Dance diary. October 2026

Recent social media abuse: a supportive message (if unintentionally so)

‘Everyone thinks about quitting, even the strong. Breathe, then take one more step.’

So says a card in a packet of Kurrajong Kitchen Biscuits (believe it or not)! After an abusive and ignorant message on a Facebook page from Quantum Leap Australia about me and my reviewing, the message above from the packet of biscuits came at just the right time.

Buy Kurrajong Kitchen Biscuits!

‘Dance class 1’

In October I had the pleasure of visiting the Rusten House Art Gallery in Queabeyan where an exhibition by sculptor Martin Rowney was on display. Called Nexus. The Common Piano, it was created from Rowney’s dismantling of old pianos and using the pieces to create sculptural items.

What was especially interesting for me was the way Rowney had highlighted two outcomes that he noticed in his dealings with pianos. Most of the sculptural items he had created were, as he said in the talk he presented, geometric in nature since the piano, as an overall item, has a geometric look to it.

On the other hand, he noted that the sound that emerges when a piano is played is dynamic in nature. To show this inherent dynamism he had used the keys of a piano and manipulated them into structures that were not geometric. There were five items on this idea and Rowney called them ‘Dance class 1, 2, 3 …’ and so on. I loved the dynamic look of these items. They seemed to dance off the walls and I bought ‘Dance class 1’ . It is now attached to a wall in my house.

Sydney Dance Company in 2027

The year 2027 will be a momentous one for Sydney Dance Company. It will be Rafael Bonachela’s final year as artistic director of the company. Bonachela took on the directorship in 2009 and I had the pleasure of interviewing him just two years later, in 2011, for the National Library of Australia’s oral history program. The interview is not currently available online due to rights conditions re public use, but information about the interview is on the NLA catalogue at this link.

The 2027 program has a number of potentially interesting productions, including a new work, as yet unnamed, from Bonachela. It will be part of an October triple bill called Wild Order and, in addition to Bonachela’s new work, the program will include the return of Melanie Lane’s WOOF and New Zealand-born Ngaere Jenkins’ From the Horizon Thereafter.

Artists of Sydney Dance Company in 'WOOF', 2019. Photo: © Pedro Greig — A moment from *WOOF*. Sydney Dance Company, 2019. Photo: © Pedro Greig

For more news about what promises to be an exceptional year, read the media release at this link.

Who’s in the Frame?

London-based choreographer and dance artist Bim Malcomson has recently worked with Royal Ballet soloist, Téo Dubreuil, and architect, Mario Mattia (who lives with multiple sclerosis), to produce a short film, Who’s in the Frame. The film can, apparently, only be accessed on London’s Royal Opera House streaming platform, which requires a subscription. But it is a production with very little fuss accompanying it and is quite moving in the way it demonstrates how different bodies respond to movement and music and the space around them. See more at this link.

Press for October 2026

– ‘Chaos project turns to chaotic on stage.’ Review of We come together to dance, Quantum Leap Australia. CBR CityNews, 17 October 2026. Online at this link.

Michelle Potter, 31 October 2026

Featured image: The Kurrajong Kitchen Biscuit card in top of a small part of the 519 word Facebook spiel about/against me.

Final note on the social media abuse issue: I have never been a fan of social media. I don’t use the sites and never will.

MOUNTAIN. Melanie Lane and Colleagues

17 October 2026. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

Melanie Lane’s MOUNTAIN is, once again, a magnificent example of the work of an exceptional choreographer. Lane has a huge ability to create a complete work of art in which the audience can become fully immersed.

Made on five dancers, in this case Sara Black, Max Burgess, Tyrel Dulvarie, Madeleine Bowman and Yolanda Lowatta, MOUNTAIN was inspired, metaphorically, by the Brindabella range of mountains that is on the outskirts of Canberra where Lane grew up. The work examines the struggle to move up in life along with issues that arise as that movement proceeds. Choreographically there were examples of groupings that often recalled small, mountain-like structures, interspersed with solos and duets that recalled a variety of human activities and responses (triumphant and the opposite) to the climb .

From the early stages of *MOUNTAIN*. Photo: © Jackson Loria

Sara Black stood out for me for the beautiful fluidity of her movements in whatever mood was being suggested by the choreography. Bur every dancer was an absolute joy to watch, again whatever mood was being suggested.

