Folgen
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In this final episode of FORMidables, we hear from two artists who have embraced dance film as a most inspiring creative practice, offering infinite possibilities of approaching dance as a subject of viewing. They offer a masterclass in “just doing it”, whilst giving precious advice to their younger selves and sharing striking insights in Western Sydney’s unique character. You’ll be left in no doubt that living a creative life is priceless.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
MELISSA RAMOS
CANDY PARK
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKCheongchun Soundtrack (courtesy of Candy Park)
Pola Fanous is a Coptic Orthodox Performance Poet, Author and Educator from Western Sydney. In 2017, Pola performed at the Parliament House of Australia and his poem Mr. War (Palestine) was utilized in a project awarded the 2017 Paramor Prize for Art and Innovation. In 2018 Pola competed in the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House, where he was awarded the
2018 NSW Poetry Slam Champion. In 2019, Pola released STRONGSOFT, his debut collection of poetry, performing a National Tour with dates in Brisbane, Launceston, Hobart, and Melbourne. In 2020, Pola was the Narrator in Encounter – Emma Saunders’ cinematic Sydney Festival dance work. In 2021, Pola published his second book, a devotional on discovering love through faith titled Abba Father. Pola is currently completing his Masters in Secondary Education (Leading Teaching) at ACU whilst teaching English in a high school in Regional Victoria, as part of Teach for Australia’s Leadership Development Program.
Melissa Ramos is an artist and filmmaker living in Sydney. She is the founding director and curator of Dance Cinema Organisation, dedicated to celebrate the artform of dance films featuring high quality dance films directed by artists whose production lies in-between contemporary art, dance and cinema. Melissa's artistic practice derives from examining the conflicts between nature and culture, in particular the issues of nature imparted by colonialism and modernity. Melissa has collaborated with choreographers and dancers around the world; most recently with Sarah Pini for Critical Path, Sydney, and Swedish choreographer/dancer Carolina Bäckman for Copenhagen Stage Denmark. Melissa’s work has been exhibited widely; including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), USA; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa, Japan; House of Dance Denmark, Copenhagen; Vargas Museum, Manila Philippines; National Gallery, Bangkok; National Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Singapore; Berlin Asian Film Festival; and the Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin. Germany.
Candy Park is a Korean Australian all rounder movement artist, choreographer and filmmaker. As an artist, she holds an emphasis on storytelling, vulnerability and culture. Recently, she has been with One Dance Company, Stephanie Lake Dance Company and with Sela Vai; performing at the 2022 TedXSydney event. Starring and choreographing for music videos and dance films, Candy has found passion in filmmaking herself. She was also awarded ‘Most Outstanding film’ for her own submission in the 2021 FORM Dance Projects Sharp Short Dance Digital festival.
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Diving deep in their personal stories, Molonai Makalio and Lawrencea Mateariki openheartedly share their Polynesian culture and how dance has been a healing force in their life journey growing up in Western Sydney. Makalio reveals his inspiration behind his new work, STEP, at the intersection of hip hop, rugby and war dances. Mateariki explores how performing in ENCOUNTER directed by Emma Saunders led her to integrate her Cook Island dance practice with pedestrian dance.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
MOLONAI MAKALIO
LAWRENCEA MATEARIKI
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCIORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
BLKB3RY (Ha’ele Ki Pilitania, courtesy of Molonai Makalio)
Running Time: 38 mins
Photo Image: Pola Fanous, Molonai Makalio, Lawrencea MatearikiLOGOS: CPAN, Create NSW, Crown and Packer Foundations, Diversity Arts, Story Podcasters, ICE.
Pola Fanous is a Coptic Orthodox Performance Poet, Author and Educator from Western Sydney. In 2017, Pola performed at the Parliament House of Australia and his poem Mr. War (Palestine) was utilized in a project awarded the 2017 Paramor Prize for Art and Innovation. In 2018 Pola competed in the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House, where he was awarded the
2018 NSW Poetry Slam Champion. In 2019, Pola released STRONGSOFT, his debut collection of poetry, performing a National Tour with dates in Brisbane, Launceston, Hobart, and Melbourne. In 2020, Pola was the Narrator in Encounter – Emma Saunders’ cinematic Sydney Festival dance work. In 2021, Pola published his second book, a devotional on discovering love through faith titled Abba Father. Pola is currently completing his Masters in Secondary Education (Leading Teaching) at ACU whilst teaching English in a high school in Regional Victoria, as part of Teach for Australia’s Leadership Development Program.
