FOUR INDEPENDENT CONTEMPORARY DANCE WORKS
30 APRIL - 9 MAY
SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY IS BASED IN WALSH BAY SYDNEY. OUR STUDIOS ARE ON THE LANDS AND OVER THE WATERS OF THE GADIGAL.
WE RECOGNISE THEIR CONTINUING CONNECTION TO THE LAND AND WATERS AND THANK THEM FOR PROTECTING THIS COASTLINE AND ITS ECOSYSTEMS SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO ELDERS PAST AND PRESENT, AND EXTEND THAT RESPECT TO ALL FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE.
Supported by the Neilson Foundation
We are thrilled to present our fifth season of INDance, showcasing the independent choreographic voices shaping contemporary dance today. We thank the Neilson Foundation for their visionary investment in this initiative, fostering continuous development of a flourishing landscape for independent dance in Sydney. It’s exciting to provide this opportunity to witness these innovative works from independent dance makers at the Neilson Studio in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. INDance is also an opportunity for Sydney Dance company to show our commitment to promoting and supporting independent artists, their collaborators and the works they produce.
Drawing inspiration from V8 racing, rave culture, love, desire and feminine resilience, INDance 2026 brings together four strikingly different choreographic worlds to surprise, entertain and challenge audiences. This year’s program features choreographers Emma Harrison, Jenni Large, Christopher Gurusamy and Oli Mathiesen - each showing critically acclaimed work that reflects the breadth of independent dance practice. This season of INDance was curated by Rafael and an independent panel, who we would like to thank for their support in the curation process.
In High Octane, Choreographer, director and performer Emma Harrison leans into her regional upbringing and the high-adrenaline culture of V8 racing, the work is a visceral exploration of ambition, success, class and hyper-masculinity. This is followed by Jenni Large’s Wet Hard Long, an extended and epic
version of her 2022 Keir Choreographic Awardwinning work. Large’s work mixes cinematic aesthetics and flamboyance to examine patriarchal systems and celebrate feminine resilience. In 5 Arrows, internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, Christopher Gurusamy, explores love, lust, and longing while critically reimagining how South Asian dance forms can be recontextualised in Australia. Finally, in The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, Aotearoa choreographer and dancer Oli Mathiesen presents an electrifying endurance-based work exploring rave culture, techno music and the limits of the human body. We trust this program full of incredible concepts, created and performed by cutting edge independent artists, will take audiences on an exhilarating journey through contemporary dance.
Rafael Bonachela Lou Oppenheim Artistic Director Executive Director
WEEK ONE • PAGE 6
HIGH OCTANE • PAGES 7 – 11
WET HARD LONG • PAGES 12 – 17
WEEK TWO • PAGE 18
5 ARROWS • PAGES 19 – 22 THE BUTTERFLY WHO FLEW INTO THE RAVE • PAGES 23 – 26
WEEK ONE
THURSDAY 30 APRIL TO SATURDAY 2 MAY
6.30PM - HIGH OCTANE BY EMMA HARRISON
8.00PM - WET HARD LONG BY JENNI LARGE
Exploring success, capitalism, class, and material wealth, High Octane takes a visceral look at how these forces shape our identities and bodies. Hailing from Regional Queensland and New South Wales, Harrison alongside an epic line-up of performers and creatives, delves into the hypermasculine world of V8 racing, channelling her personal experiences into a provocative interrogation of ambition and its price.
With an explosive blend of movement, rev heads, burnouts, rhinestones, music, and early 2000s-inspired visuals, High Octane takes the stage by force. A raw and electrifying reflection on the forces that drive us, High Octane challenges audiences to reconsider their relationship with success, power, and the relentless pursuit of more.
Choreographer / Performer Emma Harrison
Performers / Collaborator
Emma Riches and Frances Orlina
Sound Designer Amy Flannery
Dramaturg Adriane Daff
Lighting Designer Benjamin Brockman
Costume Designer Eliza Cooper
Outside Eyes Martin del Amo, Miranda Wheen
This work was commissioned and produced by Campbelltown Arts Centre through Campbelltown City Council.