Costumes were from Akira Isogawa and were quite varied across the 60 minutes that made up the performance. Initially the costumes were quite complex and made of different materials from blue denim to softer, more transparent fabric. The blue colour recalled, at least for Canberra viewers, the colour that is often a characteristic of the Brindabellas when seen from a distance. But as the work progressed the blue outfit was slowly removed to reveal a decorative, but close-fitting ‘all-over’ item.

By the time the work was nearing it’s final section the costumes had changed to translucent tops over skin coloured, close fitting leotard-like items that were somewhat revealing.

Adding to the quality of the dancing and the costuming was the music that varied between a recorded electronic sound from English artist CLARK, with whom Lane frequently works, to an onstage performance from five musicians from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble—two violins, a viola, a cello and a keyboard.

I can only rejoice that Canberra audiences saw this remarkable work, outstandingly produced by independent production company Visions. It is a shame that MOUNTAIN had just one performance in Canberra.

Michelle Potter, 23 October 2026

Featured image: A moment from the last section of MOUNTAIN. Photographer not identified

I was a guest of the Canberra Theatre Centre for this production.

With apologies, this review is late in being posted and is, perhaps, not as analytically written as is my wont. Managing an incident of social media abuse got in the way, momentarily.

We Come Together to Dance. Quantum Leap Australia

My review of We Come Together to Dance was published online by CBR CityNews on 17 October 2026, following its premiere performance on 16 October. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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16 October 2026. Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra

We Come Together to Dance is the 2026 production for Quantum Leap Australia’s Chaos project. Chaos has been an annual event for Quantum Leap Australia for many years now and the 2026 production sets out to show different aspects of why and how the art of dance engages aspiring artists of various genders and ages.

Four professional dancers and choreographers, including Pat Hayes Cavanagh, Gabriel Sinclair and Isabella Stone, worked with a cast of 40 dancers of various ages. The choreographers, with input from the dancers as is the usual process, created an opening and a closing piece along with five sections in between. These mid-sections focused on different reasons for coming together: To Dance ‘Til We Drop, To Grow, To Come Together, To Be Who We Are, and To Belong.

Choreographically, I thought We Come Together to Dance was quite repetitive. My impression was that the hand and arm movements were quite sharp and geometric in pretty much every section. There was also a lot of running across the stage space and several occasions when gymnastic movements, such as hand stands, cartwheels and forward rolls, were inserted. In addition, in the past I have always enjoyed the way Chaos projects have created various arrangements of dancers in appealing groupings. Sometimes these groupings have been stationary: at other times they have moved around the stage. But they have mostly been well maintained over a period of time and thus always became an impressive choreographic addition. There were efforts to do this at various stages of We Come Together to Dance, but the appeal was lost when the dancers had not been rehearsed sufficiently to hold the groupings together in an adequate manner. The entire program appears to have been created in just 10 or so days (as mentioned in the program). This is not enough time, in my opinion, to put together an hour long production when working with young people, some of whom have hardly any performance experience..

Lighting by Owen Davis (and the choreographers as the program notes state) was a highlight. It often took in the audience in a small but not overly annoying manner, which perhaps suggested that we too had come together if not to dance but at least to watch others dance. Sound, as mastered by Kimmo Vennonen, was contemporary and varied and came from composers from around the world, including from Belgian musician Stromae and the English band Spandau Ballet. Costuming was attractive at times, especially in parts of To Be Who We Are where black, gold and sparkly items were apparent.

A moment from *To Be Who We Are* from *We Come Together to Dance,* Quantum Leap Australia, 2026.Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

But in many sections the costuming was overly varied in colour and style. Simplicity and similarity are often better as was very clear with the simple jackets for Gabriel Sinclair’s We Dance to Come Together. They added so strongly to the idea behind his work that environments develop that may mean that dance is forgotten.

A moment from *We Dance to Come Together* from *We Come Together to Dance,* Quantum Leap Australia, 2026.Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

The opening section, in which all 40 dancers occupied the performing space, and in which all 40 of them were wearing sunglasses (as they were in the closing moments as well), was definitely a somewhat startling beginning. But We Come Together to Dance was far from my favourite Chaos project from the many I have seen over the years.

