Touring exceptional independent dance
Australian Dance Theatre, Dancehouse and Sydney Dance Company are respectively based on the lands of the Kaurna, Wurundjeri, and Gadigal people. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We extend this respect to First Peoples across the land. We pay our ongoing respects to them, their cultures and their Elders, past and present. We acknowledge the ongoing significance of dance as cultural practice, as interconnected with story, song and Country.
WELCOME TO ORBIT
Australian dance is often perceived in a flash. Tragically, our best choreographic talent and some of our best works, get barely four nights before they finish. Dancehouse, Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), and Sydney Dance Company know that dance audiences are waiting to catch these brilliant spectacles. So we’ve created ORBIT to give return seasons to great Australian dance works. As three sister organisations united through our love of dance, we each bring unique roles and a constellation of dance artists, communities, and audiences from our respective cities: Naarm/ Melbourne, Kaurna Yerta / Adelaide, and Cadi / Sydney. Our vision with ORBIT is radical: Australian choreographers should be seen by Australian audiences. An ambition shared by Creative Australia, our key supporter in this pilot. Thank you Creative Australia. In these four stellar ORBIT shows: Charcoal, Agitato, Future History, and [ gameboy ] handpicked by us, we hope you’ll be inspired, challenged, and motivated to celebrate Australia’s local independent choreographers. To recognise that Australian dance is a spectrum worthy of your exploration and attention.
To ask what Australian dance is … there are no wrong answers. Even as an audience member, dance invites you to a full-body-experience of spectatorship. Like music, sometimes it’s narratively-driven, but mostly it’s sensibility. Dance is for the thinking, moving, listening, watching, noticing people with bodies. Which we all are. Please ensure you talk about your experience afterwards with others. These are sophisticated works worthy of shared reflection and we know that criticality and literacy grows through conversation. Please revel in this ORBIT and we hope to be back again. JOSHUA WRIGHT CEO / Artistic Director, Dancehouse On behalf of ORBIT partners Australian Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company
AGITATO BY JO LLOYD
Agitato is an encounter with Fanny Mendelssohn’s largely unknown composition ‘Allegro molto agitato in D Minor’ (1823), a musical jewel obscured by the politics and convention of her time. Centuries later, lauded choreographer Jo Lloyd reckons with this legacy, creating a swirling and spiky choreographic interaction with each of Mendelssohn’s sprawling and persistent notes. Form is assembled and disassembled in a single breath, as Lloyd and her collaborators play with suspense and restraint set within a chaotic undercurrent. Collapsing the boundaries between order and disorder, Agitato is a palimpsest of music, an understanding between artists across time, made visible and visceral on stage.
Choreographer
Jo Lloyd
Dancers
Rebecca Jensen, Jo Lloyd, Louie Wisby & Thomas Woodman
Composer
Duane Morrison
Costume Designer
Andrew Treloar
Lighting Designer
Shiv Geaney
Dramaturg
Anny Mokotow
Dancers in Original Production
Harrison RitchieJones, Lee Serle
Producer of Original Production
Michaela Coventry - Sage Arts
JO LLOYD
Choreographer / Performer Jo Lloyd is a dance artist based in Melbourne/ Naarm. She is an award winning choreographer/ performer, working with choreography as a social encounter, revealing behaviour over various durations and contexts. Her practice seeks to find a language that refuses the limits of history, form and aesthetic. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Jo performed and toured nationally/ internationally with Chunky Move (Gideon Obarzanek), Shelley Lasica and Sandra Parker. A Sidney Myer Fellowship recipient, she has presented and performed her works in galleries, theatres and festivals, with residencies and commissions with the New Zealand Dance Company, Nibroll Japan, RISING, Chunky Move, ACCA, Keri Choreographic Award, Dancenorth, Tasdance, Liveworks, Bundanon, NGA, and NGV. Her major woks include; ‘LIVE JUNK’ 2026 at Abbotsford Convent, ’Agitato’, 2025 Green Room Award winner for Outstanding Choreography, ’Post Hoc’, commissioned for Lucy Guerin’s PIECES 2025, ’FM Air’, originally commissioned for The National 4, Carriageworks 2023 and presented in Sydney Dance Company’s INDance 2025, ‘Out of Theatre’ NGV 2023, ‘Handsome’ at The Substation 2022, ‘Death Role’ Bundanon Art Museum 2021, ’Archive the archive’, NGA’s ‘Know My Name’ exhibition 2020 (acquired by NGA), and her multi award winning, Helpmann Award nominated work ‘OVERTURE’, 2018/19. Since 2022, Jo has been in residence at The Abbotsford Convent, running Studio 24 with Michaela Coventry.