Campbelltown Arts Centre is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council and is assisted by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Campbelltown Arts Centre also receives support from the Neilson Foundation.
Choreographer / Performer
Emma is a choreographer, performer, movement director, and educator. Her multidisciplinary practice moves between dance, theatre, film and voice, blending humour with highly physical movement to create work that is both playful and rigorous. Shaped by her working class and regional upbringing, Emma’s choreography examines the systems that shape us, questioning dominant narratives while drawing on both personal and collective experiences.
Her most recent choreographic works include High Octane, commissioned, and presented by Campbelltown Arts Centre (2025), Wolverine, which premiered at Sydney Festival (2024) following an international residency with Dance Makers Collective and South East Dance (UK), Top Dog, created for Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year 2 students (2025) and was choreographer and performer in Arlington by Enda Walsh, directed by Anna Houston.
Emma collaborates widely as a performer, co-devisor, and outside eye. Since 2019, she has been part of the Artistic Directorate of Dance Makers Collective. Performance highlights include Marrugeku’s Cut the Sky (dir. Rachael Swain, chor. Dalisa Pigram & Serge Aimé Coulibaly), All In (Dance Makers Collective, dir. Miranda Wheen, Sydney Festival 2025), Cue Lab (Emma Riches), Tra Mi Dinh’s (UP)HOLDING, and The Lost Boys, (Little Eggs Collective, dir. Craig Baldwin & Eliza Scott).
She has been supported through residencies with South East Dance (UK), March Dance Festival, DirtyFeet, AUSDANCE, Tantrum Youth Arts, STRUT Dance WA and in 2025, Emma was a recipient of the ATLAS scholarship at Impulstanz Vienna.
EMMA RICHES (Performer / Collaborator)
Emma is an independent artist whose practice spans performance, choreography, writing, teaching and producing. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, she has worked with notable artists including Jill Crovisier, Sandra Parker, Jo Lloyd, Siobhan McKenna, Tra Mi Dinh, Phillip Adams/Matthew Bird, Victoria Hunt, Louella May Hogan, as well as Dance Makers Collective, Tasdance, Deep Soulful Sweats and Polito. Emma’s work has been presented by Dancehouse, Brand X, DirtyFeet, Melbourne University, MPavilion and M1 CONTACT Singapore. Her practice is interested in pushing the creative and physical endurance of the performer while finding ways to leave tangible traces of the performative action.
FRANCES ORLINA (Performer / Collaborator)
Frances is an emerging contemporary dancer and maker based on Gadigal land. Her professional credits include working with choreographers Ann Yee and Charmene Yap for Opera Australia, Alisdair Macindoe, Cassidy Mcdermott Smith, Emma Harrison, and Dance Makers Collective. Her broader performance experience includes works by choreographers Didier Théron, Sam Coren, and Jenni Large. Frances graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she was awarded the WAAPA Medal and the Palisade Award for the most outstanding graduate. Her training also spans other renowned institutions, including SUNY Purchase College, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Koninklijke Balletschool Antwerpen.
Amy Flannery (she/her) is a First Nations Australian creator and performer who trained at NAISDA Dance College. Since graduating, she has worked with companies including Bangarra Dance Theatre, Jannawi Dance Clan, Dance Makers Collective, Sydney Theatre Company, Campbelltown Arts Centre, and PACT. In 2022 she received the David Page Music Fellowship at Bangarra and performed and designed sound for Bulnuruwanha at Sydney Opera House. She was associate sound artist on The Visitors (STC, 2023) and has collaborated internationally, including on Emma Harrison’s Wolverine, developed in the UK and premiered at Sydney Festival 2024.
