Forest Focus: Introducing the Dancers
The Forest leads us deeper into the thicket of the human subconscious, where myths, folk tales and eco-horror manifest. Meet the dancers bringing this ambitious new work to life.
The Forest by Lucy Guerin Inc.
Presented by RISING with UMAC
4 — 7 June | Union Theatre, University of Melbourne
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Part of the inaugural Australian Dance Biennale, curated and hosted by RISING.
MICHELLE HEAVEN
Michelle is a choreographer, performer, and movement consultant. She has presented her independent work at multiple national and international arts festivals, and collaborated, performed, and choreographed with Australia’s leading dance, theatre and circus companies.
TRA MI DINH
Tra Mi Dinh is an award-winning choreographer and dancer working across Naarm (Melbourne) and Gadigal (Sydney). She is emerging as a distinct artist in Dance, working as a dancer for leading companies Lucy Guerin Inc, and Stephanie Lake Company, whilst also establishing her own choreographic voice. She is the 2026 Resident Director at Lucy Guerin Inc.
AMBER MCCARTNEY
Amber McCartney is a Dharawal/Wollongong, Naarm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Her practice incorporates prosthetics, mask-making, film and costume to create new augmented bodies.
TAYLA GARTNER
Originally from Djilang/Geelong, Tayla is a freelance artist currently based in Naarm/Melbourne. Since graduating from Sydney Dance Company’s PPY Program in 2023, Tayla has worked as a dancer for Sydney Dance Company and Lucy Guerin Inc, as well as on a variety of independent projects on stage and film around Australia.
SEBASTIAN GEILINGS
Sebastian is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher whose practice centres on accessing the body’s deep potential through ease, somatic awareness, play, and the pursuit of connecting to his most authentic self. His relationship with movement has become even more sacred through lived experiences of illness, shaping his relationship to dance as both an expressive art form and a practise of renewal.
OLIVER SAVARIEGO
Oliver Savariego is a dancer and choreographer based in Naarm/Melbourne. His work questions and queers aesthetic values within dance, blends “high” and “low“ art and examines the lines between inspiration, reference and appropriation.
GEOFFREY WATSON
Geoffrey Watson is an artist whose practice is rooted in dance but frequently wanders into other disciplines and art forms like a stray cat looking for something to eat.