AGITATO CAST & CREATIVES
REBECCA JENSEN (Dancer)
THOMAS WOODMAN (Dancer)
Rebecca Jensen thinks through dance, considering the interdisciplinary potential of choreography. Her work has been presented across Australia and internationally in galleries, theatres, on video, clubs and site-specifically. Inspired by her peers, she has worked with artists including Jo Lloyd, Harrison Ritchie Jones, Shelley Lasica, Lucy Guerin Inc, Marcus McKenzie and Harriet Gilles, and Adam Linder.
Thomas Woodman is a Naarm/Melbournebased dancer and choreographer who works in various contexts. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance (2015) with Honours through the Visual Art School (2019) at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Since 2012 she has co-directed participatory project Deep Soulful Sweats with Sarah Aiken. In 2022, she was awarded a Chloe Munro Fellowship. Notable residencies include DanceWEB, Cité internationale des arts, Lucy Guerin Inc Resident director 2023 and Gertrude Contemporary studio artist 2024-26.
Valuing iterative, ongoing practices across disciplines, Thomas is informed by experimental dance and choreography, performance art, philosophy, bodymind practices, and his recent studies in archiving. As a performer, he has worked with artists including Russell Dumas, Hermann Nitsch, Shelley Lasica, and particularly Jo Lloyd (since 2018). Thomas approaches choreography as a conceptual and material form of organising without a fixed mode.
LOUIE WISBY (Dancer)
DUANE MORRISON (Composer)
Louie Wisby is a dancer who was born in Naarm and lives on Gadigal land in Sydney. Louie graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2018 and since then has pursued the creation of her own work and others. She has enjoyed working with Phillip Adams (Glory, Prelude), Jo Lloyd (Garden Dance, Bang Stop, FM:Air, Paris Was Yesterday), Geoffrey Watson (Rachael Wisby), Nasim Patel (Tell Distance) and Yuiko Matsumoto (3).
Duane Morrison graduated from Melbourne University, majoring in Composition. Now working mainly in the field of electronic music production his skills in this area cover wide terrain. Active in the composition of scores for contemporary dance in Melbourne, he has collaborated closely with choreographer Jo Lloyd for 20 years, receiving a Green Room Award for his work on Mermermer (Next Move, Chunky Move 2016).
Her work has been presented by Temperance Hall (Please Do Not Move, Sybylla), Lucy Guerin Inc. (Roses) and Dancehouse (Judy and Me).
He also received Green Room nominations for Overture (2019), Future Perfect (2011/ Dance Massive 2013) and Apparently That’s What Happened (2008 with David Franzke). More recently he composed the soundtrack for Lloyd’s Agitato and Post hoc.
AGITATO CAST & CREATIVES
ANDREW TRELOAR (Costume Designer)
ANNY MOKOTOW (Dramaturg)
Andrew Treloar is an artist working between contemporary art, dance and fashion design practices. He has long-term non-monogamous collaborative situationships with Jo Lloyd, Harrison Hall, Henry Jock Walker, and Jack Riley. He has been commissioned to design works for Alisdair Macindoe, Harrison RitchieJones, Dancenorth, Marrugeku, Lucy Guerin Inc., and Chunky Move.
Anny Mokotow’s career covers performance, teaching, and dramaturgy. Anny worked in the Netherlands and Europe as dancer and theatre maker for twenty years. She danced amongst others with Krisztina de Chatel as dancer dramaturg, Onhafhankelijk Toneel, Netherlands Opera, the multicultural, Vier-7, and interdisciplinary company Fractured Fables.
His design work has shown across many venues and festivals throughout Australia including the 2018 Commgames Opening Ceremony. Favourite projects with Jo Lloyd include Overture, Collision and Agitato. SHIV GEANEY (Lighting Designer) Shiv Geaney is a versatile lighting designer, technical coordinator and production manager, celebrated for their innovative work across Australia’s performing arts. Shiv’s accolades include Best Lighting Design for Drill’s Trash This Place and a standout design for Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis directed by Justin Nott. Shiv’s production management credits include: Tantrum For 6 – Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Monolith – Joel Bray Dance, Flesh Mirror – Bec Jensen and Agitato – Jo Lloyd. Shiv has been a part of several award winning productions including Monolith, Agitato, U>N>I>T>E>D, Birrpai and Trash This Place.
