Associate Artists
Liz Lea
Liz has 30 years experience as a nationally and internationally recognised dance artist, choreographer and producer. She has been commissioned in India, UK, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and USA. Liz was awarded a 2017 Australian Dance Award for her direction of Great Sport! at the National Museum of Australia. She was also named the 2017 was the ACT Artist of the Year and was the 2018 ACT Dance Artist of the Year.
Liz directed Canberra Dance Theatre for 6 years and co-founded the GOLD Company. She worked for Ausdance ACT for 4 years, becoming the Creative Director in 2019. Liz directs two Festivals - DANscienCE where dance and science meet and BOLD, which celebrates the legacy of dance across all identities. BOLD III is due to run in March 2021. She has extensive experience working with people with intellectual disabilities and sits on the National Portrait Gallery’s Access Advisory Group. Liz has presented two TEDx performance talks (2014 and 2018).
In 2019 she toured her one woman show RED, directed One Giant Leap, a cross community project celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon landing and worked in Singapore as part of an Asialink Residency with Maya Dance Theatre and DADC, a company of dancers who live with Down Syndrome. In 2020 she toured RED to the UK and was Movement Director for a new production in Kuwait. Liz is a member of the ACT Minister’s Creative Council and is represented by Karen Gallagher and Associates. Liz is currently working on a series of cross-cultural and cross-ability projects including a new film for the Zero Emissions grants program. 2021 sees the premier of a new company work titled Terra at Belconnen Arts Centre
Artists statement; I am an artist committed to inclusiveness, working with dancers of all ages, abilities and ethnic groups and forever acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which my work is created and performed.
Photo: Barbara Dietl
Melanie Lane
Melanie Lane grew up in Canberra, and is an Australian choreographer and performer of European/Javanese cultural heritage. She has collaborated with artists from film, visual art, theatre and music, creating works that tread between performative forms and contexts. Her independent work interrogates physical and cultural histories to express current and future social mythologies. To interrogate the body beyond dominant narrative, Lane has initiated multiple works and collaborations with performers, bodies and disciplines far outside the remit of contemporary dance. Her independent work has been presented at international festivals and theatres such as HAU Berlin, Tanz im August, Schauspiel Leipzig, December Dance, Uzes Danse Festival, Indonesian Dance Festival, O Espaco do Tempo, Dance Massive, Carriageworks, Chunky Move, Arts House and Sydney Opera House.
Alongside her independent work, she has been commissioned to create new works for Chunky Move, Sydney Dance Company, DanceNorth, Australasian Dance Collective, Schauspiel Leipzig, Nagelhus Schia Productions and choreographed for English National Opera's 'Salome' directed by Adena Jacobs.
Melanie's collaborative work extends to visual artists Bridie Lunney, Ash Keating and Martin Böttger, and video artists Amos Gebhardt and Leyla Stevens amongst others.
As a performer, she has worked with artists such as Tino Seghal, Arco Renz, Eun Me Ahn, Club Guy and Roni, Antony Hamilton and Lucy Guerin.
Melanie choreographed the 2015 and 2017 live shows for UK electronic musician Clark (Warp records), performing at over 30 international venues and festivals including Moma PS1 New York, Villette Sonique Paris, Funkhaus Berlin and Sonar Festivals in Barcelona/Istanbul.
In 2015 she was resident director at Lucy Guerin Inc. and has been nominated for Helpmann and Green Room awards as both performer and choreographer. Melanie was the recipient of the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award in Australia and the 2017 Leipziger Bewegungskunstpreis in Germany.