ADRIANE DAFF (Dramaturg)
Adriane Daff is an actor, writer, theatre-maker and Core Artist of The Last Great Hunt. Her theatre credits include Lé Nør (nominated for two Helpmann Awards, Perth Festival 2019, The Ian Potter Centre 2023) and The Irresistible (Helpmann-nominated, Dark Mofo and Sydney Opera House, 2019) amongst others. She trained at WAAPA, Ward Meisner Studio (NYC) and Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Paris). Adriane has created and performed original works including Era of New Paradise for Griffin Theatre’s Batch Festival, HYPERDREAM at The Old Fitz and Young & Gorgeous for The Flying Nun. Recent performances include The Cherry Orchard (Black Swan), The Lost Boys (Little Eggs Collective), and idk (Force Majeure).
Benjamin Brockman is an award-winning lighting and set designer who has worked extensively across Australia and internationally. They have designed for leading companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company, National Theatre of Parramatta, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Hayes Theatre Company, Belvoir, Ensemble Theatre, Pinchgut Opera, Critical Stages, CDP, Sydney Mardi Gras Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Apocalypse Theatre, bAKEHOUSE, Little Eggs Collective, Shaun Parker & Company, and Dance Makers Collective.
They have been recognised with multiple awards for their work, including the APDG Award for Best Lighting Design for a Live Performance or Event, the 2023 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design for a Mainstage Production, and the 2019 and 2021 Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Lighting Design for an Independent Production.
COOPER (Costume Designer)
Eliza is a dancer, choreographer and costume designer working independently and with Dance Makers Collective (DMC), Sydney Dance Company (SDC), Opera Australia (OA) and Pepa Molina’s Las Flamenkas. Her notable choreographic works include Revenge Tales and Romance (SDC New Breed 2023), Bat Lake (FORM Dance Projects 2022), Snake Battle (DMC ‘Big Dance 2.0’ 2023), Play (SDC Youth Ensemble 2022) and Old Life / Dead Life (2019). Eliza was Associate Costume Designer for James Bachelor’s Occasions (SDC PPY21 Revealed 2021) and was Costume Designer for Emma Harrison’s Wolverine (Sydney Festival DMC 2024) and High Octane (Campbelltown Arts Centre 2025).
DEL AMO (Outside Eyes)
Martin del Amo is a choreographer and dancer with 30 years of professional experience. He is acclaimed for his solos fusing idiosyncratic movement and intimate storytelling, and, more recently, as a creator of group works and solos for others. Programmed by many major festivals and venues across the country, his work has toured nationally and internationally. Martin’s contribution to the Australian arts sector as a teacher, dramaturg, dance writer and mentor to emerging artists has been recognised with the 2024 Creative Australia Award for Dance, the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance (2018), and the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship (2015).
WHEEN (Outside Eyes)
Miranda Wheen is an independent dancer and choreographer based on Dharug country in Sydney. Her practice is rooted in contemporary dance, but also spans areas of intercultural collaboration, improvisation, teaching, community engaged arts, advocacy and dramaturgy for dance. She has been an Associate Artist with Marrugeku since 2017 and has performed/collaborated in their last four shows. Miranda is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Sydney-based Dance Makers Collective (DMC), for whom she has directed three full-length works, Dads, The Rivoli and All In. She has collaborated with a wide range of artists and companies including; Martin Del Amo, Stalker Theatre, Shaun Parker and Company, Ghenoa Gela, Mirramu Dance Company, Julie-Anne Long and theTsai Jui-Yueh Dance Foundation in Taiwan.
Bending innuendo and oozing feminine resilience a-top 8-inch heels.
Wet Hard Long exhibits the enduring femme body under scrutiny of a patriarchal society.
Edging the audience towards the promise of relief, two dancers undertake exacting physical feats. Their bodies contend with obstacles, objects and elements – each, more impossible than the last.
Extended from Jenni Large’s 2022 Keir Choreographic Award audience prize-winning work (Wet Hard), Wet Hard Long is an epic display of grit, glamour, and glistening jawclenching stamina. A slippery endurance piece demanding perseverance from performers and viewers in a tribute to the strenuous expectations which femme bodies continue to overcome.
Subverting narratives around sex and power, performing perfection, and avoiding failure, Wet Hard Long provokes questions about identity, desire, ownership, consent and the holy and arduous qualities of the feminine.
