Q: What has your professional dance journey been like?

I started at a suburban school in rural Australia, from there I fell in love with dance. I went to Victoria College of the Arts’ ballet school and after that I went into more of the commercial dance world, working with Patrick Studios Australia. When I was 18, I didn't really know if dance was what I wanted, so I took a year off and realized it was what I needed in my life. I went back to Spectrum Dance, did 2 years there and in my third year, got a contract. I have gone from contract to contract for 7 years—I have been so blessed being able to work with amazing companies and shows and in between contracts I am a freelance artist.


Q: Do you have any mentors or important people in your life that have shaped the way you dance and or think about dance?

Craig Davidson, who does neoclassical ballet and contemporary choreography in Zurich but trained me when I was growing up. He then moved on to choreography and he is choreographing for Atlanta Ballet and New York City Ballet—he is incredible. My mentor from college is Trish Squire Rogers, who is incredible. My work ethic today comes from how she trained me. Adam Parson, an American choreographer—with the way he teaches and embodies dance and the way he runs his classes, I always learn something brand new. Every single class, you learn about dance and yourself.


Q: What have been some challenges in your pre-professional or professional dance career?

Pre-professionally, when I was 15 I grew—I am 6’4’’ now, so my knees were shot and I had so many injuries. As a professional there's difficulties we all have—I think males get overlooked and we have to be training to look as best as we can. We have to work on technique and make sure the bodies look good. I am naturally tall and skinny, so for me to keep weight on has been difficult at times. My height can be a setback as well; being cast in a musical can be very difficult at my height.

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Q: Do you believe dance can be a platform for social justice topics? If so, how? and/or Have you used your art form to make a difference?

‍I believe it can. I believe that in the states especially there is such a great platform for it on TV. In Australia, we are getting there, to grow the pedestrianism of dance and the commercialization of it, like with shows such as SYTYCD [So You Think You Can Dance]. The choreographer can bring their stories and topics into their choreo and awareness to what is happening in the world. For SYTYCD, for all the millions who are watching it, you can get a huge message across to that many people, it is such a big platform. I think there are great uses for it if done properly. 

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‍Q: What inspires you and drives you forward as an artist and a person?

‍As an artist, I was very lucky—I am 27, so for me I had my dream job at 25. My dream was to be a dance soloist for Moulin Rouge. Now, anything I do is a bonus, so I want to push myself and see what else I can get. And there is no end for what you can achieve as a human. For me, saying let's dance for Justin Timberlake, what do I need to do to make that happen, and just the pathway and journey to hit the goals and beliefs for what I can do inspires me. Having an open-ended brain and beliefs drives me to just keep going. Nothing in the world is impossible. As soon as you have a doubt, it is not possible, and once you stay positive, it is possible. As a person, I think what motivates me is my family. Coming from a small country town, my young nephews and niece also motivate me. My brother is almost 37 and he has never left Australia, so I want to travel and show my family, especially the younger ones, that it is possible to leave these small country towns and do and see these amazing things.

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Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?‍

So I was actually very blessed—my last show with Opera Australia finished two days before we went into stage two which meant no performing arts. I teach and choreograph between contracts and all my teaching has stopped, so I have realistically no form of income, which is very difficult. So it’s one of those things where I was blessed to finish a contract, but my only other form of income is gone. For every artist it is very hard right now. In the U.S., in Paris—wherever. It is amazing to see so many people do class online for people to move and come together in this industry. 

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Q: How do you think we can continue to create and share art during this time?‍

I think that what we are doing is great. The free classes and Zoom classes institutions are putting on, I think that is fantastic. I think for some people, I’ll use Australia as an example, we don't get access to choreographers from the states as easily as we do right now in this moment. We have to wait for them to come to Australia and then pay top dollar to take their classes. All these huge names are doing free class right now, like Jojo Gomez. We have to wake up at 4am (Australia time) for the class but hey it’s free training and it's amazing to see this. Wherever you are in the world If you have a meter square, you can do a class, and it shows how dance is continuing to be spread all over the world when it needs to be. I think we have enough platforms in the sense of Instagram, Tiktok, Zoom, and other video sharing platforms. Live feeds have so much going on; I think it is fantastic. This is commercially speaking. I don't know what the contemporary world is like right now. For example, the other day I had to get up at 6:00 am to do Nika Kiljun’s class.