As dramaturg in Australia, Anny worked with Anouk Van Dijk, Jo Lloyd, Tina Havelock Stevens, and others, while teaching theatre practice at University of Melbourne, NIDA, VCA. She has a PhD on 20-21st century performance and dramaturgy; her current concerns lie in the response of performance practice in times of crisis.
CHARCOAL BY KEIA MCGRADY
Two dancers mark the stage with charcoal. As they gently move through Country, they inscribe a living conversation between spirit and landscape that spans generations. Inspired by the regenerative power of cultural burning, Charcoal sees emerging choreographer Keia McGrady creates a visceral meditation on Country, lineage and the cycles of rebirth that are held in the land upon which we all walk. The physical and invisible textures of the landscape manifest in a work steeped in ancestral knowledge drawn from deep collaboration with family. Charcoal traces a dialogue between spirit, memory and land in a work where movement becomes sacred offering and the body transforms into canvas
Lead Artist & Performer
Keia McGrady (Githabul, Migunberri and Gomeroi)
Performer
Amelia Jean O’Leary (Gamilaroi and Wadawurrung Yinarr)
Sound Composer
Joshua Santospirito
Contributing Composer
Waveney Yasso (Yuwi Burra & South Sea Island)
Lighting & AV Designer
Jason James
Original Costume Designer
Noah Johnson
Remount Costumier
Monica Smith
Dancer from Original Season
Olivia Adams (Wulli Wulli)
KEIA MCGRADY
Lead Artist & Performer Keia McGrady is a Githabul Migunberri Gomeroi contemporary dance artist, story teller from south east Queensland. Her practice embodies country, weaving knowledge passed down Keia honours her culture through contemporary dance while unpacking social and political issues that have been present throughout her life. Keia has performed at festivals and events such as Junction arts festival, 10 days on the island, Panama festival, Perth festival, Sydney contemporary and more. With the a desire of truth telling through movement Keia has performed in seasons such as Taree Sansdbury’s MI:WI season at QPAC, Jo Loyds work collision, national tour with Karul projects for their work Silence, and performing in Amelia Jean O’Leary’s works Coded, Sad Eyes and Ngambaa which was performed at Deadly Fringe Festival and Canada’s Matriarchs Uprising. Keia’s practice is rooted in deep listening, weaving stories through visual art and movement while valuing collaborations.
CHARCOAL CAST & CREATIVES AMELIA JEAN O’LEARY (Perfomer) Amelia Jean O’Leary is a queer First Nations Gamilaroi and Wadawurrung Yinarr dance artist and storyteller based in Sydney, Australia. Their work is a contemplative exploration of the complex and brutal terrains they inhabit, transforming dance into acts of sovereignty through deeply authentic, emotionally resonant performances grounded in lived experience. Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2021, O’Leary has rapidly emerged as a compelling voice in contemporary dance and performance. Their work has been presented at Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, Dancehouse, FRAME: A Biennial of Dance, and internationally at Matriarchs Uprising Festival in Vancouver. Their accolades include the Best Emerging Indigenous Artist award at Melbourne Fringe and Green Room Award nominations. O’Leary continues to create bold, unapologetically First Nations and queer work across dance, theatre, and performance. JOSHUA SANTOSPIRITO (Composer & Sound Engineer) Joshua (he/him) is a multimedia artist, musician and graphic novelist living in Nipaluna on Palawa land, Lutruwita (Tasmania). Joshua regularly performs solo, and has toured Europe and Australia. He is also one half of the beloved improvisational classical duo Bing/Santospirito. He is known for creating cross-media performances for arts festivals and composition for theatre and dance.
