Joining The Corner Dance Lab 2015 artistic line up is Melbourne-based musician / composer Ben Ely, formerly from the band Regurgitator.

Ben will collaborate with Philip Channells (Dance Integrated Australia) and Gavin Webber (The Farm) across the week-long program at Federal’s Jasper Corner, which is 30 minutes inland from Byron Bay.

The program consists of  technique classes, workshops and masterclasses led by some of Australia’s leading dance / theatre practitioners including: Phil Blackman, Philip Channells, Hsin-Ju Chiu (Raw), Kate Harman, Lee-Anne Litton, Julian Louis, Grayson Millwood, Kimberley McIntyre, Timothy Ohl, Laurie Young and Gavin Webber.

I’m super psyched to be collaborating with different artists to create a show that is something more than just the sum of our collective parts. I feel its a great challenge to develop a performance that’s an undefinable genre that moves people emotionally and (hopefully) physically as well. Ben Ely

Expressions of Interest close on Monday 22 December 2014 and there are still a few places left. For more information about this dance residency for emerging and established artists, click here

To request and Expression of Interest form, email Project Manager, Sean Campbell <seanwcampbell@hotmail.co.uk> or telephone / text Philip Channells on 0432 073 304.

BIOGRAPHY

Ben Ely has established a 20-year career in music primarily working with the group Regurgitator. He has branched out into film scores, TV theme music, Remixes, Live scores, Music Production and various other endeavours.

Regurgitator received at least 8 ARIA Awards for their album releases over the years and sold close to a million albums in Australia alone. Regurgitator composed a new reinvented score for the 180min long Japanese anime film AKIRA, which was performed to a sold out crowd at the Sydney Opera House for the very first Graphic Comic Festival held in Australia.

We also invented the live performance-band recording project, Band in a Bubble in Federation Square, Melbourne where we lived in a purpose built glass house for three weeks without leaving once to record the MISH MASH album.

Ely has worked in other groups such as Decoder Ring, composing and producing the soundtrack and score for the Australian film title, Somersault, which won an AFI Award for Best Picture. For this same production, Ely received an AFI Award and an Australian Screen Film Award.

Additionally he wrote and produced the title theme music for Triple J TV and composed & recorded the sound track celebrating the last 50 years of the Australian fashion company, Wool Mark.

Ben has worked in countless other bands and smaller projects including collaborating on the Dancenorth & Tasdance’s latest production, Threefold with contemporary dance works by choreographers Gavin Webber (AUS), Raewyn Hill (NZ) and Huang Yi (TWN). He also performed in and composed for Gavin Webber’s Rockshow (2009) in Brisbane.

Photo: Rachael Kim

The Corner Dance Lab 2015 was made possible by the Australian Government’s regional arts program, the Regional Arts Fund, which gives all Australians, wherever they live, better access to opportunities to practice and experience the arts.