Sweet Region

Dance

Sweet Region brings together five groups of dancers, choreographers and artists from across Regional Victoria to create five new, dance-based works for a special one-night performance at the Arts Centre’s Black Box.

Under the mentorship of Creative Producer Natalie Cursio, each group has responded to Next Wave’s Festival theme to create an engaging new work, which speaks to their situation as both artists living and working in Regional communities, and emerging innovators in the field of dance. The resulting works include a series of innovative collaborations which fuse dance with film, animation and sound composition. Hailing from Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura and Warrnambool, the artists’ influences, practices and movement styles are diverse, carving out their own sense of people and place. After presentation at the 2008 Next Wave Festival, Sweet Region will tour to Bendigo, Geelong, Warrnambool and Mildura, to be showcased in the artists’ own communities.

Click here to download the Sweet Region flyer.

Artist/s:

Megan Beckwith, Kim Chalmers, Tom Halls, Morgan Healy, Sally Hederics, Seung Hi Lee, Daniel Newell, Jinaya Simpson, Rochelle Walshe, Stephen Walters.

Mentor/Creative Producer: Natalie Cursio

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About the artist/s:

Sweet Region is made up of five performance ensembles each containing artists drawn from regional centres across Victoria.

BENDIGO:

Megan Beckwith and Seung Hi Lee have been developing their working relationship since meeting at Victorian College of the Arts. For Sweet Region they have collaborated on a new dance and video work with the addition of Bendigo dancer Callum Healy.

Seung Hi Lee, originally from Korea, holds a Masters of Choreography from the VCA. She made several dance works throughout her studies and additionally choreographed a work for Choom Se Ri Modern Dance Company, Korea. Seung Hi has performed locally in works by KITA performing Arts Company, Bagryana Popov and Megan Beckwith. She has performed in Korea with Ahn Na Kim and Hang Kyung Dance Co. Seung Hi is also an experienced arts event co-ordinator and programmer; she managed, choreographed and performed Korean and modern dance for the Ceremony of Asian Games 2002 at Sachun Cultural Arts Centre, South Korea. Seung Hi has been teaching and performing Korean dance since 1998.

Megan Beckwith holds a Masters in Animateuring from the VCA and her current practice blends dance with digital animation. Her own works include Bug presented at Allan’s Walk Artist Run Space in 2007, Bone Idol at The Commonwealth Games in 2006, Mrs Tute at the Castlemaine State Festival in 2005, Cyborpyg at The Victorian Arts Centre and The Cube at Federation Square for Melbourne Fringe Festival, both in 2004. Megan has had many engagements as a choreographer and animator in Canberra, Castlemaine, Bendigo and Melbourne and she currently teaches VCE and VET dance at Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

GEELONG:

Jinaya Simpson, Tom Halls and Rochelle Walshe from room2move Youth Dance Co.

room2move Youth Dance Co. is the joint creative partnership between Geelong based choreographers/dance educators Lyndel Freeman and Rachel Sheehan. Together, they lead a dynamic company of 20 Geelong dancers, aged between 12 and 25 and are committed to producing original dance works as well as providing a stepping stone for emerging dancers into professional practice. room2move has supported Tom Halls, Jinaya Simpson and Rochelle Walshe to make a new collaborative dance work for Sweet Region.

Tom Halls is studying for a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Monash University. He has a diverse interest in theatre and dance, with experience in drama, musicals, script writing, film and tap dance. He has played roles in Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Wizard of Oz, The Dumb Waiter and worked as an extra on feature film Charlotte’s Web. His introduction to contemporary dance came through involvement in room2move’s Headspace in 2007.

Jinaya Simpson has performed in room2move’s Salt and Headspace, and in Tasmanian based company Stompin’s HOME under the direction of Luke George. Jinaya engaged in the creative process and performance of Amber Birkin’s Synergy which came runner-up in the Australian Choreographic Dance Competition during the Splash! Dance Festival 2005. She is currently studying Health Science and Auslan sign language at La Trobe University.

Rochelle Walshe is studying for a Bachelor of Education at Deakin University. Having danced since the age of four, Rochelle has experienced a range of styles and has developed an interest in choreography through her contemporary dance training with Shaun McLeod, Sheridan Lang and Olivia Millard. She has performed in Amber Birkin’s Synergy and room2move’s Headspace.

MILDURA:

Sally Hederics and Kim Chalmers have developed their creative relationship based on their previous collaboration inspired by the people and the landscape of the Murray River. They are working with Mildura film-maker Adam Hobbs.