Molonai Makalio is a founding member of Riddim Nation, a collective bringing the social aspect of dance culture to the Sydney dance scene since 2015. They practice all styles in street dance culture (Popping, Locking to Waacking, Breaking to Afro fusion, Hip-hop freestyle & House/Club dance), and bring elements of traditional culture into their dance practice. With Riddim Nation, Nai has taken part in exchanges, battles and cyphers as well sharing styles through clubs and parties.Lawrencea Mateariki is trained in Cook Island cultural dance and contemporary dance. Lawrencea is a cast member of ENCOUNTER directed by Emma Saunders, produced and commissioned by FORM Dance Projects and presented by Sydney Festival in 2020. She recently performed in ENCOUNTER SYDNEY presented by the Sydney Opera House on the forecourt of the opera as part of Unwrapped 2022.
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Fehlende Folgen?
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In this meditative episode, Murasaki Penguin co-founder and multidisciplinary choreographer Anna Kuroda with charismatic dance artist Ryuichi Fujimura share their love of performance and the joy of connecting with an audience. Their distinct paths to becoming a professional dancer tell us that there is no one way of building a career and that it’s never too late to give it a go.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
ANNA KURODA
RYUICHI FUJIMURA
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCIPola Fanous is a young poet and performing artist from Western Sydney. An Egyptian-born immigrant, at age 21 Pola is a prominent figure in Sydney’s slam scene. In 2016, Pola competed in the Poetry Olympics and spoke at the City of Sydney’s Youth Leadership Conference. In 2017, Pola was published in 'The Resurrection' Anthology and performed at the Digital Writers’ Festival, The Plot Music Festival, and the Parliament House of Australia. His poem 'Mr War (Palestine)' incorporated into Warren Armstrong and Susannah Williams’ multi-sensory artwork ‘Listening Device VII: Felt Histories’, was awarded the 2017 Paramor Prize for Art & Innovation. In 2018, Pola began writing for Honi Soit, performed at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and made waves with his now-iconic ‘Westies’. Pola was the 2018 NSW Slam Champion in the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House. In early 2019 he released his debut collection of poetry, STRONGSOFT. He was the Speaker in FORM Dance Projects’ 2020 Sydney Festival creation ENCOUNTER directed by Emma Saunders.
Anna Kuroda is a dancer and choreographer based in Sydney and Yokohama. Her movement practice focuses on sensitivity to internal and external air flow around the body, sharpness, fragility and unique rhythm. She aspires to make work where, through focus and technical skill, the dancer’s body is, in a way, unseen; leaving cells and memories. Kuroda founded Murasaki Penguin in 2010 with sound/multimedia artist David Kirkpatrick. She is Associate Artist and teacher at Seet Dance (2015 – current). She was one of 6 finalists at the TOYOTA Choreography Award, Japan (2016), was Resident Artist at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (2015) and Blacktown Arts Centre (2019), and was one of 8 artists for the Western Sydney Parklands Accelerator (2020). Kuroda has worked with Nibroll, Ong Keng Sen, KENTARO!!, Maki Tabata, Ko Murobushi, Phillip Adams, Brook Andrew, Sioned Huws, Reina Kimura, Heather B Swann and Charemaine Seet. She is a performer in Marvel Studio’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
Ryuichi Fujimura is an independent dance artist based in Sydney. Since the mid 1990’s, he has studied contemporary dance technique as well as improvisation and choreography in Australia and overseas. Over the last fifteen years, Ryuichi has collaborated with both emerging and established artists/companies in various dance, theatre, opera, site-specific performance and film projects including Xavier le Roy, Tino Sehgal, Asad Raza, Vicki Van Hout, Jim Sharman, Force Majeure, De Quincey Co., La Fura dels Baus, Clockfire Theatre co. and Flightpath Theatre. Ryuichi began his choreographic practice in 2013. In collaboration with Kate Sherman, he created two site-specific performance works (Under Harry’s Circumstances in 2014 and Under Different Circumstances in 2013). He has also created and performed two solo works (How I Practice My Religion in 2017 and How Did I Get Here? in 2015). He has toured internationally with these solos to Finland (2017) and Taiwan (2018). In 2020, Ryuichi performed in The Night Parade of One Hundred Goblins (Clockfire Theatre co.) for Sydney festival, We, the Lost Company, an adaptation (Clockfire Theatre co.) for Sydney Fringe and AEON†: EP I (directed by Justin Shoulder) for Liveworks. In 2021, Ryuichi choreographed a solo to be performed by Chris Wade for In Situ (Dance Makers Collective and Future Makers), an official event for Sydney Festival 2021, and performed in Fishy Tales co-directed by Vashti Hughes and Diane Busuttil in May. Ryuichi hopes to premier his new solo “Fall! Falter!! Dance!!!” in 2022, which has been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.