JASON JAMES (Lighting Designer) Jason James strongly focuses on new Australian works and projects with social benefits. He has won three Tasmanian Theatre Awards for lighting design: Archipelago Production’s The Maids in 2022, Terrapin’s Big Baby in 2015, and Hobart Rep’s Speaking in Tongues in 2020. Recent designs include Amy’s Tattoo, Bingo Stay on the Ball Ladies for Blue Cow, The Adventures of the Indefatigable Enviroteens, Past the Shallows for Archipelago, and To Carry To Hold for Mature Artist Dance Experience. NOAH JOHNSON (ORIGINAL COSTUME DESIGNER) Noah Johnson is a black multidisciplinary artist, born in lutriwita (Hobart), they first began painting as a way to visually represent their creative mind and their deep roots to their African American culture which paved the way for their love of fashion and consequently sewing & design. Noah has a successful business ONEOFONEARCHIVE, an upcycling slow fashion label which came to fruition when they were 16 years old. Their values lie in sustainability and story telling through their textile art while they use a mixture of simple to intricate design choices to convey that. Recently featured in Vogue & Russh Magazine for their upcycled winter collection in collaboration with Tourism Tasmania, Noah continues to expand their design portfolio and bring ‘slow fashion’ to the forefront of the fashion industry.
CHARCOAL CAST & CREATIVES MONICA SMITH (Remount Costumier) Monica Smith is a Sydney-based costume and wardrobe professional with extensive experience spanning dance, opera,theatre, and television. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a Bachelor in Dramatic Arts (Costume) and TAFE Sydney Institute with a Diploma in Clothing Textiles and Footwear, Monica brings high-level technical expertise in garment construction, intricate alterations, pattern cutting, fabric sourcing, dyeing, and art finishing. Monica served as Head of Wardrobe for Bangarra Dance Theatre for five years, leading wardrobe operations across major national and international tours. Her extensive creative and technical credits include work for Opera Australia (Otello, Il Trovatore, Cinderella), Sydney Theatre Company (Hubris & Humiliation), Belvoir St Theatre (Coconut Children), Ensemble Theatre (Top Silk, Clyde’s, Suddenly Last Summer), and Sydney Dance Company (Somos). Internationally, Monica worked in London as a costume dresser and alterations assistant with the Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet. In addition to her production work, she regularly engages with the next generation of performance makers, including serving on student selection panels for NIDA.
[ GAMEBOY ] By AMY ZHANG
Two avatars are dropped into a series of escalating challenges. As they complete each level, they’re asked to consider how far they’ll go to ‘win’. Choreographer Amy Zhang brings her signature fusion of street styles and contemporary dance to explore the collision between the real and the virtual in a work that is as irreverently fun as it is physically virtuosic. Taking inspiration from The Sims, Japanese game shows, and the strangest corners of the internet, [ gameboy ] is a raucously renegade work that steps inside the screen and slyly looks back.
Director & Choreographer
Amy Zhang
Collaborators & Performers
William ‘Billy’ Keohavong and Ko Yamada
Sound Designer
Jackson Garcia
Contributing Composer
Maxwell ‘Thv Flood’ Douglas
Lighting Design
Theodore Carrol
Associate Choreographer
Jasmin Luna
AMY ZHANG
Director & Choreographer Amy Zhang is a trailblazing choreographer and movement director based on Gadigal Land (Sydney). Her work spans across film, tv, theatre and live performance. Grounded in Chinese ways of knowing and storytelling, Amy’s style plays within the intersections of street style foundations and contemporary frameworks. Amy’s work has caught the eye of many, choreographing for global brands such as Hermes, Cartier, Nike, Calvin Klein as well the likes of Rita Ora, The Veronicas and PNAU. Her work has been featured at Australian Fashion Week, on Channel 10, ABC, SBS and Nowness. She has also collaborated with Google to curate an AI dance app that was presented at Google I/O annual developer conference in Los Angeles. In the arts space, Amy has worked with organisations across theatre and major galleries including, Hong Kong Museum of Art (M+), Art Gallery of NSW, The Hayes Theatre, Arts House, QPAC, The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Adelaide Fringe Festival and Belvoir St Theatre. Amy was also an artist in residence at the City of Sydney Live/Work residency in 2019-2020.
