitable Trust Scholarship for Most Outstanding Dancer.
Since graduating, Tra Mi has worked with incredible artists including Lucy Guerin, Victoria Chiu, Lee Serle, Michelle Heaven, Isabelle Beauvard and Monica Bill Barnes & Company in works presented at Dance Massive, AsiaTopa, MEL&NYC, Melbourne Fringe Festival, MPavillion, and Melbourne International Arts Festival. Her performance in Make Your Own World (2019) by Lucy Guerin Inc was nominated for a Green Room Award.
Tra Mi’s choreographic practice has been supported through residencies undertaken through Tasdance’s On the Island program, Sydney Fringe Festival’s Art in Isolation, Critical Path, and Readymade Studios Constant Relay. HOLDING, Tra Mi’s debut solo work premiered at March Dance Sydney Festival 2021 to a sold-out season. Tra Mi will be sharing a short work not the piece at ReadyMade Works’ upcoming program Happy Hour #12. Her new work (UP)HOLDING will be presented at Sydney Fringe Festival.
Image credit: Gregory Lorenzutti
+Helen Herbertson
Melbourne-based performer, choreographer, creative collaborator and educator Helen Herbertson’s imaginative and highly theatrical work regularly presents in Australian and international festivals. She began creating works as a freelance choreographer in the 80’s, initially making works for TasDance, Dance North, ADT prior to her Artistic Directorship of Danceworks (89-97), a period of intense choreographic and performance activity.
Helen’s work has received multiple Green Room nominations with Awards for Best Production, Original Choreography, Direction, Outstanding Creative Collaboration and the inaugural 2003 Australian Dance Award for Independent Dance which she shared with long-time collaborator Ben Cobham (Morphia Series). Helen was awarded the 2007 Kenneth Myer Medallion for Distinguished Contribution to the Performing Arts and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Australian Dance Awards.
+Amber McCartney
Amber is a Naarm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Her practice incorporates prosthetics, mask-making, film and practical special effects to create new augmented bodies, foreign to both the performer and viewer. Amber has worked extensively with Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc and is a creative associate of Tasdance. In 2022 she was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship from Lucy Guerin Inc. She won a 2022 Green Room Award for Best Performer in Prue Lang’s Project F and was a finalist for The Australian Ballet/Telstra Emerging Choreographer. In 2020 Amber was a recipient of Solitude 1, Chunky Move’s home-based residency program and created her film ‘Softtrap’ for the 2021 Activators program. She has presented solo work for Tasdance, Lucy Guerin Inc’s ‘PIECES’ and Dancehouse’s ‘Now Pieces’. Amber has enjoyed performing for Dancenorth and Antony Hamilton Projects as well as independent choreographers and multidisciplinary artists; Jenni Large, Prue Lang, Jo Lloyd, James Batchelor, Su Huiyu, Kyall Shanks, Jonathan Homsey and Niharika Senapati.
Image: Gregory Lorenzutti
+Lilian Steiner
Lilian Steiner is a dancer and choreographer whose practice champions the deep intelligence of the body and its unique ability to reveal and comment on the complexities of contemporary humanity.
Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2010, Lilian has worked and toured extensively with Lucy Guerin Inc. and is currently occupying the role of Resident Director with the company. She has also worked with choreographers Phillip Adams (Balletlab), Melanie Lane, Shelley Lasica, Brooke Stamp, Leah Landau and Rennie McDougall, as well as visual artists Sally Smart, Brook Andrew, Emile Zile, Bridie Lunney, Ash Keating, Mikala Dwyer and Alicia Frankovic, architect Matthew Bird (Studio Bird) and experimental sound artists JLIN, Anna Homler and Richie Cyngler.
Lilian’s choreographic work has been presented within Australia and internationally. Australian presentations include at Dancehouse Melbourne, Dance Massive, the Keir Choreographic Award, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne Now (National Gallery Victoria), FAUX MO at MONA FOMA (Hobart), Melbourne Fringe Festival and Lucy Guerin Inc’s Pieces for Small Spaces. International presentations include at Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (Paris), B.Motion Danza (Bassano del Grappa), Deltebre Dansa (Deltebre), Les Plateaux de la Briqueterie (Paris), Fête de la Musique (Geneva), Festival Constellations (Toulon), Sounds and Visions Festival (Barbican Centre, London) & Hong Kong International Choreography Festival (Hong Kong).