The use of the word chaos as the title for an ongoing production idea has always made me think of the development process. But for me this 2026 Chaos project was chaotic on stage as well. I’m hoping that next year’s Chaos project will feature a stronger overall appearance and less repetitive movement.

Michelle Potter, 18 October 2026

Featured image: A closing moment from We Come Together to Dance, Quantum Leap Australia, 2026.Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

I was a guest of Quantum Leap Australia at this performance.

Arangetram. Varshita Pasupuleti

Little Theatre, Lower Hutt. 27 September 2026
reviewed by Jennifer Shennan

Varshita is a graduating student from Mudra Dance Academy in Wellington, where for over 30 years Sri Vivek Kinra has taught hundreds of pupils the technique and art of Bharata Natyam, classical Indian dance. Himself a graduate of the renowned Kalakshetra school in Chennai, Vivek has prepared close to 50 pupils to perform their arangetram—a two-hour solo recital, demanding remarkable physical stamina, mental focus and memory skills. It is usually ten years in the making.

An arangetram is offered once a pupil has reached the required level to join Mudra Dance company. Think Solo Seal in Ballet, an audition to join a professional company, plus a doctorate in the dance and music arts of India—delivered with all the beauty of a lotus flower, the grace of a young garuda, with perfect geometric precision and mastery of intricate musicality, dramatic then beguiling facial expressions flashing from serene to angry to scornful to grateful—with numerous narrative references to the Hindu pantheon of deities of whom there are 600,000 manifestations.

Varshita is a 17 year old school student at Newlands College, interested in biology and chemistry and hoping to follow a science training and career. You could re-read the previous paragraph, and trust me that I am not exaggerating or over-writing what is involved in combining dance arts and education. Would that our politicians were listening…

There is evidence of much family and community support in the foyer beautifully adorned with flowers and photographs. The stage is set with embroidered banners, and in the corner is a shrine with a statue of Shiva as Nataraj, Lord of the Dance, as spiritual overseer of the proceedings. Something exquisite this way comes, restoring hope in education and arts for young people, and you have to feel blessed to be invited to share the event.

I am to be the guest speaker at the occasion. Whatever I wear, I’ll be underdressed among the radiant sapphire, crimson, emerald, torquoise, gold and purple saris and kurtas that will fill the theatre. The previous day I had found a purple pashmina shawl in an op(portunity) shop, with sparkling sequins spelling out the word Hope. That will do.

More importantly, what will I say? No need to tell this capacity audience about the intricacies of Bharata Natyam, you’d be preaching to the converted, and anyway there are extensive essays on each of the various dance forms in the printed program. Varshita dances the striking clarity of an alarippu that turns the dancing body from a bud into a bloom. Her majestic and sustained varnam has dramatic urgency in the love theme of its song text—Oh Shiva, why are you angry with me? Cupid is shooting his flowery arrows at me in excess. Don’t be in indifferent towards me. Please come and accept me. There’s poetry in the dance and drama, and the thrilling thillana that will end the performance suggests that Shiva has by now stopped testing and teasing Varshita and removed all her woes. The program has not been a string of separate items but rather a single journey towards the triumphant outcome. Most of the items are choreographed by Kinra, to music especially recorded in India, languages of song texts in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil or Hindi. Three changes of beautiful costume are used, all of ravishing colours.

Varshita Pasupuleti in a moment from her performance. Photo: © Sasi Harsha Photography

What I can do in a speech is refer to a number of connections between India and New Zealand. Kinra’s contribution here has been well recognised in various honours, as well as by the larger community. Who knew though, that the local leading engineering firm BECA, recently celebrated 25 years of shared education between New Zealand and India of the technology of the base isolaters that save lives in earthquakes? A half-hour visit to the office of President Modi was included in the celebration.

The previous week had seen the Mudra Academy performance with many youngsters on stage at Whirinaki theatre. The representative from the Indian High Commission gave the speech on that occasion, and used the word tamariki, which is Maori for children (a token maybe, but underscoring the wisdom in encouraging respect for an indigenous language. Would that our politicians were listening. Our children, plus continuing education for all of us. What else is there?).

I am gifted a beautiful sari cloth in wine red and gold. I won’t be wearing it but it is already draped over my shelf of dance books and glinting in reflected sunlight. The name Varshita is Sanskrit for rain, plenty, abundance, fertility. We had ventured through a wild Spring rainstorm to reach the theatre, so the day in every sense belonged to the dancer and the dance. How can we know the one from the other? We can’t.

