NSW North Coast local resident Philip Channells (Creative Director, Dance Integrated Australia) will mentor emerging South Australian dance artist, Jianna Georgiou to develop her own dance workshop material. Funded through the Australia Council’s Community Partnerships section, 22-year-old Georgiou (who was born with Down syndrome) kickstarts her project in Adelaide at Ausdance SA before spending a week in residence at the Federal School of Arts building which is part of Jasper Corner.

Documenting her process throughout the program is Tim Standing from the Adelaide-based film production company, Daylight Breaks. Both Georgiou and Standing are Associate Artists of Dance Integrated Australia (DIA) and have worked on many occasions together on projects in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

Jianna will present a workshop at Jasper Corner on Friday 27 June 2014 for students from the Mullumbimby High School Special Needs unit.

We’re really excited by this opportunity to work with such incredible talent and have no doubt the students will gain so much out of this experience. Karen Gross (Mullumbimby High School)

Channells, whose dance work in Australia and abroad is focused on integrating cultures across different age groups and physicalities, launched THE CORNER DANCE LAB 2014 in January with Animal Farm Collective’s Gavin Webber. The week-long dance workshop and performance event was a huge success attracting dancers from as far away as New Zealand and across Australia.

Trialing Jianna’s creative ideas in the lead up to this day-long disability-inclusive dance  workshop will be guest artists from Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre (Tintenbar) and Studio Aperio (Murwillumbah) who Channells has worked with on several occasions.

For more information on Jianna Georgiou’s work with DIA, visit her website here.

Photo: Tim Standing / Daylight Breaks