[ GAMEBOY ] CAST & CREATIVES KO YAMADA (Collaborator & Performer) Ko Yamada has trained in Classical Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop and many street dance styles throughout the years. He has graduated from prestigious schools and programs such as The Next Step Performing Arts Professional, Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and The Australian Ballet School ITP program. Over the years Ko has travelled to many countries including the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, New Zealand and South Africa to teach, compete, perform, audition and learn from the best in the world. Some of Ko’s career highlights include his work as a dancer for artists such as Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas, Jessica Mauboy, Kylie Minogue and Vanessa Amorosi. He has also had roles in advertisements for companies such as Sony, Red Bull, Converse, Asics, Coles, Domino’s and Deloitte. Ko has also been a representative on the Australian team at the KOD Street Dance World Cup in 2018. Ko has also worked as a judge for several dance events across Australia and is currently still competing, representing his crews Yellow Bougie Funk, Underground Spin Boogz and Stale Biskitz. Ko has been a finalist for The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer 2022 and he was the winner of the 2019 and 2022 Red Bull Dance Your Style National Finals.
WILLIAM (BILLY) KEOHAVONG (Collaborator & Performer) William (Billy) Keohavong is a scholarship recipient of both New Zealand School of Dance in 2015, and Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre in 2012. His journey into dance started with Street Dance, specifically Dancehall and House. This since has given Billy an extra edge in his career as a specialist in Contemporary Dance In 2016, Billy was offered a position with ‘The Human Expression Dance Company’ (Sinagapore) as a full-time Artist. This opportunity brought him all over Asia and Europe, performing and touring extensively within festivals like; Florence Dance Festival (Italy), Zawirowania Dance Festival (Poland), Laiks Dejot Festival (Latvia), Fukuoka Fringe Dance Festival (Japan), Daegu Dance Festival (South Korea), Bangkok International Dance Festival (Thailand) and M1 Contact Dance Festival (Singapore); just to name a few. He has worked with highly acclaimed choreographers such as: Sue Healy, Ross McCormack, Meryl Tankard, Martin del Amo, Tor Colombus, Kuik Swee Boon, Sarah Boulter, Shaun Parker and Natalie Allen. On top of all this, Billy has a strong passion for teaching and movement research where his philosophy sits between the realms of ‘Eastern practice’ and ‘Character work’. He has worked closely as a teacher and coach with full-time institutes like Brent Street FullTime and Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre. He was one of the core teachers that helped train and nurture the full-time artists within The Human Expression Dance Company.
[ GAMEBOY ] CAST & CREATIVES JACKSON GARCIA (Sound Designer) Jackson Garcia is a movement and music artist based on Gadigal land. Jack is a well recognised street dancer who has competed and performed all around the world. Having grown up playing the drums, Jack combines this with his understanding of street dance and their cultures to inform his music. His unique take on sound has found. Jack creating sound for many movement performances in both the digital and live space. Performances that he has created sound for have been shown in places like, Performance Space, First Draft, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Metro Arts. MAXWELL “THV FLOOD” DOUGLAS (Contributing Composer) Maxwell “ThvFlood” Douglas is a multidisciplinary artist and originator of Flood, a local Australian music and dance culture. Flood emerged as a response to the flood plains of Ipswich, Australia, with its music characterised by grotesque sounds and a distinct kickline: the “flood heartbeat.” JASMIN LUNA (Associate Choreographer) l Jasmin Luna is a contemporary dance artist working across performance, opera, and interdisciplinary practice in NSW, Australia and internationally. Her recent credits include LOVE ARENA, a duet she co-created and performed with Remy Rochester (Sydney Fringe Festival); TARANTISMO by Lauren Brincatt (White Bay Power Station for the Sydney Biennale); WHAT SHOULD WE DO by Akira Yoshida (Eden Theatre, Berlin); BRIGHTNESS by Kristin Chan (Sydney Dance Company); KAIROS by Meryl Tankard (Sydney Festival); and INFERNO for Brandenburg Orchestra (Casula Powerhouse). She has performed in Opera Australia’s CARMEN(Cockatoo Island) and ATTILA, ANNA BOLENA, AIDA (Sydney Opera House), LAKME (Royal Opera House of Muscat, Oman) as
well as BAT LAKE by Eliza Cooper (Riverside Theatre), HABITAT by Kate Dunn (Manly Gallery); STRUT Dance’s PLATYPUS by Lewis Major (Perth); Dream Dance Company’s ENTER THE VORTEX(touring Australia & New Zealand); DOUBLE BEAT by Sara Black (Shopfront Arts Co) and Narella Benjamin’s understudy for CELLA (Sydney Festival). THEODORE CARROLL (Lighting Designer) Theo Carroll is a lighting designer whose practice centres on atmosphere, spatial tension, and the relationship between light, bodies, and audience. Working across theatre, live performance and film, his approach is rooted in collaboration and devised process. As a trans man, he is particularly passionate about transled storytelling and process - both artistically and in how work gets made. Alongside his design practice, Theo is cofounder of Red Zebra Productions, an independent company creating immersive, multidisciplinary performance. Driven by curiosity and collaboration, his lighting is designed to be felt as much as it is seen.
