Dancenorth Australia

04/12/2025

Reflecting on 40 years of Dancenorth.

In the early 2000s, Dancenorth expanded its local, national and international reach, strengthening collaborative partnerships and shaping a distinctive reputation for innovative, immersive and boundary-pushing contemporary dance.

Under Artistic Directors Jane Pirani (1997–2005) and Gavin Webber (2005–2008), and General Managers Henry Laska (2000–2004), Trevor Keeling (2005–2006) and Jo Fisher (2007–2010), the Company created works that reimagined classics and challenged social and artistic conventions.

Jane, inspired by her love of ballet, art, music, history and storytelling, drew on personal experiences to create works such as ‘Carmen’, ‘The Dancer and the Dance’ and ‘Intimate Strangers’ - poignant explorations of femininity, human psyche, relationships, life and death. Gavin, known for bold, athletic and explosive dance-theatre, reimagined how audiences connected with the Company by fusing music, film, lighting, theatre and dance into works like ‘lawn’ and ‘roadkill’ - darkly comic stories of alienation and horror.

Over the decade, new works emerged through rich collaborations with leading choreographers and organisations including Meryl Tankard, Antony Hamilton, Natalie Weir, Michelle Ryan, Ross McCormack, Grayson Millwood (Splinter Group), Graeme Watson, Cheryl Stock, Japanese contemporary dance company Batik, and more – with several of these works touring nationally and internationally.

Dancenorth continued to deepen its community engagement, delivering workshops to regional and remote communities and nurturing emerging dancers through its youth ensemble, Extensions. Educational works such as 'Get a Life Reggie Mite' and 'Stuff' toured to North and Far North QLD, exploring themes of ethics, peer pressure and consumerism for young audiences.

The Company rebranded to dancenorth-australia in 2006 and later to Dancenorth in 2008, taking a transitional year in 2009 before resuming full operations in 2010 under Artistic Director Raewyn Hill.

In 2025, we honour all who shaped Dancenorth’s journey and carry their energy forward as we continue to move, dream, connect and create in Gurambilbarra and beyond.

~

For image credits, please see the comments section below.

27/11/2025

Catch Lighting the Dark at Her Majesty's Theatre, Wadawurrung Country (Ballarat) in March 2026.

This will be the first stop on our 2026 national tour and we can not wait to share Chris Dyke’s inspiring message of love, hope and connection with audiences around the country.

Tickets for our Ballarat performance are on sale now.

Find all the details and booking information via https://dancenorth.com.au/works/lighting-the-dark

More tour announcements coming soon.

~

Image by Aaron Ashley

Funding Acknowledgement:
Lighting the Dark was commissioned by Brisbane Festival, and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and the Ian Potter Foundation.
Dancenorth Australia is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and by Townsville City Council. Dancenorth is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.

27/11/2025

This October, we had the pleasure of hosting Bella Waru as part of the 2025 DETOUR interconnected dance fellowship program.

Bella Waru (Ngāti Tukorehe, Taranaki Tūturu, Celtic) is a takatāpui choreographer/dancer, musician & eternal student of the Māori healing, weaving & martial arts. Living and listening on sacred, unceded Wurundjeri lands, they are a foreign Sovereign navigating life, lore & culture from, between & towards Indigenous lands & peoples.

Bella seeks to draw connections, highlight relationality & kinship; articulating new-ancient possibilities honouring Indigenous knowledges & worldviews as means for communal wellbeing & futurity. They create stories & spaces emerging from and returning to the communities, contexts, lands & peoples who have made them who they are, with reverence and acknowledgement of those that came before them, and those that will follow after.

You can check out more of Bella’s work via

~

Images by Aaron Ashley

ABOUT DETOUR:
Detour is a major opportunity, investing in two independent dance artists in 2025, to mobilise and engage in a sustained program for their personal creative development, in a spirit of reciprocity, with six Australian dance organisations.

Dance Makers Collective (Darug Country, Western Sydney, NSW), Dancenorth (Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun Country, Townsville, QLD), GUTS (Arrernte Country, Alice Springs, NT), Tasdance (Palawa Country, Launceston, TAS), Tracks (Larrakia Country, Darwin, NT) and STRUT Dance (Nyoongar Country, Perth, WA) invite two dance practitioners to spend ten weeks across Australia, in self-directed residencies, to explore their practice, connect with new landscapes and share with the communities we serve.

Detour has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

26/11/2025

Lighting the Dark will illuminate Geelong Arts Centre next March.

After a phenomenal reception to Wayfinder from Djilang (Geelong) audiences last year, we can’t wait to return with this uplifting work.

Tickets for the Geelong Arts Centre performance go on sale on Monday, 1 December.

Find all the details and booking information via https://dancenorth.com.au/works/lighting-the-dark

More tour announcements coming soon.

~

Image by Aaron Ashley

Funding Acknowledgement:
Lighting the Dark was commissioned by Brisbane Festival, and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and the Ian Potter Foundation.
Dancenorth Australia is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and by Townsville City Council. Dancenorth is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.

20/11/2025

Jenni Large reflects on her recent residency at Dancenorth, revealing how her newest work LIP channels themes of revenge and control, and subverts the stereotypical portrayals of women in 1980s' pop culture, mainstream media, and film.

Jenni will present LIP as part of PIECES 2025 at The Union Theatre in Naarm (Melbourne) from 26-28 November. For more details check out https://www.umac.melbourne/whats-on/pieces-2025

You can find more information about Jenni and our Artist Residency in the Tropics (A.R.T.) Program via https://dancenorth.com.au/for-artists/artist-residency-in-the-tropics

~

Video and edit by Aaron Ashley
Sound Design by Anna Whitaker
Costume Design by Jarred Dewey

LIP is supported by PIECES 2025 Presented by Lucy Guerin Inc and University of Melbourne Arts and Culture UMAC .

13/11/2025

We’re excited to announce that Lighting the Dark will be heading to Theatre Royal, Hobart next April.

It’s a joy to share this inspirational work with audiences in nipaluna (Hobart) as part of our 2026 national tour.

Tickets for the Theatre Royal performance are on sale now.

Find all the details and booking information via https://dancenorth.com.au/works/lighting-the-dark

More tour announcements coming soon.

~

Image by Aaron Ashley

Funding Acknowledgement:
Lighting the Dark was commissioned by Brisbane Festival, and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and the Ian Potter Foundation.
Dancenorth Australia is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and by Townsville City Council. Dancenorth is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.

07/11/2025

Over the past 2 weeks, we had the pleasure of hosting Jenni Large as part of our 2025 Artist Residency in the Tropic (A.R.T.) Program.

Jenni is an independent dancer, teacher, and award-winning choreographer/director based in Lutruwita. Driven by the personal, political, and transformative forces of embodiment, Jenni’s multi-limbed practice centres on care and radical play. Her choreographic work analyses patriarchal systems, celebrates women and attempts to playfully expose assumptions of stigmatised subjects. Heavily influenced by aesthetics and cinematic tropes, Jenni values experimentation, endurance and entertainment within her work.

As a dancer, she has collaborated and performed extensively throughout metropolitan, regional and remote Australia as well as Europe, the UK, NZ, the Americas, Japan and Singapore with artists and companies including Dancenorth, Tasdance, Legs On The Wall, GUTS Dance, SA Opera/Leigh Warren and Ashleigh Musk.

She has presented her choreographic work both as an independent artist and through commissions Australia-wide at festivals and institutions including; Mona Foma, Ten Days On The Island, Ohm Festival Brisbane Powerhouse, Dancehouse, Carriage Works, Desert Festival, ADT:Raw, Sound + Fury, Sydney Dance Company, WAAPA, Stompin, Australasian Dance Collective and Tasdance. In 2022, Jenni won the people’s choice award for her Keir Choreographic work and was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship. Recently, she participated in an Asia Link Singapore Arts Now exchange, performed in the UK and EU in THAW (Legs On The Wall) and premiered her newest independent work ‘Wet Hard Long’ at Dancehouse in Naarm/Melbourne, which has received a Green Room nomination for Outstanding Visual Design.

You can catch Jenni performing her new work LIP as part of PIECES 2025 at The Union Theatre in Naarm (Melbourne) from 26-28 November. For more details, head to https://jennilarge.com/Schedule

~

Images by Tszar - Artist Aaron Ashley
Sound Design by Anna Whitaker
Costume Design by Jarred Dewey

LIP is supported by PIECES 2025 Presented by Lucy Guerin Inc and University of Melbourne Arts and Culture.

05/11/2025

Dancenorth will be taking Lighting the Dark to Monash University Performing Arts Centre (MPAC) next March.

We’re delighted to share this heart-centred work with audiences in Boon Wurrung, Kulin Country (Clayton, VIC) as part of our 2026 national tour.

Tickets for the MPAC performance are on sale now.

For more details, and to book, visit https://www.monash.edu/performing-arts-centres/event/lighting-the-dark/
Stay tuned for further tour announcements, coming soon.

~

Image by Amber Haines

Funding Acknowledgement:
Lighting the Dark was commissioned by Brisbane Festival, and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and the Ian Potter Foundation.
Dancenorth Australia is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and by Townsville City Council. Dancenorth is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.

31/10/2025

Thank you for supporting us on AusArt Day.

Your generosity helps us champion regional art making, nurture creativity, and build meaningful connections through dance.

As a not-for-profit charity, the support of our partners, sponsors and community is vital to enabling our work. If you have found value in the ideas and experiences we offer and would like to contribute, please visit https://dancenorth.com.au/support-us

~

Image by Amber Haines
Created on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island)

28/10/2025

Catch Kee'ahn live at Dancenorth this weekend for her headline show celebrating the release of her debut EP 'for me, for you x' ✨

NEW MUSIC OUT NOW + IM GOING ON TOUR
🌺✨💓🌙💌🌈
‘At least for now’ the next single of my EP is out for youuu AND im taking my band on my first headline tour up the east coast x

Tickets on sale now via www.keeahn.com 👩🏽‍💻

can’t wait to see you!

photography by Peta Duncan
poster by Brenna

23/10/2025

If you’ve found value in the ideas and experiences that Dancenorth offers, we would greatly appreciate your support this AusArt Day in the form of tax-deductible donation.

Dancenorth Australia is a not-for-profit charity. All donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible.

Donate now via https://dancenorth.com.au/AusArtDay

~

Video and edit by Aaron Ashley

22/10/2025

Tomorrow is AusArt Day (23 Oct) - a national Giving Day to the Arts, initiated by Creative Australia to inspire communities to support the Art that matters to them.

For 40 years, Dancenorth has championed regional art making, and stood as an epicentre for creativity and cultural exchange in North Queensland. We are committed to continuing this rich legacy and building community connections through dance.

If you’ve found value in the ideas and experiences that Dancenorth offers, we would greatly appreciate your support in the form of a tax-deductible donation.

Your donations help us empower people to reconnect with their bodies, minds, creativity, the environment and each other.

Dancenorth Australia is a not-for-profit charity. All donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible.

For more information, and to make a donation, please visit https://dancenorth.com.au/AusArtDay

~

Image by Amber Haines
Featuring Sabine Crompton-Ward
Created on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island)