Lilian received the Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer in both 2017 and 2018, as well as the Helpmann Award in 2017. Her work Noise Quartet Meditation received the 2015 Green Room Award for Concept and Realisation.
She completed her dance studies in Wellington at the New Zealand School of Dance, graduating at the end of 2020.
During her time in New Zealand she has had the privilege to work with Choreographers such as Malia Johnston ‘World of Wearable Art’ 2018, Scott Ewen, Daniel Jaber, and Victoria Columbus, as well as Good Company Arts artistic director and film-maker Daniel Belton for an upcoming dance film.
Stephanie has most recently worked with Lucy Guerin in ‘PENDULUM’.
+Geoffrey Watson
Geoffrey Watson is a Melbourne-based artist whose work is rooted in choreography but has branches in wearable design, text, lighting, sculpture and photography.
Through this work, Geoffrey advocates for a state of perceptual unrest:
an agent to further confound the already confusing landscapes of art, history and reality.
Geoffrey’s performance works include Camel (Arts House, 2016), Loving You Ad Nauseam (Trades Hall, 2016) DISTRACTION: Smackdown! (Melbourne Fashion Festival, 2017), DISTRACTION: T.C. F’d Up (Counihan Gallery, 2017), Geoffrey’s Corpse: Violet Spurlock (Uferstudios Berlin, 2019), Rachael Wisby (Newport Substation, 2019), and ongoing visual arts mission Reverse Fruit.
As a performer, Geoffrey has worked with companies and artists including BalletLab, Nana Biluš-Abaffy, Lucy Guerin Inc. Lee Serle, Alisdair Macindoe, and Gekidan Kaitaisha. His costumes have been featured in Virgin Australia Fashion Festival, Melbourne Fashion Week, and in works by Lilian Steiner, Brooke Stamp, Matthew Bird et al.
+Samantha Hines
Samantha Hines was born in Sydney where she trained at Ettingshausens and Ev and bow, before attending New Zealand School of Dance. In her final year 2012 she was hired by Australian Dance Theater. She performed and toured extensively with the company both nationally and internationally. In 2016 she left to go on to work with Lucy Guerin, Gideon Obarzanek and Stephanie Lake. Between 2017-2021 she joined Dancenorth full time touring to America, Europe, Mexico and Asia. In 2022 she performed in the world premieres of; ’Grey Rhino’ by Cass Mortimer Eipper and Charmene Yap, ’Manifesto’ by Stephanie Lake and ‘Double Beat’ by Sara Black. Samantha has been nominated for awards such as a Helpmann award (2017), Greenroom Award (2017) and a New York Bessie award (2019).
+Melanie Lane
Melanie Lane is an Australian choreographer and performer of Javanese/European cultural heritage. Working between Naarm/Melbourne and Ngunnawal/Canberra, she works across visual arts, theatre, music and film. Her choreographic work interrogates physical and social realities to create surreal futures that are confounded, broken and reconfigured.
She has been commissioned by Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Collective, Dance North, Chunky Move, Schauspiel Leipzig and West Australian Ballet (among others) and has toured her independent work internationally. Her collaborations include projects with UK musician CLARK, Adena Jacobs, Amos Gebhardt, Leyla Stevens , Monica Lim and Rianto.
Melanie was the recipient of the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award, 2017 Leipziger Bewegungskunstpreis and has been nominated for the Green Room and Helpmann Awards.
As a performer, Lane has worked with artists such as Tino Seghal, Arco Renz, Eun Me Ahn, Club Guy and Roni, Jo Lloyd, Antony Hamilton and Lucy Guerin. Melanie was the 2015 resident director at Lucy Guerin Inc., Resident Artist at The Substation, Associate Artist at QL2 and is the 2023/24 Choreographer in Residence at Chunky Move.
Antony Hamilton is Artistic Director and co-CEO of Chunky Move. He works with collaborators to meld choreography with sound and visual design, resulting in vivid imaginary worlds in performance.
