Artists in Residence
BRIDIE HOOPER
Bridie Hooper is an award-winning artist, using interdisciplinary exchange (sound, visual art, participatory performance) to challenge her practice, re-contextualise her work & champion circus in experimental performance.
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Graduating from École Nationale de Cirque de Montréal in 2012, Bridie’s career spans over a decade of performing internationally, with renowned companies including GOP Varieté-Theater, Montréal Complètement Cirque, Le Monastère, Polytoxic, Palazzo and a 9 year engagement with CIRCA. In 2018 Bridie was Associate Circus Director and Choreographer of the acclaimed Opera Queensland/CIRCA collaboration of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Bridie works as performer and maker, her independent works include; INGRESS (2021, Matilda Award for Best Circus/Physical Theatre Production, Melbourne Fringe WA Touring Award 2022), For Whom The Bell Tolls (Brisbane Powerhouse, 2023, Junction Arts Festival 2025) and Be Subservient To My Ambition.
Bridie was selected for The Unconformity Artist Residency (2023, 2025), the MICC Utopian Program (2024) and the Riksteatern Theatre Artist in Residence, Stockholm, 2024. In 2025 she was a NORPA associate artist for the program Dinner Party At The End Of The World.
MICAH RUSTICHELLI
Micah Rustichelli is an interdisciplinary artist working on Jagera and Turrbal land, Brisbane. With a strong focus on performance, sculpture, wearables and painting, Micah’s work operates across modes of fine arts, circus and club kid/nightlife arts.
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This cross-pollination of forms has led the artist to a practice that uses humour, endurance-based process, play and readymade materials/media to approach contemporary concerns with a wide range of audiences from galleries, to festivals, to nightclubs.
JULIET WIDYASARI BURNETT
Juliet Widyasari Burnett is an internationally recognised Indonesian-Australian dancer, choreographer, actor and founder-director of A__PART - connecting Indonesian and Australian artists and communities.
She was a Senior Artist at The Australian Ballet (2003-2015) and at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Belgium (2016-2022) and has guested with Chunky Move, Dutch National Ballet and West Australian Ballet.
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As a choreographer Juliet created dance film ‘Letting Blood’ for MONA/Dark Mofo (2016); dance theatre work ‘in situ’ (2019) at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen; solo works ‘Roro Xeno' (2025) at MONA/HOTA at Bleach* Festival and ‘Ketok, Ora Ketok' (2025) at ALOW Gallery; dance work for Anselm Kiefer installation ‘Elektra’ (2025) at MONA and music clips for Melbourne band Cool Explosions (2018) and Icelandic artist Gyda Valtysdottir (2021).
Juliet was named winner of the Arts and Culture category of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians Awards 2021, Most Outstanding Dancer in Dance Europe 2020 for Edouard Lock’s ‘The Heart of August…continued’ and Standout Solo Performance in Portland Dance Film Festival 2021 for Sam Asaert’s short film ‘Exaltation’. She has received numerous choreography and performance nominations for Australian and international awards.
As an actor, Juliet has starred in and choreographed for renowned Indonesian director Garin Nugroho’s film ‘Samsara’ (2024); and Concertgebouw Amsterdam’s Dutch musical play ‘Petroesjka’ (2019).
Since 2022, Juliet has been based on Kombumerri Country (Gold Coast), Australia.
Artist Website
ANTONIO RINALDI
Antonio Rinaldi is a queer performing artist with a core focus in dance theatre, movement, lip-sync and writing. His body of experience includes performing and creating with Punchdrunk, Opera Australia, WA Opera, W.A. Ballet and Co3. He has worked nationally and internationally with independent organisations and choreographers such as STRUT Dance and The Forsythe Foundation, Maxine Doyle, UCLAN and performed alongside UK electronic duo Real Lies.
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He has taught dance, improvisation and yoga across both Australia and the UK and created site-specific work in The Liberty Theatre in Perth as part of the creative platform ‘In-Situ’. He has been resident artist with Dwarsdriewer Livingroom in Germany, MultiMadeira in Portugal and Sicily Residency Arts Program (SARP) in Italy.