Sally Hederics studied at the Centre for the Performing Arts, obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Dance Performance. During these years she worked with many of Australia’s top choreographers, including Brett Daffy, Peter Sheedy, Csaba Buday, Garry Stewart and Xiao Xiong Zhang. During this time Sally was part of an exchange program with the Beijing Modern Dance Company and choreographer Xiao Xiong Zhang to create Dance in the Forbidden City, which was performed in Beijing and Adelaide. In 2004 Sally completed her Honours in Dance at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has worked as assistant choreographer to Anna Smith for the Murray Dance Project On Salty Ground and danced in Andrea Chenier for the State Opera South Australia. Sally currently works with Strange Fruit with whom she has toured throughout Australia, Africa, South America, North America, Europe and Asia.

Kim Chalmers is a composer, musician and lighting specialist with extensive experience in arts management, events co-ordination and artistic direction. In January 2006 Kim was commissioned to compose the 30-minute work Riverlife for the Murray River International Music Festival. In March 2006 she was artistic director and production co-ordinator for Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival’s ‘afterclub’ and she is currently General Manager of Murray Darling Collection, an innovative wine growing project. Kim has also lectured in Music Technology, Electronic Music and Digital Arts at Adelaide University where she is currently engaged in a Masters degree of Music.

MILDURA:

Morgan Healy is a film director originally from Mildura and currently based in Sydney. His work is mainly concerned with the human body, its alteration and the situations with which it is thrust into unwittingly. His films have been shown in various festivals around Australia including Tropfest, MUFF and the Melbourne University Cinema Studies exhibitions. Morgan graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2004 with a BA in Cinema Studies where he developed a passion for storytelling and the need to be behind the lens. For Sweet Region, Morgan has created a new film work aimed at expanding the way people think about the body and movement. He will work with dancers Olivia Ansell and Martin Del Amo.

WARRNAMBOOL:

Daniel Newell and Stephen Walters (with support from Melissa Dance)

Daniel Newell and Stephen Walters grew up together in Warrnambool and danced together under the direction of Melissa Dance. Having gone their separate ways stylistically and geographically, they have come back together to collaborate, investigating levels of communication, underpinned by the correlations and distinctions between contemporary and commercial dance.

Daniel Newell is a recent graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, where he worked with many choreographers including Rebecca Hilton, Anna Smith, Garry Stewart and Carlee Mellow. Since graduating Daniel has worked with Luke George in Stompin’s HOME and with Natalie Cursio, Stephanie Lake and Gerard Van Dyck in Live Clips at the Union House Theatre as part of Mudfest. He also participated in Dancehouse’s Learning Curve residency with Ros Warby and has been seconded to periods of creative development with Balletlab and Homeless Dance Company. Daniel most recently performed in Opera Australia’s Alcina at the State Theatre.

Stephen Walters grew up with an abundance of dance, specifically jazz and hip hop styles. He has been mentored by Melissa Dance and gained experience teaching boys hip hop and break-dance workshops. Stephen has performed in many musicals, playing roles such as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Freddie in My Fair Lady, Oliver Warbucks in Annie and the lead in Oliver. He studied music theatre at The University of Ballarat Arts Academy, furthering his dance training to include tap and ballet. Sweet Region is Stephen’s first collaboration outside of Warrnambool.

Mentor/Creative Producer Natalie Cursio’s work has been seen extensively throughout Asia and Australia and she has carved out a solid reputation as a respected and talented director and choreographer. Natalie is the recipient of several grants including those from The Australia Council, Arts Victoria, the City of Melbourne, The Besen Family Foundation and Asialink.

Recent international touring includes Cindy and Polly Talk Dance to Tokyo for the Original Works of World Choreographers Project in 2007, small square and Four In The Clearing at the Busan International Dance Festival Korea in 2005 and In The Clearing as part of the Little Asia Dance Exchange Tour to five Asian cities in 2004. Recent local curated projects include the With a Bullet: The Album Project and Live Clips. Cursio regularly receives commissions from other companies and recently made Anonymous for Theatre CcadoO Korea and Six for Gold for Tasdance. Her dance film Hanguk Summer screened at the Sydney Festival in 2008. Natalie also collaborates with other choreographers/companies such as global group Homeless Dance Co of which she is founding member and with whom she recently toured to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

www.natcursio.com

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