Jennifer Shennan, 1 October 2026

Featured image: Varshita Pasupuleti in a moment from her performance. Photo: © Sasi Harsha Photography

Melanie Lane. A new move

News just in is that Melanie Lane will take on the leadership of the Melbourne-based contemporary dance company, Lucy Guerin Inc, beginning in 2027. Guerin recently announced that she is retiring from the artistic directorship of the company she has led for 25 years. The company will take on a new name once Lane takes on the role.

The appointment promises much if Lane’s work as an independent choreographer is anything to go by. The news is a particular thrill for the Canberra dance community given that Lane grew up in Canberra and received intensive dance training at the National Capital Ballet School under the direction of Janet Karin. Lane has brought her work to Canberra on several occasions, including for Canberra’s youth company Quantum Leap.

Scene from Melanie Lane’s *Metal Park*. Quantum Leap Australia, 2022. Photo: © Lorna Sim

I spoke to Lane for this website a few years ago when she recalled with pleasure her years as a student in Canberra, especially her training with Karin.‘Janet was so supportive of new choreography,’ Lane says. ‘I really got connected with contemporary movement as a result.’ Read the full post at this link.

Lane has made some truly remarkable works over the past years including for some of Australia’s leading contemporary dance companies. They include the much celebrated WOOF for Sydney Dance Company in 2019. Read my thoughts on WOOF in this review (It’s at the end of the review of a triple bill program!).

Scene from Melanie Lane's 'WOOF'. Sydney Dance Company, 2019. Photo: © Pedro Greig — Scene from Melanie Lane’s *WOOF*. Sydney Dance Company, 2019. Photo: © Pedro Greig

Her recent production, MOUNTAIN, with an electronic soundscape from CLARK and design by Akira Isogawa, will have one performance on 17 October 2026 at the Canberra Theatre Centre.

Follow Lane’s work as reviewed on this website at this link.

Michelle Potter, 1 October 2026

Featured image: Melanie Lane (left) with Lucy Guerin, Melbourne 2026. Photo: © Gianna Rizzo

Dance diary. September 2026

My name is Maisey

Early in September I had the pleasure again of seeing a performance from the Bachelor of Creative Arts second and third year students in Dance from the Adelaide College of the Arts, working together with fellow students in Technical Production & Design.

I wondered, I have to andmit, about the name of the work. Who was Maisey? Well, it seems that one chair, amidst the various chairs that were used in the show, was especially significant. One of the students told me it represented ‘grandma’s chair’ and that the choreographer’s grandma was named Maisey. Later I discovered via the program that this was indeed the case.

Grandma’s chair from *My name is Maisey*, Adelaide College of the Arts, 2026. Photo: © travels by gabi

Choreographed by Rhiannon McLean, the ‘narrative’ of the work, according to program notes, is: ‘… a reference to time and memory of what we hold in our body as knowledge, what our minds read as fact and what one person might remember over another, in the same place, in the same room, at the same time.’

I’m not quite sure what the purpose of the chairs was but I suspect, since all the chairs were different, they represented individuals present and past? But I particularly enjoyed one section—an expressive fight over a chair, danced by the two male dancers in the group.

All things considered, the work was beautifully danced by all, whether they were performing singly, in a group, or with another dancer in a duet. It is always a thrill, too, to see the way in which the Adelaide College dancers and technical students work so well together. A terrific training experience for future professional careers.

BOLD 2026

Liz Lea established the BOLD Festival in Canberra in 2017 and went on to present further BOLD events in 2019, 2022 and 2024. BOLD celebrates the legacy of dance in all cultures, and from dancers of all abilities and generations. This year, 2026, BOLD is partnering with the Craft + Design Canberra Festival and, as a result, the focus is on dance and design with further emphasis on dissent and disability. BOLD 2026 will run from 6-15 November at various venues. It will include a two day symposium at the Canberra Museum and Gallery on 12-13 November and a great range of other events.