He continues to create work that questions the perceptions of sexuality, gender politics and identity with a strong interest in the Surrealist, Expressionist and Symbolist periods as well as the grotesque and often through a filmic approach that considers the Deleuze approach of haptic visuality where “the eyes act as organs of touch”. In 2025, he premiered his solo ‘To Love Is To Die’ at PIP Theatre in Brisbane as part of MELT Festival.
BUDDY MALBASIAS
Buddy Malbasias is a Filipino Australian (Bukidnon-born) independent artist-researcher, director, choreographer and performer, working at the intersection of contemporary performance, w_acking and interdisciplinary experimentation. Rooted in the Filipino diaspora, his practice explores cultural hybridity, queer identity and imaginative world-building as tools to interrogate and reimagine the ‘immigrant Filipino’ body.
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He is recognised by Creative Futures as a “creative powerhouse,” with Bahala/o earning Best Sound Design from StageBuzz and a perfect 5/5 rating from Stagedoor Podcast.
Supported by funded national and international residencies, Malbasias has emerged as a dynamic voice within Queensland’s contemporary arts landscape. His work and collaborations span leading organisations including Ars Electronica Austria, Stephanie Lake Co., Studio1, Brisbane Festival, Metro Arts, Queensland Museum, Australasian Dance Collective, Mad Dance House, Catapult Dance, Blackbird Foundation and Johannes Kepler University.
A QUT Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) University Medalist (Summa Cum Laude) and scholarship recipient, Buddy has developed a compelling portfolio of live and digital works such as Lato2x (AUSTI., AIR), Anino (Awarded), Obserbahi:Observe (QLD Museum) and his debut independent work, Bahala/o presented by Metro Arts. Through choreographic and embodied methodologies, Buddy crafts performance ecologies that disrupt conventional modes of spectatorship, radiate unapologetic Filipino power and invite critical dialogue.
GINA TAY LIMPUS
Actor, director, and theatre-maker, GINA TAY LIMPUS (she/her), has spent the past decade investigating physical performance methodologies. Her work examines the social and political capacities of the theatrical body, drawing from suburban ritual and secular theology.
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Through rigorous physical and collaborative processes, Gina aims to challenge belief systems and build community through shared ritual
Having graduated with a BFA Drama in 2017 and a Masters of Performing Arts in 2018, Gina’s independent practice is rooted in physical methodologies, particularly The Suzuki Method of Actor Training and Viewpoints. Her practice is further informed by The Method of Theodoros Terzopoulos, Butōh, The Andante Method, Feldenkrais and Contemporary Dance. After training extensively with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre for ten years throughout her time as Associate Director/Core Company (2014-2024), with Attis Theatre in Terzopoulos’ method (Greece, 2025), and with The Suzuki Company of Toga (Japan, 2023/24/25), Gina is now developing a hybrid training integrating The Suzuki Method with ensemble requirements for contemporary Australian casts.
Since 2016, Gina has performed in 45+ Australian/International productions and directed numerous independent and company works. Currently Gina is co-creating Red Almodóvar with Salvadoran theatre-maker, Rodrigo Calderón. She has taught body-centred performance methodologies across Australia and internationally for over a decade.
Artist website
JADE BRIDER
Jade(she/her) is a freelance performer, visual artist, movement teacher for people experiencing disabilities and the director of VOiiiD Collective. Currently based in Magandjin, she has an ever-growing inquisitiveness towards multidisciplinary performance and collaborating with an extensive range of artists
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Her interests draw on modes of mixing mediums of dance, visual art and installation with the body as a starting point for exploring liminality. She has a BA honours from London Contemporary Dance School and is a self-taught visual artist under the name Human Scaffold.
CLARE DARK
Clare is an emerging artist based in Brisbane, Meanjin. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance Performance) at the Queensland University of Technology, graduating with Distinction in 2022, following two years of full-time ballet training in Western Australia. Since 2023, Clare has been working as a freelance independent contemporary dancer, performing across festivals, independent theatre works, and solo projects - while continuing to nurture and expand her independent practice.