The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave Photo by: Lucy Parakhina
FUTURE HISTORY BY GABRIELLE NANKIVELL
Things could be worse, and things could be bette
Lead Artist
This is the indescribable paradox of our collective life tumbling through time. The time it takes to build, the time it takes to unravel. The moral decoupling of our micro macro worlds.
Creative Collaborators Luke Smiles, Martin del Amo, Kristina Chan, Joshua Thomson, Rasmus Ölme & Vânia Vaneau
I read somewhere that some people fall apart continuously, but inside all the falling they are forging. I imagine this as the body rearranging the horizon, defying expectation, reinventing courage as a verb. Bodies do this – in response to threat, at the precipice of change, in the act of holding on and letting go. Exponentially malleable, infinitely precarious and remarkably resilient, the body is a gateway to both resistance and resonance and a portal to what was, what is and what might be. Future History is built by many bodies - a tiny universe of life, work and community woven through decades. A new ritual. Grieving something we haven’t yet lost. Losing something we only just have a sense of. An endless oscillation between hope and despair, fear and courage, past and future, life and death.
Gabrielle Nankivell
Composer
Luke Smiles
Dramaturg
Martin del Amo
Costume Concept & Realisation
Harriet Oxley
Set and Lighting Realisation
Meg Wilson
GABRIELLE NANKIVELL
Lead Artist Gabrielle’s atmospheric performance works and immersive projects are known for their vivid choreography, attention to detail and evocative combinations of the mundane and the bizarre. Her work, which ranges from choreographic strategies for collaboration and social practice projects to bespoke solos and main-stage ensemble works, has landed on iconic stages such as Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, The Joyce in New York City, Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre and Adelaide’s Dunstan Playhouse, as well as unique halls, galleries and open-air venues across Armenia, Andalucía and regional Australia. Gabrielle has toured work independently and been commissioned by Sydney Dance Company, Dancenorth, Australasian Dance Collective, Queensland Ballet, Vitalstatistix, Brisbane Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Frontier Danceland Singapore, QL2 and Tasdance. She has also been invited to develop performances, research projects and workshops across festival, training and academic contexts internationally. As a performer Gabrielle has worked with Australian Dance Theatre, Aaben Dans (DK), Alexander Baervoets (BE), Chunky Move/Gideon Obarzanek, Gavin Webber/Regurgitator, Jurij Konjar (SLO), Maxine Doyle (UK), Punchdrunk (UK), The Farm, Thomas Steyaert (BE), Raul Maia (PT) & Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus (BE) amongst others. Her collaborative work as an artistic advisor, dramaturg and movement director intersects many artists and companies. She has worked on projects with Nederlands Dans Theater 2, Australasian Dance Collective, Windmill Production Company and State Theatre Company SA, was Artist in Residence at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Training Associate at Sydney Dance Company and is currently Resident Director of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More in Seoul. Gabrielle is the recipient of the Arts South Australia Fellowship, Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship, Tanja Liedtke Fellowship, and Marten Bequest.