Director, Choreographer & Performer Jenni Large
Collaborating Performer Amber McCartney
Sound Designer Anna Whitaker
Lighting Designer Adelaide Harney
Sculptural Fabricator Jemima Lucas
Costume Designer Michelle Boyde
Dramaturgy Ashleigh Musk
Research Assistant / Curator P. Eldridge
Understudy Tayla Gartner
Stage Manager and Operator Giovanna Yate Gonzalez
Auspice Partners Auspicious Arts
Deepest thanks to Chris and Richard for their ongoing production support (Perpetual Trophy for Best Parents Award).
Previous development and presentations of Wet Hard Long have been supported by Chloe Munro Fellowship through The Australian Cultural Fund, Creative Australia, Dancehouse and The Australian Ballet’s DanceX Program at The Arts Centre Melbourne and Auspicious Arts.
Director, Choreographer & Performer
Jenni is an independent dancer, teacher, and award-winning choreographer/ director based in Kanamaluka/Launceston, Lutruwita/Tasmania. Her practice spans over 15 years of performance and collaboration throughout Australia and internationally, including Europe, the UK, Aotearoa New Zealand, the Americas, Japan, and Singapore. She has collaborated with artists and companies including Dancenorth, Tasdance, Leigh Warren, Pat Toh Ling/ Dance Nucleus, Legs On The Wall, GUTS Dance, and Ashleigh Musk.
Influenced by cinematic aesthetics and cultural tropes, Jenni constructs highly visual choreographic worlds that interrogate patriarchal systems, celebrate women, and challenge sexual stigma. Her independent works include Body Body Commodity (Mona Foma, TAS) and Phantom Femme Fatale (Desert Festival NT; Horizon Festival QLD). Her acclaimed work Wet Hard Long premiered at Dancehouse and had a successive season at Arts Centre Melbourne for DanceX/The Australian Ballet and earned a Green Room Award nomination for Best Visual Design and a nomination for the Rose International Dance Prize, Sadler’s Wells, London.
Jenni’s commissioned works include Wilds with Rooke Circus for Ten Days on the Island (recipient of the Tasmanian Theatre Judges’ Special Award for choreography and creative leadership), S U C K E R for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed, LIP for Lucy Guerin Inc’s PIECES, and Truth Beauty Suffering for Australasian Dance Collective. She has also created works for WAAPA, Stompin, and Junction Arts Festival.
A recipient of the Chloe Munro Fellowship, Jenni premiered Faraway with Australian Dance Theatre for Adelaide Festival in 2026, and presented her durational installation Body Shells at TMAG’s Hobart Current—continuing to expand her choreographic language across stage and installation.
(Collaborating Performer)
Amber McCartney is a Dharawal Country/ Wollongong Naarm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Her practice incorporates prosthetics, mask-making, film and practical special effects to create new augmented bodies. Amber has worked extensively with Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc. and is a creative associate of Tasdance. She has collaborated with independent artists such as Jo Lloyd, Jenni Large, Prue Lang, James Batchelor, Antony Hamilton Projects, Alisdair Macindoe and Stephanie Lake. Amber received the John Truscott Artists Award for her solo Tiny Infinite Deaths, performed in RISING 2023, originally commissioned by Lucy Guerin Inc and The Substation. In 2023 Amber premiered her solo Baby Girl, commissioned by Tasdance, for MONA FOMA. In 2022 she was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship from Lucy Guerin Inc. She won a Green Room Award for Best Performer in Prue Lang’s Project F and was a finalist for Telstra Emerging Choreographer Award. Her film Tiny Passenger was screened in dance(lens), Dancehouse. In 2020 Amber was a recipient of Chunky Move’s Solitude 1 and created her film Softtrap for the 2021 Activators program.