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Enter the worlds of Braveheart and Riverdance! With remarkable honesty and humility in view of their international achievements, two-time Irish dance world champion, Liam Costello, contemporary Highland dancer and emerging choreographer Sabrina Muszynski, with leading Irish and tap dancer, Peta Anderson, share the highs and lows of competitive “sports” that have taken them from the NSW Northern Rivers to Edinburgh, Western Sydney to London and New York.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
LIAM COSTELLO
PETA ANDERSON
SABRINA MUSZYNSKI
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Liam Costello has been dancing since the age of six at McGahan Lees Creer Irish Dance School and has achieved many accomplishments throughout his young dance career. Liam trains between London and Sydney and is a 10 x NSW State Champion as well as a 7 x Australian National Champion. After much hard work and dedication, Liam achieved many other international titles all over the world including being crowned World Champion in Glasgow 2018 and Greensboro 2019. As well as Irish, Liam has also been training in all other styles of dance since the age of five at Carlingford School of Dance and is currently continuing his training in the Performing Arts course at Brent Street. Liam also has extensive experience as a professional dancer, completing other Irish dance tours such as A Taste of Ireland in 2018 through to 2020 and is so looking forward to joining the Eireborne team on a nationwide tour in 2021.
Peta Anderson started dancing at the age of three in Sydney, where she attended the McDonald College of the arts. After finishing high school she went on to complete a diploma in performing arts at “Dance world studios” Melbourne. Peta went on to tour with “The Rhythms of Ireland” around Australia and New Zealand straight after finishing her diploma which led her to perform with “Dance of Desire” in China. Peta then appeared on Ireland’s “RTE” TV program “Dance off” where she was chosen to perform as principal dancer in “Noctu”, which went on to perform in New York on Broadway, gaining 2 drama desk award nominations. Peta then went on to perform in Riverdance between 2011 and 2015, travelling all over the world. Back in Sydney Peta was cast in the role of “Lola”in the Kermond creative production of “Spiegle’esque” which has been performed all around Australia. Peta now resides in Sydney where she is choreographing/producing and starring in “Eireborne”, a tribute to everything Ireland has brought to the world in both music and dance. Peta has a growing reputation as a choreographer. She choreographed the 2018 “Bulgari” launch in Sydney and is on board to choreograph a new show featuring “The drummer Queens” directed and created by both Nigel Turner-Carroll and Joe Accaria. Peta is recognised worldwide as a "Capezio" athlete and was named in the top 30 most inspirational athletes of 2017 to recognise 130 years of the "Capezio" brand. Peta is on the faculty of the "Australian Tap festival", the "London Tap intensive" and “UK tap festival” (2018/2019). She is a co-founder of the Australian Tap Dance Company to be launched late 2021 at Riverside Theatres.
