Charmene Yap

Charmene Yap, Rehearsal Associate

Charmene Yap is a multi-award-winning dancer, rehearsal director and choreographer. She is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and Purchase College New York. In her early career, Charmene was a recipient of an Australian Council Skills and Development Grant and nominee of the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative Award.

Prior to her decade of performing with Sydney Dance Company, Charmene danced for companies Chunky Move, Tasdance, Dancenorth, Lucy Guerin Inc., Armitage Gone! Dance Company and worked with numerous choreographers including Tanja Liedtke and Antony Hamilton. She has featured in films including Think Of Yourself As Plural by David Rosetzky, Del Kathryn Barton’s Red, and Katie Noonan’s music video Quicksand. Charmene joined Sydney Dance Company as a dancer in 2010, performing the majority of works by Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela, and other Australian and international choreographers including William Forsythe, Alexander Ekman and Stephanie Lake. She has won numerous awards including the Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer in 2012, the Australian Dance Award in 2013 for 2 One Another, and the Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer in 2014 for 2 in D Minor.

As a choreographer, Charmene has created for stage, short films, music clips and fashion shows. This includes Grey Rhino with cochoreographer Cass Mortimer Eipper, which premiered in Sydney Festival 2022, and works performed by Sydney Dance Company and Co3 Company. She was choreographer/ movement director for Belvoir’s new work Tell Me I’m Here, and assistant choreographer for

In September 2019, Charmene commenced her role as Sydney Dance Company’s inaugural Rehearsal Associate, supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation and Sydney Dance Company’s Dancers’ Circle, working with the company’s artistic and education departments.

In 2022, Charmene choreographed a new work Drunk Tank Pink for Sydney Dance Company’s annual New Breed season copresented with Carriageworks and supported by The Balnaves Foundation.