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Q: What social changes and responsibilities have you seen people making during the pandemic?‍

It is really tough, to be honest. In Australia, not a lot of people are taking it seriously, so I mean the government said to put no more than four people in a space, and then the following Friday there was good weather and 100,000 people were at the beach. I don't think it hit hard, when recently they showed the deaths in Australia alone. We are lucky, there haven't been as many as other countries, but still one death from this horrible virus is too many. I think Australia is getting better now. I went to the grocery store the other day and there were five people in the grocery store and it was good to see. We don't want to be like Italy and be on full lockdown. I have friends in L.A. who are in quarantine, but can still go on a run, whereas in Italy, you can not leave your house. People need to take note of these other countries and lock in on how this is real life, and it isn't messing around.

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Q: Do you think the pandemic will make us a more socially conscious society?‍

Yes, 100%. I think that people will be a lot more mindful of a lot of things. People are also starting to use quarantine time for the good. There are so many people using this time to rejuvenate their lives. Creatives who have felt blocked at times, me included, are now using the time to explore different things within their creative self. For me, whether it is just listening to music — I now have time to go through 400,000 songs instead of hearing something on the radio and saying I like that. It's so small but I can explore more things. I have friends who are chefs who have restaurants closed. Some of them are learning how to make new things, and fine-tuning their skills at home. I see people also relaxing, and it is so rare to have time to rejuvenate. We're using time to do this so when we come out the other side we are stronger and better people.

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Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)‍

I think our worlds (in dance) are very small. Commercial dance is small to begin with and it's crazy how so many end up knowing people. For example, if I went on Facebook, I’m sure we would have at least one mutual friend, because I danced at Moulin Rouge with someone who was from Michigan. I think being so small-knit, I would love to see more help from each other. I feel a lot of dancers, especially in the commercial world, get a job and they are very; they keep their hands close to their chest and people don't want to share. That’s not how this industry should be, it’s too small for that. For example If I have a job offered to me that I don't think is right for me, I will offer it to a friend who I think it is better suited for. Most people don't do that. And for us, as an industry in general—as the entertainment industry, we need to give a little more. It is great to see people give free classes, don’t get me wrong, I value these people’s time just as much as my own and we need to know our price and our worth. But at the same time, look at how many people have jumped to do a free class so they stay relevant. They don't worry about getting paid for it—people will come to your class. I think it is great that people are giving their time to then make money... you need to give a little to get a little. I think we forget that sometimes in the entertainment industry. 

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Q: How has the performing arts community specifically in Australia been reacting to the COVID19 pandemic?‍

It is really rough here. It’s not as forefronted as say the States or England even; we don’t have a union for dance. We don’t have SAG-AFTRA. It is not a thing. There is not much that equity can do about this. Without equity and alliances we don't have the funds to help us out. We are lucky that the government has put together an artist bonus so if you are out of a job as an artist, you go online, make a claim, and the government will give you some money. Unfortunately, there are so many out of work –– it’s not just for artists, but for everyone. So if there are 300,000 people on the website, the website crashes. It is a pretty insane time. There is a line of, you know, 150,000 people around the block to go to the welfare office, and then 150,000 people on the phone trying to call the welfare office. There are a lot of groups like essential workers who still have to work, like doctors who need babysitters. There was a group my friend showed me the other day that was, Doctors looking for babysitters who were in the arts. That was just for people in the arts that could sing to their kid, or do a little dance for their kid and babysit their kids. While the parents are at work trying to save people the kids are at home with someone put out of work by the pandemic. It was a great thing to see. I know personally, the dance industry in Australia is really getting together to support one another as much as we can. Some friends of mine, Zoe Marsh, Kaitlyn Watson, and Cat Santos, did a “Home Feed” on YouTube. It was a live performance where they uploaded, say, a video that was six minutes of dance, and as soon as that finished they had the next one ready, so when you watched it, it was like watching a show. It was people performing in their houses from all over Australia, and it was so cool to see people all over our country get to perform for each other on a Friday night at 7:00 p.m. –– a bunch of us tuned into that.