FUTURE HISTORY CREATIVES LUKE SMILES (Creative Collaborator and Composer) Luke’s love of cinema has inspired his diverse practice, leading him to work across all areas of sound including sound design, foley, sound effects editing and music composition. Luke is renowned for producing highly detailed soundtracks with a focus on an immersive audience experience for artists including: All The Queens Men, ADT, Australasian Dance Collective, Belvoir, Chunky Move, Dancenorth, Gabrielle Nankivell, MTC, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Rachel Arianne Ogle, Restless Dance Theatre, State Theatre Company SA, Sydney Dance Company, STC, The Farm and Windmill Production Company. Luke and Gab’s catalogue of works together number 16 and counting. Their collaborative creative practice spans dancing together, co-directing and building logic at the intersection of choreography, sound and tech. KRISTINA CHAN (Creative Collaborator) Alongside her independent works, Kristina has been commissioned by companies including, Sydney Dance Company, Expressions Dance Company and City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong). Kristina has over 20 years of international performance experience with artists; Kate Champion’s Force Majeure, Garry Stewart’s Australian Dance Theatre, Gideon Obarzanek’s Chunky Move, Australian Ballet, Lucy Guerin Inc, Stephanie Lake, Lisa Wilson, Sydney Theatre Company, Legs On The Wall, Narelle Benjamin, Anton, Tanja Liedtke, Craig Bary, Victoria Chiu, Martin del Amo and Victoria Hunt. Kristina received a Helpmann Award for her performance in Narelle Benjamin’s In Glass (2011), two Australian Dance Awards for Tanja Liedtke’s Twelfth Floor (2006) and
construct (2009), and the Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship (2017). Kristina and Gab first danced together at ADT. They have a long history touring the globe together with various companies and independent artists. JOSHUA THOMSON (Creative Collaborator) Joshua has been the Artistic Director of Legs On The Wall since 2018. His recent works include the flagship work THAW (Impact Award, 2024), BEETLE, ENDLING, LOVERS, Hive of Industry, Holding Achilles (with Dead Puppet Society) and Now and Ever in collaboration with Frances Rings. A celebrated director, maker and performer, Joshua has worked with companies such as Bangarra Dance Theatre (consulting on aerial performance), Marrugeku, Dance North, Physical Virus Collective, Tasdance and The Farm, with whom he co-created the Helpmann Award Winning work, TIDE. Josh and Gab have created and performed together in many works by The Farm in both Europe and Australia. They have also been collaborators on each other’s independent projects and side hustles.
FUTURE HISTORY CREATIVES RASMUS ÖLME (Creative Collaborator) Rasmus is an internationally renowned dance artist and academic. He holds a PhD in Media studies with the subject Choreography from KTH/Uniarts in Stockholm. He is professor and head of the BFA in Dance and Choreography and the MFA in Choreography at The Danish National School of Performing Arts. In addition, Rasmus is acting head of artistic research. Once upon a time, Rasmus and Gab danced together in Brussels in the work of Wim Vandekeybus. Over the decades since, they intermittently meet in random studios around Europe to share an unexpected dance.
Programmed by many major festivals and venues across the country, his work has toured nationally and internationally. Martin’s contribution to the Australian arts sector as a teacher, dramaturg, dance writer and mentor to emerging artists has been recognised with the 2024 Creative Australia Award for Dance, the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance (2018), and the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship (2015). Although Martin and Gab had never officially worked together before Future History, their long-standing connection is built on robust dialogue around all things dance and performance. They are united in an ongoing quest for Newtown’s infamous Frosted Latte.
VANIA VANEAU (Creative Collaborator)
HARRIET OXLEY (Costume Concept and Realisation)
Trained in dance in Brazil and then at P.A.R.T.S in Brussels, Vânia Vaneau later obtained a Bachelor of Psychology at the University of Paris 8 and followed a training in Body Mind Centering. She has worked as an interpreter for Wim Vandekeybus, Maguy Marin, Yoann Bourgeois and Christian Rizzo. She is co-director of the Cie Arrangement Provisoire alongside Jordi Galí since 2012. Vânia and Gab also toured together for several years in the work of Wim Vandekeybus. They shared a heat drenched summer at Danceweb in Vienna and from time to time still meet by rivers or ruins or mountains to dance.
A graduate of VCA (Theatre Design) and RMIT (Fashion Design), Harriet has designed costumes for dance, theatre, opera, musical theatre and circus productions across Australia since 2005. Harriet has had artistic collaborations with Sydney Dance Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Stephanie Lake Company, Dancenorth, Lucy Guerin Inc, Melbourne Opera, Victorian Opera, Chunky Move, Circus Oz, Back to Back Theatre and Malthouse Theatre. Harriet has been nominated for multiple Green Room Awards, winning for design in Opera. She was nominated for a Production Designers’ Guild award for costume for live performance in 2025 for Stephanie Lake’s The Chronicles. She tutors in costume design in The Bachelor of Design at Melbourne University.
MARTIN DEL AMO (Creative Collaborator) Martin del Amo is a choreographer and dancer with 30 years of professional experience. He is acclaimed for his solos fusing idiosyncratic movement and intimate storytelling, and, more recently, as a creator of group works and solos for others.