Sabrina Muszynski grew up in Alstonville, NSW, before moving to Sydney to finish her final school years at The McDonald College. She went onto studying at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Sydney. She completed a Bachelor of Dance, majoring in Contemporary Dance Performance. Sabrina was one of the dancers selected to perform in ENCOUNTER, directed by Emma Saunders, commissioned and produced by FORM Dance Projects for the Sydney Festival, 2020. She continued being mentored by Emma Saunders in the WE ARE HERE Company Curated Program, consolidating new small solo works in a collaborative and intimate environment. Sabrina is dance company member in award-winning, Bonnie Curtis Projects. Sabrina created and performed her original solo work with the company in (un)bound, as part of March Dance festival 2021. Sabrina is also a Scottish highland dancer. She has performed in Australia and overseas with the Ozscot Australian Highland Dancing team, directed by Cheryl Roach OAM, in Scotland, Switzerland, United States and South Africa. Sabrina has also performed in Russia with the Spasskaya Tower International Highland Dancing team. Sabrina is currently completing a Master of Teaching (Secondary) specialising in Dance and Drama at Excelsia College.
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What is Hip Hop? Australian B-Boy pioneer Nick Power, joined by Jack Wardana aka Poppin’Jack of Stale Biskitz and Booyakasha member Alice Tauv aka Arisse openly share their strong sense of belonging to the Hip Hop community. Leaders in their own right, they take us through the roots of this “universal unifier” and the roads they travelled to find their own distinct artistic voices, from the Tanami Desert to Paris, the Inner West to Western Sydney where Sydney’s Hip Hop heart beats the loudest.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
ALICE TAUV
JACK WARDANA
NICK POWER
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Original soundtrack
JAYA SOEWiTO-MARTIN
(Sweepin’,courtesy of Jack Wardana)
Photo Image: Artists from top Jack Wardana, Alice Tauv, Nick PowerAlice Tauv, also known as Arisse, has over 13 years of dance experience and 6 years of teaching. She has continuously worked on her craft by learning from both local and international dancers in a variety of different Street Dance styles, mainly focusing on Hiphop Freestyle. She has represented Australia in competitions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore as well as organises her own competitions. She continues to support and build the next generation of dancers through teaching classes and workshops at local schools and universities and teaching street classes for everyone to join. She is also Vice-President of DSDA Inc., which is a non-profit organisation that runs programs and workshops for the youth and young adults, and works closely with councils and organisations to curate events.
Jack Wardana
Poppin’ Jack has been dancing for as long as he can remember and has worked hard and passionately to get to where he is today. Through years of experience learning from some of the best in the world, Jack has gained knowledge, recognition and a deeper understanding of dance and how to teach. Jack has been involved in the street dance community since 2002 and attended the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. Running events to nurture and grow the Australian community Jack is seen as a major influence in building, shaping and guiding the younger generation of dancers. Jack has represented Australia at competitions in America, Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan. In 2017 Jack and his Popping team competed in the KOD Street Dance World Cup Asian Qualifier in Seoul South Korea where they beat China and Japan to gain entry into the 2018 KOD Street Dance World Cup. He performs with his crew Stale Biskitz.
Nick Power
Nick is an Australian B*boy and Choreographer whose work draws on the rituals and culture of hip hop to create contemporary performances. His practice spans from remote Aboriginal communities in the desert to the stages of the most prestigious contemporary dance festivals in Europe. Crossing complex divides of place, culture, language and form is Nick’s forté. Nick’s most recent work, Two Crews, was commissioned by Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Festivals, featuring two hip hop dance crews: Sydney’s Riddim Nation, and all-women Paris crew Lady Rocks, and was made through 2019 on each crew’s turf, in Sydney and Paris. It premiered in Sydney Festival 2020 at Carriageworks. Nick was founding Artistic Director of Platform Hip Hop Festival presented by Carriageworks from 2008–2012, a 3 weeks event. Nick curated Happy Hour #11 The Street Elite Edition featuring: Booyakasha, Tony Oxybel and Stale Biskitz, presented by ReadyMade Works of which he is a Board member.
