THE CORNER DANCE LAB – INDIGENOUS RESIDENCY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

Dance Integrated Australia and Arts Northern Rivers are pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Indigenous Residency Scholarship for The Corner Dance Lab 2016.

The two scholarships have been awarded to Amrita Hepi, a descendant of the Ngapuhi tribe in Northern New Zealand and the Bundjulung people in Northern New South Wales, and Tyrel Dulvarie who is a descendant of the Yirriganydji and Mamu people of Cairns and Innisfail.

The Indigenous Residency Scholarship is a new initiative for The Corner Dance Lab, which celebrates and promotes diversity in Australian contemporary dance.

The scholarships valued at $1500 are funded by Arts Northern Rivers and cover travel, accommodation and registration fees  for two emerging Indigenous artists in the first three years of their dance career to participate in the 9-day dance lab held on the NSW North Coast.

Photo: Lester Jones

Amrita Hepi is an emerging independent choreographer and performance artist and has performed at the Museum of Contemporary Arts alongside Tony Albert and Richard Bell for Blak Christmas and will next year perform at Next Wave Festival.

Hepi attended NAISDA in 2014 before travelling abroad to train independently in New York at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Broadway Dance Centre and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Dance at Macquarie University.

I’m wanting to focus on how to make work that’s more broadly accessible and compelling. Working with the other amazing artists and teachers that are involved in The Corner will help realise this. Amrita Hepi

Photo: Chris Mifsud

Tyrel Dulvarie, who is currently starring along side Hugh Jackman in the upcoming production of Broadway to Oz, is an ACPA graduate currently training with the Sydney Dance Company Pre-Professional Year. He comes from a diverse cultural background with Malaysian, Aboriginal and German heritage.

I am looking forward to the nine-day residency, to learn, collaborate and experiment with other artists. Tyrel Dulvarie

Now in its third year running, The Corner Dance Lab will return to the historical Federal village 30 minutes inland from Byron Bay from 15 – 23 January 2016.

Co-facilitators Philip Channells (Dance Integrated Australia) and Gavin Webber (The Farm Company) bring together an exciting line up of dance practitioners, musicians and visual artists from the local area, interstate and abroad for a practice-led dance laboratory at Jasper Corner (Federal Hall).

The Corner Dance Lab is a skills development and performance making intensive suitable for emerging and established dance artists from diverse backgrounds, different embodiment and life experience wanting to challenge themselves physically, intellectually and artistically.

CLICK HERE FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST – open until 20 December 2015.

For more information, email: Sean Campbell seanwcampbell68@gmail.com

The Corner Dance Lab 2016 is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW and is endorsed by the World Dance Alliance. The Indigenous Residency Scholarship is supported by Arts Northern Rivers through the Ministry for the Arts (IVAIS program). Dance Integrated Australia is an Associate Organisation of Ausdance NSW.

For more information about The Corner Dance Lab, visit the link here.

For interviews and photo opportunities please contact: Project Manager / Sean Campbell seanwcampbell68@gmail.com t 0266 884408 / m 0432 714 534.