The full program is still being finalised but a selection of live performances and films has been publicised. Just as a taster, the Festival will close on 15 November with a triple bill, Being BOLD. Anca Frankenhaeuser, Patrick Harding-Irmer and Chrissie Koltai will present I Thought You Were Dead But Here You Are and Sue Healey will share two of her films, Angels, My Angels, My Glorious Angels, choreographed and performed by Frankenhaeuser, and The Cry of the Whistler, a film about Jane Mortiss—a dancer, artist, naturalist and farmer who battled mental illness through her art. This is the story of her last work.

Stay tuned for further information.

Screenshot showing Anca Frankenhaeuser in a moment from Sue Healey’s short film *Angels, My Angels, My Glorius Angels*

Press for September 2026

– ‘Choreographer Batchelor investigates Bodenwieser.’ Review of Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique, James Batchelor and colleagues. CBR CityNews, 07 September 2026. Online at this link

– ‘Dancers and audience go ‘All In together.’ Review of All in, Dance Makers Collective and colleagues. CBR CityNews, 25 September 2026. Online at this link

– ‘Vivienne conquers her problems … with cake’. Review of The Whole Cake, Vivienne Rogis. CBR CityNews, 28 September 2026. Online at this link.

MIchelle Potter, 30 September 2026

Featured image: A moment from My name is Maisey, Adelaide College of the Arts, 2026. Photo: © travels by gabi

The Whole Cake. Vivienne Rogis

My review of The Whole Cake was published online by CBR CityNews on 28 September 2026, following its premiere performance on 27 September. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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27 September 2026. The Hall Pavilion, Hall ACT

It would be hard to envisage a more unusual dance performance than The Whole Cake. Created and choreographed by Vivienne Rogis, it sets out to examine her experiences as a woman engaging with life over several decades. There is dance of course, but the whole consists of six episodes that also give a verbal outline of specific periods in Rogis’ life (and by extension periods in female life in general). Then, at the end of each section Rogis cuts six separate cakes and, after donning on an apron, distributes slices to the audience.

Vivienne Rogis serving a slice of cake. *The Whole Cake*, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

Rogis defines the six episodes as expressing ‘the difficulties and joys of managing diverse roles within family, work, community, and friendship, while maintaining a sense of individuality.’ Each of the six episodes follows a similar framework: a danced section, a verbal discussion with personal references to Rogis’ own experiences, and the cutting and serving of slices of the relevant cake to the audience seated at small tables situated at the edge of the performance space. Each table accommodates just three or four people.

The outstanding overall feature of the work is the manner in which Rogis shows the different emotional and physical aspects of each of her difficulties and/or joys.

Vivienne Rogis dances joyously. *The Whole Cake*, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

In dance terms an early section shows a balletic movement focus, which moves on to a more contemporary style, showing the growth of Rogis’ personal dance practice. A little later there is a kind of personal freedom and joy in the movement we encounter. Rogis’ life grows and develops. She marries and has children. Her life becomes filled with complications and the story continues to move on.

Towards the end there is movement that is more bent over and slow with the apparent intervention of ageing and the need to manage life as a mother, partner and housekeeper. She shows us some of her activities in various ways including some of the more annoying necessities of life such as dealing with the washing.

Vivienne Rogis manages a basket of washing. *The Whole Cake*, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

At the very end the movement contains shapes that are uplifting suggesting that Rogis has conquered her problems.

But beyond the physicality of the body itself, Rogis also uses facial and verbal expression to add highlights to what the body expresses. It is perhaps most noticeable towards the end when Rogis is struggling to overcome her anger at the situation in which she finds herself. Her voice becomes sharper, her face shows annoyance and she cuts the relevant cake swiftly and sharply without consideration for what the slice might look like. Even the way she serves the slices to audience members lacks a certain calm.

Vivienne Rogis cutting a cake (with some anger or anxiety). *The Whole Cake*, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

As for the cakes, made by Sweet Bones Bakery and Cafe in the suburb of Scullin, there is universal agreement that they are delicious. But they too follow the changing patterns Rogis examines. They include, for example, The Cake of Love and Life containing a delicious chocolate mousse and The Cake of Motherhood consisting of a selection of cupcakes. All the cakes have appropriate connections to the narrative.

The Whole Cake is, to a certain extent, a solo performance. Rogis is the star and is an expert performer whether dancing, speaking, dramatising situations, or serving cake! But there is a definite role for the audience as well and the work is beyond doubt an immersive and engaging experience. The Whole Cake is definitely a show worth seeing.

