Artistic Reparative Prophetic
“Fiona is such an exciting choreographer it’s difficult to do her work justice in words.”
The Sunday Age, Melbourne.
dancer | choreographer | movement educator | author | speaker
- Arts Ablaze (2019)
- Anywhere Festival (2018, 2019)
- Horizon Festival (2018)
- WOW Festival Powerhouse (2018)
- National Gallery of Victoria (2014)
- Next Wave Festival (2010, 2012)
- Melbourne Fringe Festival (2008, 2012)
- Dancehouse (2006-2012)
- Lucy Guerin Inc. (2009)
- Melbourne International Design Festival (2008)
- Melbourne International Arts Festival (2007)
- L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (2007)
She has studied with Australian and internationally renowned teachers and artists, including:
- Anna Källblad and Helena Bystrom (SWE – City Horses at Supercell 2020)
- Judith Walton (AUS – Lehte at Heide Museum of Modern Art 2014, 2015)
- Maria Hassabi (USA – Intermission at The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art 2014)
- Deborah Hay (USA – commissioned and performed two solos 2008, 2010)
Fiona’s movement training began at the National Ballet Center (QLD) under Roma Egan after which she obtained her Diploma in Dance through the Queensland Ballet’s QDSE program. She went on to receive honours in her Bachelor of Dance, Graduate Diploma in Choreography and Masters of Choreography all at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) and later became a lecturer in movement at the college. Prior to commencing her PhD in Choreography, Fiona took a ‘side step’ to dedicate herself to the three year teacher training course in Alexander Technique at The School for F.M Alexander Studies (Advanced Diploma in Alexander Technique Teaching) and subsequently became a teacher and course writer at the school as well as running her own private practice.
Artistic
Fiona’s practice is chiefly concerned with discovering and re-discovering ways in which to engage the whole neurophysical self in the processes of generating and performing movement. She considers the multidimensionality of the human organism offers an extraordinary landscape to be traversed in the realm of live performance. In recent years her works have covered a diversity of themes including ageing, folk-pop culture, natural disaster, loneliness, the ordinary, infirmity and motherhood.
Fiona regularly develops and presents her works in non-traditional performance spaces as has been evidenced in On Rondo (solo commission National Gallery of Victoria 2014 Melbourne Now) Hiatus (2012 Next Wave Festival, Green Room Award Nomination) and more recently, Pan-Obscene (2019 Sculpture on the Edge), There’s Something in My Shoes (2019 Anywhere Festival and Arts Ablaze) and Place 2 Rest (2020 Place 2 Play).
In recent years Fiona’s performance works and ongoing research have been recognized with awards, grants and scholarships including Melbourne Research Scholarship (2007-2009), Fringe Festival Best Dance Award (2008), Next Wave Kickstart (2009), City of Melbourne Young Artist Award (2010), Australia Council Art Start (2010), Chunky Move Maximized (2012), Besen Family Foundation grant (2012), Australian Postgraduate Award (2014-17), Haihatus Arts Centre Residency Scholarship Finland (2015) and Regional Arts Development Fund (2019 and 2020).
Fiona’s practice has augmented in the last four years to also specialize in the facilitation and direction of artistic works with artists who recognize as having a disability. This work sees Fiona combine both her artistic and somatic expertise in order to support rigorous development processes and professional level performances, ultimately shifting perceptions of what is possible in this arena.
Reparitive
The Movement Studio is Fiona’s training space for a variety of movement practices including Alexander Technique, Body Mapping and Adult Ballet and Contemporary Dance. It offers excellence in face to face and online training and has reached students and professional practitioners across Australia and the globe since 2014.
Additionally Fiona offers technical movement modeling for photographic layouts in movement publications and consultation services for accompany text.
Prophetic
In 2019 after two years of having lived on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, Fiona felt propelled to create a series of site-specific prophetic dance works to the sounds of worship music from across the globe. Each work in this series followed a particular God-given vision as well as a response to challenges faced by those in Fiona’s world, including close friends and family. You’re Gonna Be OK, I Won’t Forget, House on the Hill and The Blessing are each filmed on location, directed and danced by Fiona and carry a complex journey of coming to fruition. For this reason, she prepared a screening evening, Dancing Fire n Love where each work would be screened and woven together with stories of prophetic creation and personal testimony.