SDC Supports Next Generation Choreographers in Creating New Works
Carriageworks | 28 Nov – 7 Dec
Sydney Dance Company and Carriageworks, in conjunction with The Balnaves Foundation, announce four Australian choreographers commissioned to create works for the acclaimed New Breed initiative that supports Australia’s next generation of choreographers.
New Breed 2019 will provide Australian choreographers Josh Mu (Melbourne), Lauren Langlois (Melbourne), Ariella Casu (Sydney) and Davide Di Giovanni (Sydney) with an invaluable opportunity to work with Australia’s leading contemporary dance company on a newly commissioned dance piece.
Showcasing a rich diversity of choreographic ideas, this talented group of emerging choreographers will create brand new pieces on members of Sydney Dance Company.
These four new works will comprise the New Breed 2019 season from 28 November to 7 December. The New Breed initiative made its debut in November 2014, supporting five emerging Australian choreographers through the commissioning and presentation of new dance work. Since then, four sold out seasons of New Breed have ensued.
From August, the sixth season of New Breed will see Josh Mu, Lauren Langlois, Ariella Casu and Davide Di Giovanni benefit from the extensive support of all the departments of Sydney Dance Company in readiness for their premiere season at Carriageworks, later this year.
Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela says, “Australia is blessed with an extremely rich talent base of dynamic young dance creators. Yet in order for them to grow in their careers and reach their full potential, they need the opportunity to practice – the chance to take their ideas and put them on the stage in front of an audience. New Breed is about giving the next generation of talented young artists the best possible opportunity to experiment and create. The best dancers, the best production, marketing and publicity support, the best space to perform in, right here, at Carriageworks. I am delighted to introduce the four choreographers we have commissioned to create for our New Breed 2019program. I have been personally inspired hearing of their ideas and I look forward to seeing how their works resonate with dance audiences.”
JOSH MU
Josh Mu is an Australian-based independent contemporary dancer. His dance roots began in breakdance and hip-hop culture, and expanded to include contemporary dance, ballet, circus, gymnastics, yoga and physical theatre. Mu’s varied skill set has enabled him to work with a wide range of prominent companies and artists across Australia, including Chunky Move, Force Majeure, Dancenorth, Antony Hamilton Projects, Shaun Parker & Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Marrugeku, Tracks Dance Theatre, Stephanie Lake, Gavin Webber, Lucy Guerin, Gideon Obarzanek and Meryl Tankard.
Mu is an ArtsNT scholarship recipient and an Ausdance WA award winner for Outstanding Performance. Mu is also a certified yoga teacher who tours across Asia providing workshop intensives for yoga practitioners to enhance their physical understanding through movement methodologies. Over his career Mu has had the opportunity to co-choreograph Endurance a Tracks Dance Theatre production and create a Darwin Festival sponsored performance called Home on the Northern Territory’s first breakdance crew SIK of which he was a founding member. Recently he has presented Chrysalis a new work supported by Sydney’s Ev & Bow.
LAUREN LANGLOIS
Lauren Langlois is a performer, teacher and emerging choreographer passionate about dancetheatre making, dance improvisation and collaboration. Lauren began her career with the Australian Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company before relocating to Melbourne in 2012 to collaborate on Keep Everything, Antony Hamilton’s critically-acclaimed work for Chunky Move, for which she was nominated for a Helpmann Award, Green Room Award and Australian Dance Award.
Since working with Chunky Move, Lauren has collaborated with Anouk van Dijk intensively, performing in An Act of Now, 247 Days, Complexity of Belonging and LUCID. For her work in Complexity of Belonging, Lauren received the 2015 Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer.
Lauren has also worked with Australia’s leading independent choreographers, theatre directors and companies including: Antony Hamilton, Force Majeure, Lina Limosani, Lucy Guerin Inc, Larissa McGowan, Prue Lang, Stephanie Lake Company, Samara Hersch and Chamber Made. In 2017, Lauren was the recipient of the Tanja Liedtke Fellowship and has since choreographed works for the New Zealand School of Dance, Transit Dance and Footnote New Zealand Dance. In 2018, Lauren was commissioned by Chunky Move to choreograph Nether, a short work which premiered in Melbourne as part of the Next Move season.
ARIELLA CASU
Born in America and raised in Italy, Ariella Casu began dancing in her mother’s dance school at four years old. At 16, Ariella was awarded a scholarship to train under Mauro Astolfi at the I.A.L.S. in Rome. At 19, Ariella performed at the Biennale di Venezia with Arsenale Della Danza.
Ariella has performed as soloist in Karl Alfred Schreiner’s Der Nussknacker with Stadttheater Klagenfurt in 2010, and with Gartnerplatztheater Munich under the direction of Karl Alfred Schreiner from 2011-2017. While at Gartnerplatztheater Ariella performed in works by Jo Stromgren, Gerog Reischl, Cayetano Soto, Edward Clug, Alexander Ekman, Marko Goecke, Antony Rizzi, Christopher Roman, Nanine Linning, Marguerite Donlon, Benoir LaChambre, Roberto Zappala, Eyal Dadon.
Ariella appeared in William Forsythe’s One Flat thing Reproduced and Jacopo Godani’s Versus. In 2017 Ariella performed with the Oslo Dance Ensemble in Jo Stromgen’s Salve Regina. Ariella joined Sydney Dance Company in 2018 and has performed with the Company on two European tours and in Antony Hamilton’s Forever & Ever, Melanie Lane’s WOOF, Gabrielle Nankivell’s Neon Aether and a critically acclaimed performance in Rafael Bonachela’s ab [intra].
DAVIDE Di GIOVANNI
Davide Di Giovanni started his dance life in Teatro Alla Scala in Milan when he was 15. He then received a full scholarship to study at the renowned ballet school Balletto Di Toscana, joining the junior company at 17. After three years with the Balletto Di Toscano, Davide joined Balletto dell’Esperia in Turin, where he met Jacopo Godani, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano and William Forsythe. He then moved to Munich at 23, where he worked for the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, with choreographers Marco Göcke, Alexander Ekman and Jø Strømgren. Davide danced in William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing and worked on new creations with Christopher Roman, Nanine Linning, Georg Reischl and Jacopo Godani.
Davide met Rafael Bonachela in Italy and was introduced to Sydney Dance Company in Switzerland. Davide first performed with Sydney Dance Company as part of Orb in 2017. Davide’s performance in Rafael Bonachela’s ab [intra] also received critical acclaim; ‘The most eloquent sequence is the long central duet for Charmene Yap and Davide Di Giovanni. The intricate entanglement of their limbs has to be seen to be believed – and even then it is something of a mystery.’ – Sydney Morning Herald
