Youth Works
ORCA
Commissioned by: Perth Youth Ballet
Venue: Rixon Theatre, Perth
About: ORCA is a contemporary dance work inspired by one of nature's most intelligent and socially connected creatures. Exploring themes of power, community, identity, and captivity, the work examines the tension between the desire for freedom and the systems that seek to contain us.
Through powerful ensemble movement and shifting group dynamics, ORCA reflects on what it means to belong while remaining true to ourselves. The work invites young people to consider the forces that influence their choices, relationships, and sense of identity, while celebrating the courage required to navigate an ever-changing world..
META
Commissioned by: Emergent Academy
Venue: Subiaco Arts Centre
About: META explores identity in an age of hyper-awareness, constant observation, and digital self-construction. Blurring the boundaries between authenticity and performance, the work examines how individuals shape, curate, and present versions of themselves while navigating systems that continually demand visibility and validation.
META investigates the tension between who we are and who we appear to be. The work reflects on self-perception, connection, and the increasingly complex relationship between the internal self and the personas we project into the world, inviting audiences to consider what remains when the performance ends.
Omega
Commissioned by: Vogue Performing Arts
Dancers: Vogue Performing Arts Senior Contemporary students
Venue: Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre, Perth
About: Omega explores the threshold between ending and becoming. Inspired by the cycles of collapse, renewal, and transformation that shape both human lives and natural systems, the work examines what remains when familiar structures begin to fall away.
Through powerful physical imagery, Omega navigates themes of impermanence, transcendence, and renewal. The choreography invites audiences to consider whether endings are truly final, or whether they serve as the catalyst for growth, reinvention, and the emergence of new possibilities.
Hyena
Commissioned by: All Saints’ College
Dancers: Dance scholarship students
Venue: All Saints’ College Centre of Performing Arts
About: Hyena is a contemporary dance work that examines the fragile balance between survival and belonging. Drawing inspiration from the social complexity of the hyena, the work explores how individuals navigate environments shaped by hierarchy, competition, and exclusion.
Through powerful ensemble movement and evolving social dynamics, Hyena reveals the instinctive behaviours that emerge when status, security, and acceptance are threatened. Beneath displays of strength and dominance lies a deeper story of vulnerability, connection, and the universal need to belong. The work challenges audiences to reconsider what is perceived as savage or civilised, exposing the human behaviours that exist within both.
CUBE
Commissioned by: John Curtin College of the Arts
Dancers: Year 10, 11 & 12 Dance Students
Venue: Curtin Theatre, Perth
About: Cube examines the architecture of containment. Exploring the ways people, animals, and objects are stored, organised, restrained, and observed, the work reflects on humanity's enduring desire to classify, control, and define the world around us.
Through dynamic interactions between bodies and space, Cube investigates themes of surveillance, ownership, protection, and confinement. The choreography questions whether the structures designed to contain us exist for our benefit or our control, revealing the tension between order and freedom, security and autonomy. The work invites audiences to reflect on the visible and invisible boundaries that shape how we live, move, and exist within society.
Touring: Montpellier, France - Montpellier Danse Festival
DeltA
Commissioned by: All Saint’s College
Dancers: Dance scholarship students
Venue: All Saints’ College Centre of Performing Arts
About: DeltA explores the dynamic forces of change that shape both human existence and the natural world. Inspired by the continual processes of evolution, adaptation, and transformation, the work reflects on how growth emerges through movement, instability, and the constant negotiation between what is and what is becoming.
DeltA creates a landscape in which nothing remains fixed. The choreography reveals change not as an interruption to life, but as its defining characteristic, inviting audiences to consider the beauty, uncertainty, and possibility that arise when we embrace transformation. In a world where everything is in motion, DeltA celebrates the remarkable capacity of living systems to adapt, evolve, and endure.
Synaptic
Commissioned by: Perth Youth Ballet
Venue: Rixon Theatre, Perth
About: Synaptic is a contemporary dance work that explores the unseen architecture of the human experience. Inspired by the neural pathways that carry thought, memory, and emotion, the work investigates how our lives leave traces within us, shaping the way we move, connect, and understand the world.
Through intricate physical relationships and shifting patterns of movement, Synaptic reveals the body as a living archive of experience. The choreography examines how memories, relationships, and moments of adversity become woven into our identity, while celebrating the extraordinary human capacity for adaptation, transformation, and growth.