Michelle Potter, 28 September 2026

Featured image: Vivienne Rogis with her cakes in the background. The Whole Cake, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

All in. Dance Makers Collective, Canberra 2026

My review of All in was published online by CBR CityNews on 25 September 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 24 September. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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24 September 2026. The Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centrre, Canberra

All in from Dance Makers Collective, a Western Sydney-based company directed by Miranda Wheen, was first performed in Sydney in early 2025 and has since been touring to various locations, each time including dancers from various local companies. The Canberra performances over three days included dancers from the First Nations contemporary dance group Project Dust, the classical Indian group Apsaras Arts, and the youth group Quantum Leap Australia. As the name of the work suggests, All in, choreographed by Wheen, focuses on the concept of connections.

Dancers from various companies performing together in *All in,* Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

After a short introduction in which performers from all groups were briefly seen together, the work proper began with extraordinarily powerful dancing from seven dancers representing Dance Makers Collective. They twisted and turned, jumped and lent from side to side, made absorbing use of arms and hands, and interacted in a choreographic sense with each other. It was a long sequence and the dancers continued to move with intensity while also making ongoing facial contact with the audience. They smiled directly at individual people, inviting us to be involved (in an emotional sense). With the audience seated on two opposite sides of the performing space, the focus of the dancers moved from side to side so all audience members were involved.

Then followed performances by dancers from the Canberra groups, with the strongest input from the Apsaras Arts dancers who work in Bharatanatyam style. Their dancing was exceptional and also took into account the spread of audience members across the space. Their connection to the audience was made with invitingly beautiful eyes and lots of smiles, but also with the strength of their dancing and with the somewhat geometric structure of the work.

A moment from the performance by Apsaras Arts dancers in *All in*, Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

There was also a rather hilarious short section when a voice-over spoke about the nature of dance and the role it has in the life of some, including those who find the art form of dance impossible to understand. This section was accompanied by efforts from dancers to show unusual aspects of movement.

A moment from *All in*, Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

But the highlight of the ‘all in’ concept came at the end of the show when the audience was invited to join the dancing. Pretty much the entire audience, young and old, rose from their seats and joined the dancers in the performing space. The space was not huge and was extraordinarily crowded. This section was also very noisy considering the small performing space of the Belco venue. Those features concerned no one, however, except perhaps those who declined to join in the dancing. There were instructions for the people on the floor to follow, which were screened at one end of the theatre: ‘Go left’, ‘go right’, ‘make a circle’, ‘dance with the person next to you’ and so forth. And everyone followed the instructions with enthusiasm.

All in is very much a show that does indeed make connections between those involved, including the audience. But the choreography for the Canberra showing was quite different from what was seen in Sydney. And in particular, in the Sydney showing there were close connections between the dancers from the various groups, which unfortunately did not eventuate to the same extent in Canberra. I suspect this different focus reflected a lack of rehearsal time between the local groups and Wheen and her dancers. All in is nevertheless a show that is worth seeing, and in which it is fun to be involved.

Michelle Potter, 26 September 2026

I was a guest of Canberra Theatre Centre, Belconnen Arts Centre and Dance Makers Collective for this production.

I am most grateful to O&J Wikner for the Canberra images, which were not available from other sources.

Recipients. Peggy van Praagh and Keith Bain Fellowships

Ausdance National, Australia’s peak body for dance, has just announced the 2026 recipients of the Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship and the Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship. Both Fellowships were made available as a result of bequests from Dame Peggy van Praagh and Keith Bain OAM, both of whom made substantial contributions to dance in Australia.

Currently working in Perth, Xin Ong has been awarded the Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship. From the media release we learn that Xin Ong is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice centres on presence, connection, and deep listening. She has been invited as Assistant to Farooq Chaudhry OBE, Artistic Director, in his upcoming development of The Bridge, in Shenzen, China. Within this project, which centres on intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, the Fellowship will support Xin’s choreographic practice and enquiry, through the opportunity to witness a multitude of complexities at close range, under expert mentorship.

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The Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship was awarded to Chung Nguyen. Currently based in Melbourne, Chung Nguyen has just recently staged a work with the name of Fluid Memories.

