Gabrielle Nankivell Joins Sydney Dance Company as Training Associate
Sydney Dance Company has announced Gabrielle Nankivell will join their Advanced Training Department as a Training Associate.
Gabrielle will teach and deliver workshops to Sydney Dance Company’s Pre Professional Year dancers, along with leading the Company’s Advanced Training Program within The McDonald College.
Gabrielle has had a long history with Sydney Dance Company, and has worked nationally and internationally as an acclaimed contemporary dancer and an award-winning choreographer.
In 2014, Sydney Dance Company and Carriageworks co-presented the first New Breed choreographer showcase in conjunction with The Balnaves Foundation. As one of the four emerging choreographers to come out of New Breed, Gabrielle created the critically acclaimed Wildebeest.
In 2016, the work went on to make its main stage debut at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney as part of a double-bill alongside Anima by Rafael Bonachela.
Wildebeest has since been performed nationally and internationally by Sydney Dance Company in locations such as the Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris, the Movimentos Festival in Germany and the Joyce Theatre in New York.
Gabrielle also created Neon Aether for the Company’s 50th anniversary season in 2019 which toured nationally and was lauded by critics and audiences alike.
As an internationally recognised dance industry specialist, Gabrielle will provide Sydney Dance Company’s Advanced Training Program participants with a framework of critical knowledge, mentoring, training and professional development as they advance their individual practice.
“I’m delighted to return to Sydney Dance Company, this time as part of the wonderful team who support the developing artists of the Pre Professional Year. Evolving practice-based training for an industry where dancers are conceptual and choreographic collaborators is an integral part of my creative work. I’m so excited to be extending this approach in collaboration with all the artists in and around the Pre Professional Year,” said Gabrielle Nankivell.
“I’m thrilled that Gabrielle Nankivell will join Sydney Dance Company in a newly created role as Training Associate. Gabrielle will bring a wealth of local and international industry experience and insight to her work with the Pre Professional Year dancers. We have been extremely privileged to work with Gabrielle over the years as she has created incredible works for the Company. It’s wonderful to see the continuation of the longstanding relationship as Gabrielle embarks on this exciting new role,” said artistic director Rafael Bonachela
Nankivell’s work covers broad terrain – from choreographic strategies for collaboration via site specific adventures and full-length solos to main stage ensemble works. Her performances have been widely presented across Australia, Europe and Asia by Adelaide Festival Centre, Arts House, Cankarjev Dom (Slovenia), Carriageworks, Esplanade Theatres (Singapore), Festival d’automne (France), High Fest Yerevan (Armenia), Klapstuk (Belgium), Lyric Theatre (Hong Kong), Roslyn Packer Theatre, Le Théâtre National de la Danse Chaillot (Paris), Theatre Royal Hobart, The Joyce (NYC) & The Place (London) amongst others.
As a dancer, Gabrielle honed her dance career in Europe performing for Belgian artists Alexander Baervoets and Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus and collaborating with Jurij Konjar (Slovenia), Raul Maia (Portugal) and Thomas Steyaert (Belgium). She has also lived and worked in Germany and Denmark.
Gabrielle is the recipient of multiple European scholarships, the inaugural Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship and the 2015 Tanja Liedtke Fellowship. She was the 2017 Artist in Residence at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and in 2019 received an Arts South Australia Fellowship.