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Her performance and creative work spans Anywhere Festival (including SOMNIUM, PPL PWR, and Exocytosis), Testing Site, Backbone Festival, and Metro Arts, where she has worked with BAHALA/O as both a performer and collaborator. Clare has also performed as a soloist in Stephanie Lake’s Colossus. In 2024, she directed, choreographed, performed in, and edited MAGNA POTENTIALITAS, a short film presented as part of the Bundaberg Regional Gallery’s Here + Now exhibition. Most recently, she developed and performed her first solo work, fairDYKEm, for Testing Site 25.
Grounded in ballet foundations and animated by a love of theatrics and improvisation, Clare’s practice is continually evolving. She is excited to develop new work and expand her movement understanding through the Studio1 residency.
Nerida Matthaei
Nerida Matthaei is a Brisbane-based choreographer, movement director, performer, and intimacy coordinator working across stage and screen worldwide. With 20+ years experience and 400+ creative credits, she is a sought-after collaborator and leader in contemporary performance.
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The underlying pulse of her work comes from an ingrained passion for contemporary choreographic practice as a beautifully planned anarchy of mind-body collaboration. Driven by challenging socio-political orthodoxy and breaking conventions through physical performance, she is a much sought-after collaborator across artistic sectors internationally.
She is extremely generous with her skills and time, not only collaborating and leading arts projects around the world, but investing in grassroots programs benefiting the local independent and community sectors.
Nerida has worked with many artists and companies and prides herself on collaboration and interdisciplinarity. Recent highlights include the premier of her new dance-theatre work The Next 14 Seconds, choreography, intimacy and movement director of Queensland Theatre’s The Great Gatsby & Pride and Prejudice, choreography, movement and intimacy on Trent Dalton’s Love Stories, co-director and choreographer on multi-award winning Pramkicker, collaborating South Korean company Sadari Movement Lab on Bottari, as guest choreographer for 2024 Motion Mongolia Contemporary Dance Festival and direction of the multi-award winning short film Proximal. Nerida is an accredited Intimacy Coordinator and has a Doctorate of Creative Industries (research) specialising in choreographic practice.
Nerida is also the founder and artistic director of boundary bashing dance company Phluxus2 Dance Collective.
Artists Website
JACOB WATTON
Jacob Watton is a Magandjin/Brisbane based creative working broadly across the sector as a performer, maker and teacher. Jacob’s work spans dance and theatre, with a strong focus on devised performance, collaboration, and engaging young audiences.
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As a performer, Jacob has worked extensively across contemporary dance and theatre contexts. He was a member of the original cast member of Love Stories By Trent Dalton. Presented by Brisbane Festival Love Stories enjoyed a national tour in Australia and an international presentation in New Zealand. His performance practice also includes devising and touring regional productions for young audiences with RAVA Productions, appearing in works such as Charlotte’s Web, The Wind in the Willows, and Fractured Fairy Tales, touring extensively throughout regional Queensland from 2019.
Alongside his performance career, Jacob is the creator of The Pillars of Choreography, a creative card deck designed to support choreographic thinking and movement-making across professional, educational, and community settings.
Jacob is also the creator and performer of the children’s theatre work The Great Beach Adventure, which continues to tour nationally, most recently appearing at the Adelaide Fringe and the Kingston Butter Factory in 2026.
CHARLES BALL
Charles Ball is a dance-theatre maker and performer exploring the intersections of movement, image, and narrative. His practice spans contemporary dance, physical theatre, aerial performance, and puppetry, shaped through collaborations with leading companies in Australia and internationally.
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Grounded in curiosity and physical exploration, Charles’ multidisciplinary approach balances experimentation with rigour, transforming abstract ideas into embodied stories that invite audiences into spaces of reflection, empathy, and wonder. His choreographic work has been featured in projects with Dead Puppet Society, Supercell Festival, Dark World Festival, QACI, and The IndepenDANCE Project.