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Two of the most treasured voices of Australian independent contemporary dance disclose with courage and humour the story behind their relationship and common belief in the artist’s responsibility to ask the hard questions. Their provocative and generous conversation makes compulsory listening for anyone interrogating the current cultural parameters, indigenous and non-indigenous, framing contemporary art making in a multicultural society. Vicki Van Hout and Raghav Handa open doors to genuine dialogue and remind us that dance is a language for all.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
RAGHAV HANDA
VICKI VAN HOUT
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Running Time: 39 MinutesPola Fanous
Pola Fanous is a young poet and performing artist from Western Sydney. An Egyptian-born immigrant, at age 21 Pola is a prominent figure in Sydney’s slam scene. In 2016, Pola competed in the Poetry Olympics and spoke at the City of Sydney’s Youth Leadership Conference. In 2017, Pola was published in 'The Resurrection' Anthology and performed at the Digital Writers’ Festival, The Plot Music Festival, and the Parliament House of Australia. His poem 'Mr War (Palestine)' incorporated into Warren Armstrong and Susannah Williams’ multi-sensory artwork ‘Listening Device VII: Felt Histories’, was awarded the 2017 Paramor Prize for Art & Innovation. In 2018, Pola began writing for Honi Soit, performed at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and made waves with his now-iconic ‘Westies’. Pola was the 2018 NSW Slam Champion in the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House. In early 2019 he released his debut collection of poetry, STRONGSOFT. He was the Speaker in FORM Dance Projects’ 2020 Sydney Festival creation ENCOUNTER directed by Emma Saunders.
Raghav Handa is an Australian choreographer and performer of Indian heritage, Raghav has worked with Sydney Dance Company, Force Majeure, Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, as well as First Nations choreographers Vicki Van Hout and Marilyn Miller. Inspired by his birthright – his works combine traditional kathak principles and contemporary movement to create multifaceted and engaging explorations of modern Australian cultural identity. He has worked in a variety of dance roles including choreographer, performer, collaborator, dance lecturer, artist representative and mentor for young performers. His works: TUKRE’ (“Pieces” in Hindi 2014-15, presented by FORM Dance Projects in 2015), MENS REA (2016) and FOLLY & TIME (2018-19) have been performed across Australia and internationally to strong critical acclaim. In 2019, with support from Australia Council, Raghav completed a residency with Attakkalari dance company in Bengaluru, India and appeared in Melbourne’s Dance Massive season of YOU ANIMAL YOU by Force Majeure. In 2020, his work CULT OF THE TITANS was performed by Sydney Dance Company as part their New Breed platform and his work DAWN featured in the Sydney Opera House digital season of Unwrapped. He appeared in the Sydney Festival 2020 premiere of DOUBLE DELICIOUS, an immersive theatre work by the Contemporary Asian Australian Performance and Asia TOPA festival in Melbourne. His creations are woven through collaboration, incorporating diverse dance languages, spoken word, film and sculptural set design represent the Indian artistic and spiritual tradition and the multicultural face of Australia around the world. His latest work TWO was premiered by FORM Dance Projects, produced by Performing Lines in February 2021 at Riverside Theatres.
Vicki Van Hout (on our website link to blog biography)
Vicki Van Hout is is an Indigenous independent artist with Wiradjuri, Dutch, Scottish, and Afghan heritage, and over 20 years’ experience as a director, choreographer, performer, dramaturg and mentor.
A graduate of NAISDA Dance College and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York, she went on to perform with major Indigenous dance companies, Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, before joining forces with Marilyn Miller as a founding member of Fresh Dancers. With Marilyn, Vicki performed Dear Carrie for One Extra Dance and Quinkin for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Her show Briwyant was the first ever show by an independent Indigenous choreographer to tour nationally and was nominated for an Australian Dance Award for Best Achievement in Independent Dance. Vicki was awarded the 2014 NSW Dance Fellowship for established and mid-career artists – the first Indigenous winner of the Fellowship. She has also completed various residencies in Australia and overseas, including in Austria and Singapore.
