PROPER MOTION

Lisa Maris McDonell is a dance artist whose practice embraces performance, choreography, video, sound, therapeutic dance and flamenco. She is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Lisa has been creating and presenting performance works in various contexts in Australia and internationally since 1996. As an educator she has worked for WAAPA, NAISDA Dance College (Course Coordinator), Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company public classes and currently lectures at the University of Wollongong. Lisa has been the recipient of numerous residencies, grants, awards and choreographic commissions throughout her career. Lisa was the 2020 recipient of an Ausdance Innovating Dance Practice grant for travel to Spain, a 2021 ReadyMade Works Moving Ideas residency for the development of her performance work The Lobster which subsequently premiered as part of Merrigong Theatre Company’s 2022 MerrigongX program, and she is the 2022/23 CNSW / Sydney Dance Company Beyond the Studio Dance Fellowship recipient. In 2020 Lisa started presenting work under the title Proper Motion in an effort to provide increased opportunity and visibility for dance artists based across Dharawal and Yuin country. Proper Motion includes a core collective of movement-based professionals and to date has engaged with over 60 artists at community, national and international levels through its various projects.

Linda Luke resides in the NSW Illawarra region, the Wadi Wadi of the Dharawal land. Linda has been a dancer and choreographer for more than 20 years. Her work aims to deepen sensitivity and excavate the subtle undercurrents we experience in relation to self, each other and our environment. Linda has performed in Australia and internationally. Her most recent solo performances include ALLEGORIES OF ASH at the Eurobodalla Botanical Gardens (2021) and STONE at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery (2019). She has performed extensively with De Quincey Co and has collaborated in projects with numerous artists and companies; most recently with PYT: Fairfield, Flight Path Theatre Co, The Cad Factory, Liberty Kerr and Victoria Hunt. Linda is a lecturer for the performing arts at the University of Wollongong.

Susan Kennedy is a theatre performer who works in movement. She has worked with companies such as the Marionette Theatre of Australia, TOEtruckTheatre, Canberra Theatre Company and Merrigong Theatre. She has also appeared in numerous projects for large and small screen. Susan played Jules in the short comic film Zara’s Tale produced by Murray Fahey and the winner of the Multicultural Award. A founding member of Not Another Theatre Company and A Dark Horse, Susan completed her Bachelor of Arts (Theatre) Degree at the University of Western Sydney’s Theatre Nepean in 1989. She was subsequently funded to take part in the International Training Program run by the Suzuki Company of Toga in Japan. She also trained and performed with Leisa Shelton’s Theatre Is Moving corporeal mime troupe.

Madeline Backen is twenty-five years old and began dancing at Joanne Grace School of Dance in Wollongong at the age of thirteen. Madeleine’s acceptance into Austinmer Dance Theatre in 2016 allowed her the opportunity to work with a range of international choreographers including Sagi Gross, Maurice Causey, Spencer Gavin Hering, Ashley Wright, Martin Chaix and Israel Aloni. In 2016 Madeleine was one of the few dancers from around the world selected to partake in a residency with Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich in Mexico City. She was also accepted into Israel’s Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s five-month Dance Journey program in 2017. Madeleine took part in two workshop series with Dance Makers Collective in 2020 and 2021. Maddy performed in Resurgence as a part of the Dance Makers Collective’s Future Makers in early 2022.

Bubblez Phan’s name is Andrew but everyone in the dance community knows him by the name ‘Bubblez’. He started dancing Hip Hop in his late teens after meeting and seeing Bboys whilst visiting family in Vietnam. In 2009 Bubblez started classes in Hip Hop, Breaking, Popping and Locking at Street Beatz studios in Wollongong. After many years as a student, travelling overseas and interstate for workshops and battles, Bubblez began teaching at Street Beatz as well as Wollongong High School of Performing Arts, Holy Spirit College, DanceWorld and Kazzajazz amongst others.

Jack Tuckerman Born in Nowra, New South Wales Jack began training in contemporary dance with Wollongong based Austinmer Dance Theatre in 2015 before moving to Perth in 2018 to complete his Bachelor of Arts: Dance with the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Jack has performed in the Perth International Arts Festival 2020 remount of Stephanie Lake’s ‘Colossus’ and in Lisa Maris McDonell’s ‘Chamber dances’ (2017). During his study Jack had the opportunity to work with artists such as Cass Mortimer Eipper and Raewyn Hill. He is currently working with Newcastle’s Catapult. As an Artist Jack is interested in improvisation as performance and continuing his practice of Contact Improvisation. Jack seeks to develop his own choreographic practice further by working as a performer and creating his own work.

Saskia Ellis is a young emerging artist, currently based on Gadigal Land of The Eora Nation. She graduated from the Joanne Grace School of Dance in Wollongong’s full time diploma course and Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional program. She has been developing her movement practice over the last 8 years and has interspersed it with language, research and installation. Saskia’s artistic philosophies are collaborative, innovative and inquisitive. Her recent works demonstrate explorations of vulnerability, femininity, and fragility in physiological embodiments of a redefined conscious experience. She aims to expand her practice by facilitating inclusive, accessible collaborative performances, developments, and installations.