As a performer, Charles has appeared with Queensland Ballet (Little Red Riding Hood), Queensland Theatre (Boy Swallows Universe), Opera Australia with Expressions Dance Company (AIDA), Dead Puppet Society & Legs On The Wall (Holding Achilles), Red Leap Theatre (The Arrival), The Farm (The Ninth Wave), Woodward Productions (Little Shop of Horrors), Phluxus2 Dance Collective, and Broad Encounters (Love Lust Lost). He toured Australia and North American with Bluey’s Big Play, playing Bandit in the live production and TV adaptation.
Artist Website
NADIA MILFORD
Nadia Milford is a dancer, filmmaker and performance artist whose practice explores the relationship between body, people and place. Grounded in movement-based research, her work centres embodied listening, care and exchange, using performance as a way to bring people together through shared experience.
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Nadia is particularly interested in cross-cultural dialogue and how personal and collective histories surface through movement, memory and everyday gesture. Her projects often unfold across studio research, performance, film and conversation, allowing space for reflection and community engagement alongside artistic development.
She has performed across Australia and internationally, including at Edinburgh Fringe, Brisbane Festival, QPAC and Theatreworks Melbourne, and has worked across theatre, dance, opera and immersive performance contexts.
Her debut full-length theatre work, The Last Princess of Lebanon, explores her Lebanese family history through dance, design and text, alongside an accompanying short documentary, A Delicate Hope. Her recent collaboration, The Ocean Between Us, created with Indian artist Diya Naidu, investigated the universal language of movement and was supported by DFAT’s Maitri Cultural Fund.
Through her practice, Nadia creates spaces for reflection, conversation and connection, inviting audiences and collaborators to listen, move and reconsider the stories we carry.
cECILIA MARTIN
Cecilia Martin is an Australian interdisciplinary artist grown from Argentinian roots. Based on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people, movement is Cecilia’s principal artistic language and her work spans dance, theatre and circus.
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Cecilia’s studies at the National Institute of Circus Arts led to a five-year engagement (2016-20) with internationally acclaimed CIRCA. In 2023, Cecilia premiered her first full-length solo, ‘Break’, in collaboration with dance-theatre company The Farm and co-commissioned by Home of the Arts and Metro Arts. Nominated for two Matilda Awards, ‘Break’ is her first work combining dance with autobiographical-theatre and acrobatics.
As a recipient of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant (2022) and a Lord Mayor’s Creative Fellowship (2024), Cecilia trained with Europe’s dance leaders, including Wim Vandekeybus, Damien Jalet, and Anouk van Dijk. In 2024-25, she completed a six-month residency at Tic Tac Arts Centre, Brussels, in which she was mentored in dance/improvisation by David Zambrano and performed her own improvisation-driven work.
Cecilia continues to collaborate and tour globally with companies such as A Good Catch, Casus Creations, ROOKE and The Farm as well as create her own work.
Artist Website
SOLEIL HARVEY
Soleil Harvey is a contemporary dancer, maker and educator based in Magandjin (Brisbane). She attained an Advanced Diploma in Dance in 2018 through ADPI (Australian Dance and Performance Institute) and completed Sydney Dance Company's Pre-Professional Year in 2019.
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Since then she has worked independently as a freelance artist, performing and creating in works such as 'Colossus' by Stephanie Lake, 'SAND' by Courtney Scheu and Itamar Freed, 'Raise The Roof: Dionysus Redux' - with Legs on The Wall for Brisbane Festival 2022, ‘LAMINA' and 'SKIN' with VOiiiD Collective, 'Hot & Heavy' with The Ironing Maidens and AIDA by Opera Australia. In 2023, Soleil began development of her first solo work titled, ‘SEED' in collaboration with audio-visual artist Finley Wegener through support from the Sunshine Coast Arts Council and Studio1’s Creative Residency Program. ‘SEED’ premiered at OUTBOUND Live Art x Dance Festival. Soleil’s personal work seeks to honour the complexity of lived experience while fostering dialogues that are at once intimate, political, and embodied. Soleil finds herself in the exploration of her early career and looks forward to developing and deepening her creative practice.