Biographies Of Creative Team and Cast of Liquid Centre

Vivienne Rogis graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, in 1994. From 1995 - 1997 she was a founding member, performer and rehearsal director for the young, Perth based, dance company Physical Architecture 'is dancing'. While in Perth she choreographed, taught and performed as an independent artist. In Feb '97' she moved to Canberra where she has been choreographing and performing in dance, theatre and opera shows for local dance, theatre and opera companies. Vivienne has been working with youth in dance for 8 years both in regional and city areas. Over the last seven years she has been involved in the development of youth dance programs at The Australian Choreographic Centre Hatchery. As a founding member Vivienne fulfilled the roles of part-time manager, health promotions person and workshop leader. Now she works as assistant to Ruth Osborne (Artistic Director) and as choreographer and workshop leader for various projects of Quantum Leap Youth Choreographic Ensemble, including the premier season (1999), and the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, at the Street Theatre and The Playhouse Theatre. Vivienne is a founding member of Direct Current Dance Collective, a group of independent artists in Canberra. She performed, choreographed and fulfilled an organisational role in Spontaneous Combustion, A Perfect Day, Collected, Flesh FX & Selections, and Selections III, all Direct Current dance seasons at The Choreographic Centre. Vivienne has been working with Elizabeth Cameron Dalman since her arrival in Canberra and in 2001 founded Mirramu Dance Company with Elizabeth fulfilling the role of Assistant Artistic Director. Productions with Mirramu Dance Company and Elizabeth Cameron Dalman include The Universal Lake (1999), The Fountain of Age (2000), WWW and Silk (2001), Water Water Water and Silk (2002), Reflections (2002) in Adelaide, Dreaming the Deep (2002), in Italy and Bulgaria, Red Sun Red Earth (2003) and Bride in The Desert (2005) in Adelaide. In August 2004 Vivienne was awarded a residency at The Taipei Artist Village from The Australia China Council where she began work on a cross-cultural dance video called In the Shadow of the Mountains. After completing this residency Vivienne traveled to Japan to study Mobius Kiryuho (Improvised movement style based on Aikido) with Master Kajo Tsuboi. In 2001,2002 and 2003 Vivienne received funding from artsACT to develop Perceptions of Self, which was 1st shown in February 2001and most recently shown in September 2003 renamed The Looking Glass. This production was presented as part of the Risky Maneouvres initiative of The Australian Choreographic Centre and The Canberra Theatre Centre. Vivienne recently recieved support from artsACT to undertake a final development and showcase presentation of The Looking Glass in 2005. Vivienne is currently a lecturer in dance at the University of Western Sydney and in July 2005 will travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to give a theoretical paper on dance and globalisation at the Asia Pacific International Dance Conference.

Damian Heffernan (Videographer) is a producer New Media with extensive experience in all aspects of film production. Damian has produced music videos, corporate and training films and a feature film which screened at local and international film festivals. Recently completed projects include a documentary film produced for Environment ACT. Damian’s experience with dance film includes projects with Mirramu Dance Company and Vivienne Rogis. He has produced/directed his own dance video called Study One which was a finalist in the Lights Canberra Action short film festival in 2004. He is currently producing/directing a new dance film with Mirramu Dance Company.

Kaoru Alfonso (Set Design/Lighting Design/Stage Manager)– Kaoru has wide experience working with various performing arts groups and companies in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. He has designed and constructed sets, designed lighting and worked on installations since 1995. He has designed set and/or lighting for dance productions by Vivienne Rogis , (The looking Glass), Mirramu Dance Company, (Silk and Sun, Red Sun and Landscape), Janine Ayres (Seen But Not Heard and Continuum) and assisted in the construction and design for Children of the Revolution by Jodie Farugia, Rowan and Ruth Osborne.

Jade Dewi (Performer) – Jade Dewi, Tyas Tunggal is a freelance dance Artist from Angourie, NSW and often a part-time resident of Mirramu Creative Arts Centre. Jade studied and worked in the USA. She participated and performed at the Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, Florida Dance Festival and at Jacobs Pillow. She was a member of Gerri Houlihan’s, Houlihan & Dancers Company for 2 years and also toured to Taiwan with a company of dancers from the New World School of the Arts. During her professional dance experience in the USA Jade worked with and performed the dances of a number of notable choreographers. Since returning to Australia she has performed in works directed by choreographers Bernadette Walong, Jason Pitt, Michael Hennesey, Beren Molony, Vivienne Rogis and Elizabeth Cameron Dalman. In 2003 she worked in New Zealand on several site-specific and dance/film works with the BodyCartography Project. In 2003 Jade received an Indonesian Embassy Scholarship to study dance in Indonesia. She spent 2004 studying traditional Indonesian dance and performing her own work, collaborating with notable Indonesian visual artists and composers. Currently Jade is undertaking Post-Graduate studies in Choreography at The Victorian College of the Arts.

Albert David (Performer) – Albert was born and brought up in the Torres Strait Island of Turtle Back Island. He studied at NAISDA and graduated from there in 1994. He danced with Bangarra Dance Theatre for six years. He is now a freelance independent dance artist. He danced in Scars during Jason Pitt’s Fellowship at the Choreographic Centre in March 2001. He worked with Elizabeth Cameron Dalman on the creative development of WWW at the Mirramu Creative Arts Centre. In 2002 he performed in The Australian Ballet’s production of Spartacus. He toured with Bangarra Dance Theatre and produced and performed in his own work Giz. With Giz he appeared in the Showcase for the Australian Performing Arts Market in Adelaide in 2004. In the same year he was a Lecturer in Dance at NAISDA. Albert continues to perform and choreograph for many different music and dance groups, and travels regularly to the Asia-Pacific region and all around Australia.

Daniel McKinley (performer) studied dance at the Queensland University of Technology. He has worked with choreographers, Solon Ulbrich, Francis Rings, Lee Warren, Cadi McCarthy and Vivienne Rogis. Before going to QUT he was a member of Quantum Leap Youth Choreographic Ensemble for 3 years.

Amelia McQueen (performer) is a graduate from Adelaide’s Centre for Performing Arts (2000). She is a co-founder of dropArt: AERIAL DANCERS, with whom she has created and performed extensively. In 2002 she directed a new work for the sell-out season of dropArt’s Adelaide Fringe production. Recently she performed her own solo work at downstairsfourtyfour in Melbourne, and a new trio, The Calculus Affair, by Josie Daw at North Melbourne Town Hall. She toured cities around Australia as Dance Captain and acrobat/aerialist for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and has danced in works by Sol Ulbrich, Helen Omand, Garry Stewart, and Peter Sheedy. She has also danced with the Beijing Modern Dance Company.

Miranda Wheen - is a Graduate from the University of Western Sydney. In 2002 she appeared in the reconstructed choreographic work Landscape by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, Youth Ground at Weereewa – a Festival of Lake George and with Mirramu Dance Company in the Big Americans Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. In 2003 she was seconded to Mirramu Company for Red Sun, Red Earth. In 2004 she was a recipient of the Foot in the Door II program funded by the Australia Council for the Arts during which time she appeared with independent dance artist, Liz Lea, and also studied arts administration with the Western Sydney Dance Action. She has participated in many teaching activities and in 2005 performed in Rakini Devi’s new work and in a creative development project with Annalouise Paul.