Anna Whitaker is a multi-award-winning Meanjin/Brisbane-based sound designer and composer. She graduated from Queensland Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music Technology, and has since designed and composed for productions including MONA FOMA, Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Company, The Farm, Tasdance, Stompin’, Aha Ensemble, La Boite Theatre Company, Brisbane Festival, Bleach* Festival, HOTA Gold Coast, Festival 2018 and Vulcana Circus. Her vast background in classical music and technology-based sound art results in
musical concoctions from the traditional and contemporary worlds. Anna received the 2020/2021 and 2019 Matilda Award for Best Sound Design for her work on Michael Smith’s Cowboy and The Farm’s Throttle, respectively. Anna’s unique voice is also evident in her installation works, which have been exhibited at Bleach* Festival, HOTA, MetroArts and QPAC Museum. Anna has a strong interest in composition for contemporary dance, and making and collaborating with regional artists and communities
Adelaide Harney, a Lighting Designer and Technician, illuminates Melbourne and Perth stages, contributing to Australian productions with her unique voice. With an unwavering commitment to collaboration, she carves her presence in the contemporary artistic scene. Adelaide’s recent achievements showcase her pursuit of new ideas. Notable among these are her Lighting Design contributions to Wet Hard Long by Jenni Large, her role as a Lighting Tour Technician for Silence by Karul and BlakDance displays her versatility in shaping visual narratives. Adelaide’s collaborative spirit shines in Sampa the Great’s New South Wales Gallery performance, blending Lighting Design with production essence. She served as an Lx Programmer for Garabari by Joel Bray Dance and provided Set and lighting design for You’re so Brave by Georgie Ivers. A proud Victorian College alumna, she mentors at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, nurturing budding lighting talents. Adelaide’s journey is fuelled by a passion for the stage, challenging lighting conventions and inspiring innovation through collaboration. Her impact resonates not only in her work but also in the lives she influences as a mentor.
Jemima Lucas’s practice investigates productive powers between psychologically and materially opposed gestures of control and release/ power and agency. The material assemblages hold allegorical potential, situating the works as active conduits for the body. Through balanced expressions of perpetration and yield, antithetical forces negotiate their impact on one another. Materials act as the primary point of departure in my practice; I would like to acknowledge the First Nations people on the lands from which I source them. The gravity of which is felt when I mix sand into cement, mix scoria to invest, weld steel, pour latex and cast aluminium. All are mined from unceded indigenous land. Jemima pays respect to elders, past, present and emerging. Jemima has an upcoming show at Passage Gallery in 2026.
Michelle Boyde is a seasoned fashion and textiles-trained designer and director of independent agency, BOYDE. As a costume designer under her namesake agency, she has worked for prominent cultural institutions Mona, DarkLab, Chunky Move, Melbourne Fashion Festival, NGV, and Bakehouse Studios, while also supporting an array of independent dancers and performers. Additionally, Michelle serves as the current Artistic Director of Design Tasmania, a respected not-for-profit design hub known for its extensive Tasmanian wood collection and exhibitions. She curates the center’s annual Artistic Program, focusing on local industry partnerships and the advancement of women in design, contributing significantly to Tasmania’s renowned design sector.
P. Eldridge (she/her) is a writer, literary editor, dramaturg, founder of the radical trans anarchist zine SISSY ANARCHY, managing editor of Worms, and co-founder of The Compost Library, working between London and so- called Australia.
Ashleigh Musk (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, dramaturg and community arts facilitator based in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in so-called Australia. She is deeply captivated by imagining futures, with a sensitivity to landscape and relationships, both human and beyond. Ashleigh’s work often uses industrial materials which are activated in experimental ways, revealing complex relationships through handling of these junk-like objects with radical care and tenderness. Significant projects in 2024 include: developing Chaos in Concert with Jenni Large and Anna Whitaker, touring SUB and Fertile Ground to national platforms across so-called Australia, being artist-inresidence at tMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, collaborating on Desert Hothouse and youth project Alice Can Dance with GUTS Dance, creating multidisciplinary installation CRISÁLIDA with Ivan Trigo Miras for the Desert Festival (Mparntwe) and participating as a selected artist in Conversations on Performance at Festival TransAmériques and at the International Choreographers Retreat with Montreal Danse (Canada).
