Curator and Producer
Liz is a nationally and internationally recognised dance artist, choreographer and producer. Over three decades she has toured she work internationally and been commissioned in India, UK, Australia, Europe, South Africa, Singapore, USA and Kuwait. She was the 2017 ACT Artist of the Year, received a 2017 Australian Dance Award and was shortlisted for a 2019 Australian Dance Award. She directs three Festivals - DANscienCE where dance and science meet, BOLD, celebrating the legacy of dance across all identities and I Dance. Liz was Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre (2010-16), worked for Ausdance ACT (2016-2019) becoming Creative Director and a 2019 Asialink Resident with Singapore’s Maya Dance Theatre and their Diverse Abilities Dance Collective. In 2022 she was the IGNITE Disability Programs Officer for Belco Arts. Her company works include 120 Birds, Inflight, No Regrets and The Point. She has toured her one woman show RED nationally and internationally. Liz offers Audio Description services and works with Accessible Arts as an Access Advisor and am represented by Karen Gallagher and Associates, UK. Liz directs The Stellar Company, a non-for-profit arts organisation, home of the Chamaeleon Collective, Canberra’s first inclusive dance company.
Curator
Hanna Cormick is a Finnish-Australian artist. Hanna creates across fields of performance art, theatre, dance, curation and crip activism, with a creative ethos that prioritises anti-extractivism, climate justice and access rights. Hanna co-creates with both human and more-than-human collaborators, utilising processes of deep listening, through an animistic lens that is informed by a lived experience of disability, neurodivergence, sensory sensitivity and synaesthesia. Hanna's recent artworks have been performed live (The Mermaid, Sydney Festival 2020), by proxy (Canary, Climate Change Theatre Action 2019), and by community (Dream/Remember, CCTA 2021). Hanna has also recently been a facilitator for Arts House's Makeshift Publics (2021-23), and a keynote speaker for Our Dance Democracy (2023). Hanna is a graduate of Charles Sturt University (Wiradjuri country) and Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq (Paris), and has apprenticed as a Mask artist in France (apprenticing under Stefano Perocco di Meduna) and Indonesia (mentored by Ida Bagus Anom).
Curator
Matt Shilcock, a South Australian contemporary dance theatre artist, has defied the challenges of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a condition commonly known as 'brittle bone disorder.' Despite spending much of his youth in a wheelchair, he learned to walk at the age of fifteen. Since 2009, Matt has showcased his talent as a performer and has collaborated as a choreographer, dancer, and actor with numerous local and national performing arts companies. These include Murmuration Dance Theatre (Aus), No Strings Attached Theatre for Disability (Aus), Restless Dance Theatre (Aus), Kaldor Public Arts (Aus), and internationally with Kaaos Company (Finland), Wilman Dance Company (Finland), Mass Box (China), Touch Compass (NZ), Full Radius (USA), Candoco (UK), Independence (UK), FreeWill Theatre (HK), and the Van L Dance Company (UK). As an associate artist with The Australian Dance Theatre from July 2019 to December 2020, Matt focused on developing his unique choreographic methodology and movement language called Osteogenuine. This approach combines his passion for dance and choreography with his interests in Alchemy, esotericism, and holistic and alternative healing. Matt's work, Alchemia Exteriores, delves into the exploration and application of choreographic scoring systems to create original dance pieces.
Auslan Interpretator
BRETT OLZEN
Brett is a Child of Deaf Adults and the only native-speaking Auslan interpreter in Canberra. During the last 20 years Brett Olzen has worked as an interpreter with Territory and Federal Government, with Prime Ministers and the Dalai Lama, and at the ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards.
Brett worked with Canberra Institute of Technology for over ten years and advocated for inclusion and access for Deaf students and has frequently volunteered to interpret for fundraising events, community events, sports clubs and church groups, and worked outside regular business hours including emergency call outs.
Some of the events and programs that Brett has made more accessible and inclusive include Rebus Theatre performances, The BOLD Festival, a dance program at Belconnen Arts Centre, computer access programs, and guided tours at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra are just
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Brett Olzen was a finalist for the Life Time Achievement in Supporting People with Disability award at the 2019 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards.
Auslan Interpretator
ANDREA LLORENS
Brett is a Child of Deaf Adults and the only native-speaking Auslan interpreter in Canberra. During the last 20 years Brett Olzen has worked as an interpreter with Territory and Federal Government, with Prime Ministers and the Dalai Lama, and at the ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards.
Brett worked with Canberra Institute of Technology for over ten years and advocated for inclusion and access for Deaf students and has frequently volunteered to interpret for fundraising events, community events, sports clubs and church groups, and worked outside regular business hours including emergency call outs.
Some of the events and programs that Brett has made more accessible and inclusive include Rebus Theatre performances, The BOLD Festival, a dance program at Belconnen Arts Centre, computer access programs, and guided tours at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra are just
​
Brett Olzen was a finalist for the Life Time Achievement in Supporting People with Disability award at the 2019 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards.