Dancenorth Australia

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)

22/10/2025

Join us for round two of Dance For Absolute Beginners (DFAB), our specially designed class series for people who “can’t dance”.

Whether you're looking to try something outside your comfort zone, build confidence, meet new people, or just have some fun, DFAB is for you. This series is all about movement, music, and feeling good - no experience needed.

Feedback from previous course participants:
"DFAB allowed me to connect with a new group of people who all had a shared goal of beginning their dance journey."
"I loved feeling more confident in my body."
"Good fun!"

For more information, and to book your place, visit https://dancenorth.com.au/events/dance-class/dance-for-absolute-beginners-1

~

Images by Aaron Ashley

For people who “can’t dance”

21/10/2025

Support the Art that inspires you by donating to Dancenorth this AusArt Day (23 Oct).

Your donations support:
+ New contemporary dance works, local premieres, and national and international tours
+ Free dance workshops and experiences to more than 2,800 regional and remote school students every year
+ No and low-cost dance classes, workshops and experiences for community groups in Gurambilbarra and Thul Garrie Waja (Townsville) and across regional and remote Queensland
+ Creative and professional development opportunities for choreographers, independent artists, and young and emerging dancers
+ Our ongoing commitment to collaborate with and elevate First Nations voices
+ Accessibility to the arts which contributes to improved confidence, self-expression and social connection

Arts Giving is not just a donation. It’s an investment in a more connected, creative and vibrant community for all to enjoy.

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 Tiana Lung
Created on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island)

20/10/2025

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of hosting Aloali'i Tapu and collaborators Gabriela Quinsacara and Seidah Tuaoi as part of our 2025 Artist Residency in the Tropics (A.R.T.) Program.

Aloali’i Tapu is a Samoan stage, design, and dance artist from Ōtara, Aotearoa (South Auckland, New Zealand). Interested in non-Western kaupapa, Samoan values, and collective creativity, a focus of Aloali’i’s work is strengthening community and expanding the possibilities for Pacific and indigenous artists to create, tour, and sustain careers.

In 2016, Aloali’i received the FAUST Prize from the German Theatre Association for work as a dancer with choreographer Christoph Winkler. Between 2022 and 2023, Aloali’i was a resident choreographer at K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie | Tanzplan Hamburg, spending eight months researching and developing new work with family and collaborators from both Germany and Aotearoa.

Alongside lifelong collaborator Tori Manley-Tapu, Aloali’i is also the co-founder of Ta’alili, a collective blending film, theatre, poetry, street dance, and siva Samoa into bold, community-rooted works that reflect and celebrate contemporary Pacific experiences. Together, they have created work for stage, exhibitions, and film, including LEECHES, ETENA, Faces of Nature, Concrete Bloom, and MANU MALO and were recipients of the 2021 Arts Foundation Springboard Award. In 2024 and 2025, Ta’alili delivered their long-evolving movement workshop, Lofty Lab, as part of STRUT Dance’s RESTORE program and PERTH MOVES in Boorloo (Perth).

Most recently, Aloali’i has been evolving their practice, expanding beyond Pacific Futurism-driven projects toward collaborations that develop a shared language between kindred artists - where identity is felt through relation, rhythm, and care rather than category.

You can check out more of Aloali’i’s work via https://taalili.co.nz/

~

Images by Aaron Ashley

16/10/2025

Support the Art that inspires you.

For 40 years, Dancenorth Australia has connected hearts, minds and bodies across Gurambilbarra and Thul Garrie Waja (Townsville) and regional Queensland through dance and movement.

We don’t create art for art’s sake.
We create to connect.
To heal.
To share.
To understand.
To be together.

Dance helps boost confidence, build social networks, improve mental and physical wellbeing, increase creativity and innovation, and reduce stress, loneliness and feelings of isolation.

This AusArt Day (23 Oct), we’re asking our community to help us continue Dancenorth’s legacy with a tax-deductible donation.

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 Tiana Lung
Created on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island)

14/10/2025

Dance For Absolute Beginners (DFAB) is back for round two, kicking off on Thursday, 6 November.

Guided by experienced teachers, this five-week class series focuses on building confidence in general dance movements, pathways and co-ordinations in a friendly, relaxed, and supportive environment.

Expect great tunes, new social connections and all-round good vibes.

For more information, and to book your place, visit https://dancenorth.com.au/events/dance-class/dance-for-absolute-beginners-1

~

Images by Tszar - Artist Aaron Ashley

09/10/2025

On 23 October, Dancenorth will be participating in Creative Australia’s inaugural AusArt Day – a brand new initiative designed to engage more Australians with the importance of Arts Giving.

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.

Save the Date and stay tuned for more.

More details at https://dancenorth.com.au/AusArtDay

~

Image by Amber Haines
Featuring Tiana Lung
Created on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island)