FORM Dance Projects has commissioned Vicki as Blogger in Residence since 2013, and during this time Vicki has been a voice for valuable critical discourse within the dance community and arts world, around traditional and contemporary dance in Australia. FORM Dance Projects premiered Vicki’s award winning solo plenty serious Talk Talk in Dance Bites 2018. Vicki Van Hout was the recipient of The Australia Council Dance Award in 2019, which recognised Vicki’s outstanding and sustainable contribution to Australian dance and the impact on Australia’s cultural narrative through “her commitment to charting new territories through her work, challenging existing stories and prompting contemporary conversations.”
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Tuesday 6 October and Wednesday 7 October 2020
In January 2020, in the heat and smoke of last summer’s devastating Australian bushfires, 16 dancers from Bega to Parramatta, joined by 48 young Western Sydney musicians, performed in Prince Alfred Square in Parramatta as part of the Sydney festival 2020. ENCOUNTER was a work of joy. In this episode, ENCOUNTER speaker and FORMidables host Pola Fanous shares the experience of making ENCOUNTER with its director, Emma Saunders. First joined by writer Felicity Castagna, they explore the nexus between dance, text and performance in the context of creating a site-specific work. Cast members Feras Shaheen and Gabriela Green Olea follow in describing their process of discovery and endurance through rehearsing outdoors, across sites from South to West, over the 18 months it took to create a work filled with emotional realities from which a new youth company, We Are Here, has emerged.
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS PART A
EMMA SAUNDERS
FELICITY CASTAGNA
GUESTS PART B
EMMA SAUNDERS
FERAS SHAHEEN
GABRIELA GREEN OLEA
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
Original soundtracks
JODI PHILLIS
AMANDA BROWN
Running Time: 63 Minutes
Pola Fanous
Pola Fanous is a young poet and performing artist from Western Sydney. An Egyptian-born immigrant, at age 21 Pola is a prominent figure in Sydney’s slam scene. In 2016, Pola competed in the Poetry Olympics and spoke at the City of Sydney’s Youth Leadership Conference. In 2017, Pola was published in 'The Resurrection' Anthology and performed at the Digital Writers’ Festival, The Plot Music Festival, and the Parliament House of Australia. His poem 'Mr War (Palestine)' incorporated into Warren Armstrong and Susannah Williams’ multi-sensory artwork ‘Listening Device VII: Felt Histories’, was awarded the 2017 Paramor Prize for Art & Innovation. In 2018, Pola began writing for Honi Soit, performed at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and made waves with his now-iconic ‘Westies’. Pola was the 2018 NSW Slam Champion in the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House. In early 2019 he released his debut collection of poetry, STRONGSOFT. He was the Speaker in FORM Dance Projects’ 2020 Sydney Festival creation ENCOUNTER directed by Emma Saunders.
Emma Saunders ENCOUNTER DIRECTOR/WE ARE HERE ASSOCIATE ARTIST
Emma Saunders has been described as a “formidable” (Realtime, 2010) Australian dance artist who works as a dancer, choreographer, director, educator and curator. She is interested in the simplicity of dance and the complexity of choreography. Utilising a visceral, instinctive attack, her work is immediate, often working with humour, everyday movement, text, repetition, deconstruction, duration and abstraction. E mma is a co-founding member of the award-winning Sydney based trio, The Fondue Set, alongside Jane McKernan and Elizabeth Ryan, who have created 10 full length works including Green Room Award-winning No Success Like Failure presented at the Sydney Opera House (2008) and Dance Massive, Arts House (2009). The Fondue Set have also performed in the Melbourne International Arts Festival (The Bar, 2008) and Sydney Festival First Night (The Hoofer, 2010). The Fondue Set has toured nationally in Australia and internationally to the UK, Europe and Japan. Emma was the inaugural Dance Curator at Campbelltown Arts Centre (2008 – 2012). Emma has created two new large-scale outdoor site-specific dance works, The Bankstown Dancing Project, commissioned by Urban Theatre Projects for Sydney Festival 2015, and The Austinmer Dancing Project (2018), exploring where dance and community can intersect.