Originally from Geelong, Tayla began her dance training at Infinite Dance Studios at a young age. Tayla commenced full-time training at Patrick Studios Australia Academy program in 2018 before undertaking the Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year in 2022, where she performed works by choreographers including Melanie Lane, Stephanie Lake, Jenni Large, Tobiah Booth-Remmers and Rafael Bonachela. Tayla has been involved in numerous movement and fashion campaigns for brands such as Last Layer, Indosole, MYER, JOSLIN and Carla Zampatti and has featured in adverts for Junior Eurovision, ABC and the Sydney Opera House. After graduating from the PreProfessional Year, Tayla joined Sydney Dance Company as Trainee in 2024, touring around Australia and internationally. Since relocating to Naarm to freelance, Tayla has been working on Lucy Guerin’s The Forest, Oli Mathiesen’s The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave and Jenni Large’s Wet Hard Long.
Giovanna Yate Gonzalez is a Colombian-born dancer turned lighting designer and technician in Australia. After studying at VCA, she’s worked on standout projects like Siren Dance at Sydney Dance Company and the Fringe award-winning LUSH. In 2023, she was selected for the Besen Artistic Program at Malthouse and FUTURE CREATIVE program with MTC in 2024-2025. This year, she has design for DanceHouse show Sync Well by GEMMA+MOLLY and, presented at The capitol the concert Air Pressure by Phillip Samartzis and Michael Vodfeld.
WEEK TWO
THURSDAY 7 MAY TO SATURDAY 9 MAY
6.30PM - 5 ARROWS BY CHRISTOPHER GURUSAMY
8.00PM - THE BUTTERFLY WHO FLEW INTO THE RAVE BY OLI MATHIESEN WITH LUCY LYNCH AND SHARVON MORTIMER
5 Arrows fuses Bharathanatyam with Christopher’s biracial queer perspective, recontextualising and creating a dance work that speaks of love, lust and longing.
Based on ‘Mohamana’, an iconic Carnatic (South Indian) art music piece that comes from Bharathanatyam’s rich history, Christopher plays with the structure of the composition – using himself and his lived history to fill the cracks.
Oscillating between lyrical dance and abstract embodied movement of face, body and gesture, woven together with Christopher’s contemporary sensibilities, the work is equally based on ancient philosophy as it is the lyrics of pop music.
Christopher critically questions his practice in Bharathanatyam, asking how he can create and re-contextualise compositions from the rich history of dance in a meaningful way using himself as the catalyst to create a future for this form in Australia. This is not a work of finding oneself, it is a celebration of what has been found.
Choreographer & Performer
Christopher Gurusamy
Vocal Arjunan Puveendran
Nattuvangam Ranjeev Kirupairajah
Veena Saumya Sritharan
Mridangam Lojen Wijeyamanoharan
Lighting Design Collaborator Lavania Pallavan
Initial support from DanceHouse Melbourne. CAAP – Longhouse presentation – 27 November 2024, Utp – performance season – 12-13 April 2025.
Choreographer & Performer
Christopher Gurusamy is an internationally acclaimed Bharathanatyam dancer and choreographer, regarded as a trailblazer of his generation. Born in Perth, at 18 he moved to Chennai in 2005 to study at the globally renowned Bharathanatyam conservatorium Kalakshetra. After graduation, Christopher was a principal dancer with Leela Samson’s Spanda Dance Company and has since carved a niche for himself as a soloist.
Since Christopher’s return to Australia in 2022, his work Ānanda: Dance of Joy (2024) presented at Eternity Playhouse (Sydney), DanceHouse (Melbourne) and Ambani Centre (Mumbai) received critical acclaim including a 4-star review in The Age, and was nominated for the Green Room Awards in the Outstanding Performer category. Christopher was also selected for DanceHouse’s 2024 Independent Choreographers Program. He was also creative consultant on acclaimed play Nayika: A Dancing Girl (Belvoir St Theatre, 2024).
In 2025, Christopher’s work included a sold-out premiere season of 5 Arrows, a Creative Australia commission for new work Thee based on 20th century Tamil poetry; presentation for ACMI Nights; and performing for the Green Room Awards. He was the inaugural recipient of Australian Dance Theatre’s Expound Residency, where he undertook a development of Kalki, a contemporary dance work in collaboration with Miles Franklin Award winning novelist Shankari Chandran. He recently presented a full-length recital Ullam in Melbourne.