Antony has been the recipient of major fellowships from Bangarra Dance Theatre (the Russell Page Fellowship), the Tanja Liedtke Foundation, the Australia Council for the Arts and the Sidney Myer Foundation. In 2013, he was Resident Director of Lucy Guerin Inc and in 2014 was guest dance curator at The National Gallery of Victoria. He was also the inaugural International Resident Artist at Dancemakers Toronto from 2016 to 2018. Antony has received four Helpmann Award nominations, winning for Black Project 1 & 2, and Forever and Ever (Sydney Dance Co.). He has won numerous Green Room Awards and has also received a New York Performing Arts Award ‘Bessie’ for Outstanding Production for MEETING.
In his time as Artistic Director at Chunky Move, Antony has premiered Token Armies (2019), Universal Estate (2019), Nocturnal (2020), Yung Lung (2022) and Rewards for the Tribe (2022). He has also championed a range of sector support programs, including the Victorian Regional Artist Residency, commissioning program Activators and the Choreographer in Residence initiative.
Antony danced with Lucy Guerin Inc. from 2005 to 2009, performing in Lucy’s works Aether, Structure and Sadness, Corridor, and Untrained.
+Lee Serle
Lee Serle graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Dance in 2003, and has presented his choreographic work to critical acclaim worldwide, creating dances on all scales, from grand stages to the intimate and personal, commissioned by the Lyon Opera Ballet (France), Sydney Dance Company, Lucy Guerin Inc, ACCA, The Substation, among many others. Lee has received fellowships from Australia Council for the Arts, City of Sydney and Rolex Arts Institute, and nominated for several Australian Dance and Greenroom Awards throughout his career. Lee is a highly valued educator having lectured and choreographed at tertiary institutions in Europe, USA and Australia, and is currently a trainer at NAISDA Dance College for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander developing artists in NSW.
+Benjamin Hancock
Benjamin Hancock is a dancer, choreographer, and performance artist, who is currently based in Melbourne, unceded Wurundjeri country. He has featured in works by Australia’s leading choreographers including Lucy Guerin, Prue Lang, Melanie Lane, Antony Hamilton, Lee Serle, Sue Healey, Martin del Amo, Narelle Benjamin, and Gideon Obarzanek.
As a solo artist, Benjamin often inhabits fantastical dispositions that invite audiences to embrace parallel masculinities and femininities. He has presented solo performances at Chunky Move (Next Move), Lucy Guerin Inc (Pieces for Small Spaces), Performance Space (Day For Night), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne Now), Mona Museum & New Orleans Biennial (Prospect 3 USA).
Benjamin has also collaborated with contemporary artists, such as Dylan Martorell, Belle Bassin, Lichen Kelp, and Fayen d’Evie, to develop and perform works presented at leading Australian galleries including the Art Gallery of NSW, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, and Heide Museum of Art.
He received an Australian Dance Award (2017), Helpmann Award Nomination (2017), and Green Room Award (2016) for his outstanding performance in Lucy Guerin Inc’s ‘The Dark Chorus’. His performance in ‘Princess’, his solo work choreographed for Chunky Move (Next Move) received a Green Room Award Nomination (2015). ‘Princess’ also won two Green Room Awards (2015) for outstanding sound design and visual design.
Acclaimed as a performance artist in drag cabaret and club venues, including BARBA and Honcho Disko, Benjamin often plays with the spectacle of camouflage and masks, within egalitarian choreographies of drag. These performance entities have resonated beyond the club scene, leading to commissions at Aesop, Tourism Australia, NGV, Art Bank, Mona Foma and Dark Mofo, ACCA, ACMI. Collaborations continue with performance artists James Andrews, The Huxleys and Discordia.
Since 2015, Benjamin has been a core member of the drag cabaret ensemble YUMMY, which has performed at Underbelly Festival (London), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Brisbane Festival, Auckland Live, and fringe festivals in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. ‘Yummy’ won two Green Room Awards (2018) for best production and cabaret ensemble.
Benjamin graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2008 with a Bachelor of Dance, and was the recipient of the inaugural VCA choreographic award in his final year.