Through my residency at with LGI WXYZ Studios, I have revisited and continued development on my current work, Disposable Income — a performance piece interrogating the representation of queer identities in contemporary media.
Originally conceived as a solo, Disposable Income has evolved into a duet in collaboration with Naarm-based dance artist Sebastian Geilings. The work examines how skewed or tokenistic portrayals of queer lives can generate subtle, accumulated traumas within the community. It asks whether dominant narratives in media serve to obscure deeper, structural forms of discrimination.
First developed and presented at Festspielhaus Hellerau (Dresden, Germany) and Kommuna Warszawa (Warsaw, Poland), the piece continues to grow in scale and complexity. My time at WXYZ Studios has been used to develop the work into a fully realised performance, using an interdisciplinary approach to choreography shaped by my interest in media and its effects on perception.
The adaptation of human beings to the influx of visual and audio stimuli is of great curiosity to me as an artist. Working with another queer body has brought a sense of solidarity. The themes in the work are easier to carry when shared.
Looking ahead, I hope to premiere Disposable Income in both Dresden and Melbourne through support from the Goethe-Institut’s International Co-Production Fund, furthering my ambition to strengthen ties between Australian and European artists through collaborative, cross-cultural practice.
About the Artist
Jack Bannerman is a Melbourne-born interdisciplinary choreographer and performer. After eight years performing professionally across Europe and Australia, he shifted focus to choreography, with early works presented at Tanzplattform Rhein-Main (DE), the Florence Dance Festival (IT), and shortlisted at the Tanzplattform Bern Prize (CH).
Jack has held residencies at the American Dance Festival (USA), Hellerau – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste (DE), and Kommuna Warszawa (PL). His interdisciplinary work Isn’t it a pity was nominated for the WeltenBauer Award. In 2024, he completed a Master of Arts in Choreography at Palucca Hochschule für Tanz (Dresden), and presented his solo Baby Blue at Sociatätestheater Dresden.
Recent invitations include Tanzhaus Basel (CH), Lucy Guerin Inc. (AUS), Dance Italia (IT), and a new commission in Oslo with Maria Kvalheim. His latest work soft animals will be presented at Masdanza (ES) and SoloDuo Cologne.