Christopher is globally recognised for the rigour of his performative practice, and ability to connect with diverse audiences especially those familiar and unfamiliar with his chosen dance form.
Arjunan’s work focuses on the intersection of music, rhythm, dance and dialogue. As a vocalist, percussionist and speaker, he has co-directed various arts projects that explore the place of South Asian art in contemporary Australian society. These include: Re-imagining Dance: Brown Bodies on the Global Stage (2020), and Bhoomi: Our Country for Sydney Festival 2021. He was Composer and Musician on Belvoir St Theatre plays The Jungle and the Sea (2022) (for which he won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Original Score) and King Lear (2025). Arjunan was selected by Australia Council in its cohort of 25 Arts Leaders in 2020-2021.
Ranjeev is immersed in the South Asian classical dance and music community, combining his training in multiple disciplines including vocal, veena and dance with various gurus in Australia and India. He has performed nattuvangam (cymbals) and vocal percussion for several Bharatanatyam recitals and productions including in 2025, for Hues of Love (Newcastle Fringe Festival, 2025), Unbound (Sydney Fringe Festival, 2025), and for Christopher Gurusamy’s 5 Arrows (UTP, 2025) and Ullam (Taste of India, 2025).
Saumya is a veena artist, trained by her mother Varalakshmi Sritharan along with gurus in India including N Anathanarayanan and Kalyani Ganesan. She is also an emerging Bharathanatyam dancer having learnt from gurus in Australia and India. She presented her solo debut recital in Bharathanatyam in
2022, and recently commenced advanced training under Christopher Gurusamy. As a musician, Saumya widely performs in Sydney as a soloist; as part of music ensembles including to accompany dance recitals. She performed veena in 5 Arrows’ premiere season at UTP.
Lojen is a senior mridangam disciple of Ravi M. Ravichandhira OAM, and a graduate of The Academy of Indian Music (Australia) and Sruthi Laya Kendra (India). He completed his mridanga debut recital in 2009, accompanying acclaimed artists from India. Trained further under legendary gurus, Prof A.S. Ramanathan and Guru Karaikudi R. Mani, Lojen is a versatile multi-percussionist and music producer, collaborating with artists worldwide. He also leads Consonance Entertainment Australia, fostering innovative cross-cultural music projects.
A Bharathanatyam disciple of Jayalukshimy Kandiah OAM, Lavania has become a household lighting designer for Bharathanatyam productions in Sydney over the past eleven years. She recently began working with Christopher Gurusamy on lighting design, including for the Sydney presentations of his works Ānanda: Dance of Joy (2024), 5 Arrows (2025) and Ullam (2025).
From Aotearoa New Zealand, Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer present the award-winning The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, an endurance-based dance work to the booming techno album Nocturbulous Behaviour by Suburban Knight.
Exploring the movement vocabulary used in techno and rave culture, a contemporary nightclub between 3 bodies emerges. Relentless movement, seamless without pause, detailed down to every beat. The atmosphere and culture of a 3-day rave condensed into a high art, streamlined performance where you watch the destruction of 3 human beings commence in front of you.
Indulge in the pain, the sweat, the cathartic mess; a display of pure endurance to achieve a goal. A spectacle of the human body as a victim to music, as a victim to passion, as a victim to our endless desire to achieve more. To win and win again.