Faultline
Commissioned by: Santa Maria College
Rehearsal Directer: Jessica Wynn
Costume Designer: Louise Arcus
Venue: Rixon Theatre, Perth
About: Faultline explores the delicate relationship between chaos and order. Beneath every collapse, disruption, and moment of uncertainty, the work seeks the hidden structures that shape our experience and give rise to meaning.
Faultline reveals an unseen architecture where fragments reconnect, dissonance finds harmony, and unpredictability develops its own rhythm. The work is a meditation on resilience, transformation, and the human tendency to search for coherence amidst complexity, reminding us that order is often not lost within chaos, but waiting to be discovered.
Smack Crash Zeal
Commissioned by: Australian Dance Theatre
Dancers: Australian Dance Theatre Youth Ensemble
Venue: ADT Studio & Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
About: Smack Crash Zeal is a contemporary dance work that explores the intricate social structures that exist within both human and animal communities. Through shifting group dynamics, the work examines how individuals find safety, purpose, and identity through their relationships with others.
Inspired by the instinctive behaviours of collective living, the choreography investigates themes of protection, nurturing, belonging, and responsibility. As roles emerge and evolve, Smack Crash Zeal reveals the delicate balance between individual needs and collective wellbeing, celebrating the powerful connections that bind communities together..
Crash Cloud
Commissioned by: The Dance Collective
Dancers: Senior contemporary dance students
Venue: Crown Theatre, Perth
About: Crash Cloud examines the tension between turbulence and stillness, vulnerability and resilience. Inspired by the accelerating pace of modern life, the work explores how individuals navigate moments of collision, uncertainty, and emotional upheaval while searching for connection and understanding.
Through shifting physical landscapes and dynamic ensemble movement, Crash Cloud gives form to the unseen forces that shape our lives. Fragments of experience accumulate like storm clouds, carrying traces of memory, loss, hope, and desire. The choreography invites audiences to reflect on what it means to remain human in a world that rarely stops moving, revealing the strength that can emerge from even the most fragile moments.
Sun
Commissioned by: Presbyterian Ladies College
Dancers: Year 11 & 12 Dance Students
Venue: PLC Performing Arts Centre
About: Sun explores the boundaries that define our social, personal, and cultural worlds. Examining themes of privacy, status, access, and exclusion, the work reflects on the human tendency to be drawn towards places, experiences, and knowledge that are withheld from us.
Through dynamic movement and evolving relationships, Sun investigates the delicate balance between obedience and transgression, safety and risk. The choreography questions who creates the rules that shape our lives and what compels us to challenge them, revealing how curiosity, ambition, and desire can lead us beyond the limits we are expected to accept.
To Oblivion & Beyond…
Commissioned by: Vogue Performing Arts
Dancers: Senior Contemporary Dance Students
Venue: Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre, Perth
About: To Oblivion & Beyond… examines humanity's insatiable drive to push beyond perceived limits. Set against a backdrop of uncertainty and accelerating change, the work explores the tension between aspiration and consequence, asking what happens when our pursuit of growth, innovation, and transcendence outpaces our capacity for reflection.
Combining cinematic movement, dark humour, and moments of striking vulnerability, To Oblivion & Beyond… reveals a world caught between wonder and collapse. As individuals continue reaching towards distant horizons, the work reflects on the emotional, environmental, and existential costs of perpetual progress, questioning whether the future we are racing towards is one of transformation, or self-destruction.
Lightning Strike
Commissioned by: Hampton Senior High School
Dancers: Dance scholarship students
Venue: Eric Strauss Specialist Performing Arts Centre
About: Lightning Strike explores the human response to danger, uncertainty, and the unknown. Inspired by the moments that precede impact, the work examines how people navigate warning signs, assess risk, and respond when faced with choices that may alter the course of their lives.
Through charged physicality, Lightning Strike investigates the tension between instinct and reason, caution and recklessness, action and hesitation. The choreography reflects on the unpredictable nature of consequence, revealing how avoidance, ignorance, courage, and chance can all shape the paths we ultimately take. In a world filled with signals and uncertainty, Lightning Strike asks whether we truly recognise danger when it appears, or only after it has already struck.