Felicity Castagna ENCOUNTER/WE ARE HERE WRITER
Felicity Castagna’s most recent novel, No More Boats, was a finalist in the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Awards and is published internationally. She is also the author of Small Indiscretions and The Incredible Here and Now, which received The Prime Minister’s Award for Literature. Her next book Girls in Boys’ Cars will be released in 2021. She publishes essays on home, suburbia, art-making and literature in many different places and reviews books for ABC radio and television. She is very interested in cross-artform collaboration and has worked with artists in many different fields to produce work for The Sydney Festival, The National Theatre of Parramatta, The Four Winds Festival, Parramatta Lanes and many other places. She also makes all sorts of collaborative, complex and dynamic stories with The Finishing School Collective. She holds a PhD from The Writing and Society Research Centre, WSU and teaches creative writing at universities, schools and many other places all over Australia.
Feras Shaheen ENCOUNTER ENSEMBLE DANCER/WE ARE HERE DIGITAL ARTIST
Feras Shaheen’s practice spans across performance, semiotics, street dance, readymade art and digital media. Shaheen was born in Dubai to Palestinian parents and moved to Sydney at the age of 11. Drawing from his Hip Hop dance background as well as Palestinian cultural dance traditions, Shaheen traverses different roles within the arts, working as a performer, teacher, choreographer and digital artist. He holds a Bachelor in Design from Western Sydney University (2014) and in addition to his artistic practice works as a freelance graphic designer, photographer and filmmaker. Feras is currently presenting a duet titled ‘Klapping’ with Ahilan Ratnamohan, a contemporary project that consists of choreographic research in football commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre. In September 2020, Feras exhibited a body of work titled ‘Cross Cultures’ at Pari Gallery in Parramatta. Feras will be presenting a performative video installation that draws from the postmodern concept of hyper-reality, exploring shifting states of personal perception titled ‘Plastic Bag’ in 2022. Feras is also a member of Buggy Bumpers Street Dance Crew, Groove Therapy Commercial Agency, Cultural Renegades Street Dance Show and Klappsquad.
Gabriela Green Olea ENCOUNTER FLING PHYSICAL THEATRE DANCER/WE ARE HERE DANCER
Gabriela is an activist and dance artist who works across many mediums, with all people and within inclusive environments. As a daughter and granddaughter of a refugee family, her work responds to the ideas of cross-cultural identity and the transitional space of belonging to community and place. Gabriela graduated from the VCA in 2014. Gabriela choreographed a social project CPAL for the This is Not Art Festival in 2018. In 2019 she choreographed WHO WE ARE with dancers in regional NSW, living with and without disability mentored by Vicky Malin (UK). In 2020 Gabriela had a residency at Campbelltown Arts Centre for the AusDance NSW DAIR program, and is a part of Dancehouse Emerging Choreographers Program. Gabriela was a successful DirtyFeet Choreographic Lab recipient in 2019 and is a lead artist in The Right Foot program 2020. In 2020 Gabriela danced and created with Ngioka Bunda-Heath, Ros Crisp, Oscar Poncell, Holly Craig, Imogen Yang, Riana Head-...
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Bharatanatyam artists, Aruthy Kumanan from Western Sydney and Indian-born choreographer, performer and educator Aruna Gandhi expertly distill what makes this South Indian classical dance such a fascinating art form anchored in tradition and spirituality. Dispelling Youtube and Bollywood myths, both artists will make you want for more!
HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
ARUNA GANDHI
ARUTHY KUMANAN
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Original soundtracks
In order of listening
Kanthanin Karunai
Arjunan Puveendran (composer)
P. Arunachalam (Original Lyrics)
(courtesy of Aruthy Kumanan)
Indian Carnatic Song
(courtesy of Aruna Gandhi)
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HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
LUCKY LARTEY
AZZAM MOHAMED
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Original soundtracks
BYRON MARK
(Full Circle intro soundtrack)
AZZAM MOHAMED
(Chief Rockaz -Squad)
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HOST
POLA FANOUS
GUESTS
PEPA MOLINA
ELIZA COOPER
EDITOR
VIR KAULA
MUSIC THEME
ALI SAGANCI
Original soundtracks
JESUS MAñERU
(Perceptions “Paisajes costumbristas / Costumbrist Landscapes”)
MASON PERONCHIK
(Old life/Dead Life “Into the Mirror”)
