Introducing Australian-born Berlin-based, Grayson Millwood who is the latest guest artist to join The Corner Dance Lab 2015 program. A long-term collaborator of Gavin Webber’s through their work with Spintergroup, Animal Farm Collective and their new company, The Farm, Millwood adds an exciting element to the week-long summer dance program.

Attracting local, interstate and international artists with different life experience, ‘The Corner’ celebrates and promotes cultural diversity in the arts and is one of the highlights of the Australian contemporary dance calendar.

The Corner Dance Lab is being held between Friday 16 – Saturday 24 January 2015 at the Federal School of Arts building and old village chapel which makes up Jasper Corner and is situated just 30 minutes inland from Byron Bay on the NSW North Coast / Northern Rivers region.

This week-long dance event is suitable for people of all ages with and without disability, tertiary dance students and graduates, emerging choreographers and professional artists, physical performers, dance educators and school teachers, community arts practitioners, disability sector personnel and people who want to challenge themselves to work in an inclusive dance environment.

Led by Philip Channells (Dance Integrated Australia) and Gavin Webber (The Farm) Millwood joins other artists including: Phil Blackman, Hsin-Ju Chiu (Raw), Ben Ely, Kate Harman, Lee-Anne Litton, Kimberley McIntyre, Kellie O’Dempsey, Timothy Ohl, Alison Toft (Auslan) and Laurie Young.

As I write this from cold dark Berlin, I can not think of a better place to be than Federal in January. A talented and open team will assemble in a beautiful corner of the world to share their past experiences and create some new ones. I have already heard great things about the Corner last year, and am looking forward to joining the team this time around. Grayson Millwood

Expressions of Interest for The Corner Dance Lab closes on Monday 22 December 2014. For more information, email Project Manager, Sean Campbell <seanwcampbell@hotmail.co.uk> or telephone / text Philip Channells +61 432 073 304.

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.

BIOGRAPHY

In the year Grayson Millwood began taking dance classes, he was hit by a car. He had skipped his ballet class and was trying not to be seen by his parents as he ran across the road. Between that year and this one, there have been lots of changes, and somehow what was a hobby, has become a career.

In the last 20 years, Grayson has worked in 50 countries creating and performing in theatre, dance, opera, installation and film.

During this time, he has been lucky enough to work with Choreographers such as Meryl Tankard (Australia), Nasser Martin-Gousset (France), Joachim Schloermer (Switzerland), Chemekilehner (US), Constanza Macras (Argentina/Germany) and Sasha Waltz (Germany), as well as video artists such as Julian Rosefeldt, Eve Sussman and Janet Cardiff.

It was the work with Sasha Waltz that prompted him to move to Berlin in 1999, where he now lives and where he continues to work with her as a guest.

Grayson enjoys working collaboratively, and has co-founded the companies Splintergroup (Lawn and roadkill) Animal Farm Collective (Food Chain and Good little soldier) and recently The FARM.

Recently he has taken an interest in creating performances for children. Involving Edgar (in collaboration with Claudia de Serpa Soares) which opened at the Tanz im August festival in Berlin, Freckles, created last year, during his appointment as Artist in Residence, at the Festspielhaus St.Poelten in Austria, and A Little Large, created as a part of Tanzzeit earlier this year.

Photo: Laurie Young