Creator, Choreographer, and Performer
Choreographer and Performer
Oli Mathiesen (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi)
Lucy Lynch (Ngāti Kahungunu) & Sharvon Mortimer (Ngāti Porou)
Creative Producer Abbie Rogers (Kāi Tahu, Te Arawa)
Music
Lead Lighting Designer and Operator
Suburban Knight
Shanell Bielawa (Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi)
Stage Manager Gina Heidekruger
Performer (2025) Celia Hext, Tayla Gartner
Lighting Design Collaborators
Oli Mathiesen, Shanell Bielawa, Bekky Boyce, Jazmin Whittall, Jacobus Engelbrecht (Legit Events)
Oli Mathiesen is a choreographer and dancer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Manu, Ngāpuhi). He is an emerging artist, working nationally and internationally with some of Aotearoa and Australia’s top companies, including Atamira Dance Company, Black Grace, The New Zealand Dance Company, The Farm, Borderline Arts Ensemble, as well as performing Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s ‘10 Duets on a Theme of Rescue’ (2023). He is an accomplished performer and choreographer whose artistry traverses the dynamic intersections of dance, physical theatre, and film, all through the captivating lens of contemporary dance. His work is characterized by an unwavering commitment to discipline and a relentless pursuit of excellence, drawing inspiration from his diverse communities. This unique perspective, shaped by his indigenous, political, queer, and gendered identity, forms the essence of his artistry.
Oli is the sole winner of the international call for a new choreographic creation at La Biennale di Venezia. His new commissioned work, ‘Just Between Me and Jesus’ (2026), will make its world premiere at the Venice Biennale Danza in 2026.
Oli’s radical, award-winning show ‘The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave’ (2024) has been presented globally, including at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, Melbourne’s RISING Festival 2025, Auckland Art Festival 2026, Sydney’s Liveworks Festival 2024, Nelson Arts Festival 2024, Christchurch’s Tiny Fest 2024, Auckland Pride Festival 2024, and Wellington’s New Zealand Fringe Festival 2024. The show performed a smash hit season at the esteemed Summerhall in Edinburgh, selling out their final week, being listed as Theatre Weekly’s ‘Best Dance Performance’, and were the inaugural award winners of the ‘Bragi Award for Excellence in Creativity & Performance’. Furthermore, he has choreographed works for Atamira Dance Company, Black Grace, Tempo Dance Festival, The Auckland Live Cabaret Festival, and The Performance Arcade.
Lucy is an accomplished contemporary dancer and choreographer from Tāmaki Makaurau. She was a founding member of The New Zealand Dance Company, touring with the company for over eight years and performing internationally at some of the world’s most prestigious arts festivals. Beyond her contributions to contemporary dance, Lucy is a prominent figure in New Zealand’s broader entertainment industry, earning widespread acclaim as one of the country’s most active and recognised burlesque artists. She regularly headlines burlesque events throughout New Zealand and frequently collaborates and performs with Melbourne-based artist Evana De Lune.
(Choreographer and Performer)
Sharvon Mortimer is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based dancer and choreographer. She has worked with some of Aotearoa’s leading companies and independent artists, including Red Leap Theatre, The New Zealand Dance Company, Footnote Dance Company, Borderline Arts Ensemble, and Atamira Dance Company. Collaboratively creating acclaimed works that have been presented nationally and internationally. Sharvon finds joy in exchanging movement with other humans and in witnessing others do so. Engaging with creating, inhabiting, and observing worlds that are specific, nuanced, and challenging.
Abbie Rogers (she/her) is a Māori dancer, producer, and stage manager based in New Zealand. She produces the award-winning The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, touring nationally and internationally to Australia and Scotland. A core performer and staff member of Atamira Dance Company since 2019, Abbie has toured across Aotearoa, Australia, Canada, and the USA. She has also collaborated with Ōkāreka Dance Company, Louise Pōtiiki Bryant, Sean MacDonald, and many other independent artists.
Shanell Bielawa is an artist and lighting designer from Aotearoa, whose work spans dance, theatre, concerts, visitor experiences, exhibitions and photography. Her work is driven by a curiosity for how spaces feel and transform with light, often exploring rhythm, contrast, and atmosphere to shape the audience’s experience of the world the performance lives in. Alongside her lighting practice, Shanell works in production for The Sydney Symphony Orchestra and maintains a freelance illustration practice.
Gina is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama school and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts Management. Since graduating, Gina has had the pleasure of collaborating with Oli Mathiesen Company, Nightsong, Movement of the Human, Footnote New Zealand Dance and The Royal New Zealand Ballet.
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