FUTURE HISTORY CREATIVES MEG WILSON (Set and Lighting Realisation) Meg has designed set and costume for Australian Dance Theatre (Jenni Large’s Faraway, 2026), Smiling Bear (Log Boy, 2026) STCSA (Terrestrial, 2018 / Euphoria, 2021 / Eureka Day 2021 / Antigone 2022 / Heartbreak Choir (upcoming)) and Windmill Production Company (Amphibian, RELLA and Moss Piglet), Vitalstatistix (The Photo Box (set design), Bedroom (lighting design) and Progress Report (set, costume and lighting design)) and Restless Dance Theatre, including designs for the Adelaide Festival productions of Intimate Space (2018) and Guttered (2021). Meg was awarded the 2019 Green Room Award for Contemporary and Experimental Performance (Innovation in Durational Performance), for SQUASH!, 2025 Green Room Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Exact Dimensions of Hell and was nominated in 2025 for the APDG award for Multi-discipline Design for a Live Performance or Event for Moss Piglet. -The creative development of Future History has been generously supported by: The Government of South Australiathrough CreateSA, Australian Dance Theatre’s International Centre for Choreography, The Mill’s Emerging Producer Xchange, Stockholm University of the Arts, Lieues Lyon, Legs on the Wall
THE COMPANIES BEHIND ORBIT
AUSTRALIAN DANCE THEATRE (Kaurna Yarta / SA) Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) is Australia’s oldest continuing contemporary dance company. Since 1965, we’ve made rebellious dance on Kaurna Yerta and taken it around the state, the country and the world. ADT is led by Wiradjuri man, Daniel Riley, who was appointed as Artistic Director in 2022. Since stepping into the role, he has created major works including SAVAGE, THE HUM, The Third, Tracker, A Quiet Language, Marrow and Two Blood. Our leadership team also features Executive Director, Nick Hays, and Associate Artistic Director, Brianna Kell. At the core of ADT is an ensemble of dancers who perform and collaborate on the creation of each of our works. In 2025, the company launched LOFT – a new space for independent dance at Level One, Lion Arts Centre in partnership with CreateSA. DANCEHOUSE (Wurundjeri / VIC) Established in 1992 by local artists, Dancehouse is Australia’s only presenting and producing house dedicated solely to the year-round presentation of dance by and with independent dance artists and communities. Dancehouse represents a diversity of visions, practices, and generations committed to the expression, development and celebration of dance artists, and the artform itself. At the heart of Dancehouse is a heritage Victorian building with two studios and a theatre space that are leased generously by the City of Yarra for nominal rent. Dancehouse offers accessible and affordable spaces to an array of movement practitioners, teachers, audiences and communities.
As a producing and presenting house, Dancehouse hosts large-scale events and festivals that support local artists and international guests, offers programs that are incubators, catalysts and connectors; spanning presentations, commissions, training, residencies, research, capacity building, public programs, digital content and publications. SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY (Gadigal / NSW) Sydney Dance Company is Australia’s leading contemporary dance company, creating and presenting a repertoire of new work across Australia and internationally under the artistic direction of Rafael Bonachela. Based on Gadigal Land at Sydney’s Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, the Company has shaped the evolution of contemporary dance in Australia for more than five decades. Beyond the mainstage, Sydney Dance Company is a centre for creative development and learning, offering Australia’s largest public instudio dance class program alongside a breadth of training, education and independent sector initiatives that contribute to the national cultural landscape. -ORBIT is a touring initiative led by ADT, Dancehouse and Sydney Dance Company. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
IMAGE CREDITS AGITATO BY JO LLOYD Images of Agitato by Darren GIll (cover page, pages 4, 5) Headshot of Jo Lloyd by Peter Rosetzky CHARCOAL BY KEIA MCGRADY Images of Charcoal by Gabriel Comerford (inside cover page, pages 4,10) Headshot of Keia McGrady by Michael Oneill [ GAMEBOY ] BY AMY ZHANG Images of [ gameboy ] by Jade Ellis (Pages 4, 14, 25) Headshot supplied by Amy Zhang FUTURE HISTORY BY GABRIELLE NANKIVELL Images of Future History by Sam Roberts (Pages 4, 19, back cover) Headshot supplied by Gabrielle Nankivell