A moment from *Fluid Memories*, Melbourne 2026. Photo © Jeff Busby

A Vietnamese/Australian, he practises as a dance artist, somatic movement facilitator and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapist. His work sits, as media information explains, at the intersection of live performance, video installation, choreography, and community engagement. With his Fellowship Chung will build on investigations of the Australian migrant journey to develop Breathing is Remembering through a series of developments and residencies across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania. The work will consider communities and sites linked to Agent Orange, an agricultural chemical weaponised and used during the war in Vietnam (1962-1971). The Fellowships will directly impact Chung’s leadership, providing dedicated research and development time, while building skills in community-based, cross-cultural, and choreographic research.

The Fellowships were put into place several years ago but were closed down during the COVID-19 pandemic and through the following years. Ausdance National has managed the Fellowships on behalf of the donors from the beginning and the organisation has now reinstated them. It is great to see the Fellowships back up and working, and to reflect once more on the exceptional work carried out by van Praagh and Bain. I do hope this is not a one-off event and that the Fellowships will continue to be part of Australian dance activities.

Read more about the Fellowships on this website at this link.

Michelle Potter, 16 September 2026.

‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique.’ James Batchelor and colleagues

My review of Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique was published online by CBR CityNews on 7 September 2026, following the initiative in which James Batchelor’s work for a Masters degree relating to the technique of Gertrud Bodenwieser was discussed. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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3 September 2026. The Street Theatre, Canberra

Canberra’s dance community gathered recently at The Street Theatre for an event in the series Wellspring: Inquiry and Exchange, a regular collaborative endeavour between The Street and the ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics. This particular Wellspring occasion had the specific name ‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’ and was part of the ANU Masters degree program being undertaken by choreographer James Batchelor.

Part of the audience watching James Batchelor dancing during ‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner photography.

The evening was introduced by ANU researcher and coordinator of the Wellspring program, Leslie Barnes, and was sponsored by the ANU and the team at The Street via Caroline Stacey. The main participants were Batchelor himself; Ruth Osborne, a former student of the Bodenwieser style and also a former artistic director of Quantum Leap Australia and teacher of the Bodenwieser technique; and Wesley Lim, senior lecturer at the ANU and supervisor of Batchelor’s research.

(l-r) Wesley Lim, Ruth Osborne and James Batchelor leading the Wellspring conversation, ‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner photography.

The program for the evening consisted of a spoken introduction from Lim on the history of Bodenwieser technique, especially in Australia. It was followed by a further introduction from Osborne of specific aspects of the technique; and then a demonstration, led by Osborne and performed by a small group of dancers, including Batchelor and Lim, of certain elements of the technique. Finally, we watched a solo, created and performed by Batchelor, on aspects of the technique that had been previously discussed. A Q&A session concluded the evening.

Dancers demonstrating aspects of the Bodenwieser technique, ‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner photography.

While both the discussion and performances, especially the group dancing demonstrating Bodenwieser’s use of a figure-of-eight movement by the body, were more than interesting, one aspect of the conversation bothered me somewhat. There was some discussion by Batchelor and Osborne that Bodenwieser is not as well-known in Australia as she should be, given the major influence her technique has created.

Perhaps it is necessary for some kind of teacher training to be introduced that should suggest that Bodenwieser’s name be added to teaching and technique development.

From a personal point of view, I recall as a student often being asked to carry out a particular ballet barre exercise called ‘Danilova grands battements’. It was a development of a standard exercise, the grand battement, but was something of an evolution invented by well-known Ballets Russes dancer Alexandra Danilova. I also discovered that part of a solo performance I did at a studio performance came from George Balanchine’s famous early work Serenade. So, thanks to my teacher at the time, I was well aware I was dancing material created by previous and much-admired artists. It was a thrill to know this and I suspect the same might occur for Bodenwieser students if teachers were trained to add her name somewhere during a class.

Below are two images of Bodenwieser teaching in Australia in 1955. The images were created by Eric Cuckson who offered Bodenwieser classes initially to children of workers employed in his zipper factory at St Mary’s in western Sydney, and then to the general public.

Bodenwieser has her back to the camera in both images. She is wearing a black outfit with cross-over straps at the back. The photos here are posted with the kind permission of Barbara Cuckson.

Michelle Potter, 8 September 2026

For more about James Batchelor on this site see this tag. And for more about Gertrud Bodenwieser see here.

Featured image: James Batchelor speaking during ‘Reviewing a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner photography.