DANCE & SPOKEN WORD

My performance practice encompasses movement and spoken word. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I seek to temper the rigidity of words with the fluidity of physical motion—a mode of expression that is both cognitive and embodied.

As a dancer and choreographer, I work primarily in the genres of commercial, urban and lyrical. My work centres on queering, and I devise and perform either straight choreography or ‘collisions’ of word and movement. 

​In terms of spoken word, I’m known mostly for my poetry; however, I host events and read nonfiction (whether in a serious or a comedic fashion) as well.

Image: …And Nowhere to Go, Midsumma 2020 (photo by Logan Mucha)

Performance highlights

Click to watch the videos, or scroll down for a list of dance, spoken word and other performance credits.

‘Babaylan’ ▶︎, Melbourne Music Week & Immigration Museum, 2021

‘Laws of Motion’ ▶︎, Life Interrupted, MOD. Museum, 2020

‘Shameless’ ▶︎, Iridescent Gala 2019 (studio footage)

Image: Dances (watch here ▶︎), ABC TV, Screen Australia, Film Victoria & Mardi Gras, 2018

2022​​

• ​‘Kawayan’, Becoming You: An Incomplete Guide​, Immigration Museum (Melbourne, November 2020 – Present)

• ‘Borealis’, Meeting Place, Alter State (online, October)
• I Can’t Remember How to Dance at Nightclubs (dir. Logan Mucha), Brunswick Street Gallery, City of Yarra & Midsumma (Fitzroy, January–February)

2021

• Melbourne Beginnings, Melbourne Writers Festival (online, October)
• ‘Mind over Matter’, Nexus Summit 2021 (online, March)
• ‘Babaylan’ ▶︎, Summer Courtyard: Metamorphosis, Melbourne Music Week & Immigration Museum (Melbourne, February)

2020

• ‘Borealis’ ▶︎, Mapping Melbourne, Multicultural Arts Victoria (online, from December)
• ‘Homeostasis’ ▶︎, Humankind, Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (online, November)
• Red Carpet Extravaganza, Arts Access Victoria & The Other Film Festival (online, August)
• ‘Laws of Motion’ ▶︎, Life Interrupted, MOD. Museum (online, from June)
• ‘#1 – Adolfo’ ▶︎, …And Nowhere to Go (dir. Logan Mucha), Midsumma Festival (online, from June)
• ‘Adolfo Aranjuez Reads Ocean Vuong’ ▶︎, Quarantine Poetry (online, March)

2019

• ‘Quest and Queerness: Role-Playing Identity’ (reading), Meanjin Pub Night (Fitzroy, December)
• ‘Shameless’ ▶︎, Gala, Iridescent QPOC Festival (Fitzroy, November)
• YA’ll Are Thirsty: Romantic FanFic Showcase, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, September)
• ‘Sitting in the Movement’ ▶︎ (essay + choreography), The Lifted Brow (online, August)
• Poetry Live Performance, City of Adelaide & Writers SA (Adelaide, July)
• ‘Bow Down, Bakla’, Liminal Issue 1 Launch, Liminal (Melbourne, March)

• ‘Solo’ ▶︎, First Dance, Dance Massive, Arts House & The Wheeler Centre (Melbourne, March)

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​2018

• ‘Transit’ ▶︎, Happenstance Festival (Coburg, November)
• Spoken Word Showcase, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, August)
• The Big Bent Poetry Reading ▶︎, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, August)
• Storytelling Live: Futures, Melbourne Writers Festival (Dandenong, August)
• ‘Love in the Time of Mental Illness’, Queerstories, (Melbourne, July)
• ‘E.T.A.’ ▶︎, Queer Icons Party, Emerging Writers’ Festival (Melbourne, June)
• ‘Half-light’ ▶︎, IDAHOBIT 2018, Federation Square (Melbourne, May)

• Milk Crates (Brunswick, April)
• ‘Bad Sex, Good Flow’, Crimes Against Literature, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, March)
• Dances ▶︎ (dir. Ramon Watkins), ABC TV, Screen Australia, Film Victoria & Mardi Gras (February)
• ‘Cariñosa, Singkil, Pandanggo’, Spirit of Place, NIDA, Story Wise & National Sustainable Living Festival (Southbank, February)
• ‘Trouble Deep’ ▶︎, Intimacies of Industries, Midsumma & The Living Museum of the West (Maribyrnong, January/February)
• ‘Loop’ ▶︎, Liminal Presents 2018, City of Melbourne, Signal & Liminal (Melbourne, January)

​​2017

• Spelling Bee, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, October)
• My Place in Melbourne, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, August)
• Flat Exit book launch, Cordite Books & Aeso Studio (Melbourne, June)
• ‘The Longest Night’ ▶︎, Late Night Lit: Collisions, Emerging Writers’ Festival (Melbourne, June)
• Literary Live Art: Performing Place ▶︎, Emerging Writers’ Festival (Footscray, June)
• The Hot Guy book launch, Echo Publishing & Astor Theatre (St Kilda, May)
• ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ ▶︎, Park Lounge, Midsumma Festival & Wyndham City Council (Werribee, February)

See 2016 and Earlier

Earlier

• ‘Oppression Olympics’ (reading), Right Now End-of-Year Celebration (Melbourne, December 2016)
• The Rag & Scribble Salon, Small Press Network Independent Publishing Conference (Melbourne, November 2016)
• Poetically Pushing Against Dominant Narratives, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, October 2016)
• Debate: BFA vs NYWF, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, September 2016)
• ‘Dirrty Pop: A Cumming-of-Age Story’ ▶︎, Queer Literary Salon, Melbourne Writers Festival (Melbourne, September 2016)
• ​Late Night Lit: I Want to Know What Love Is, Emerging Writers’ Festival (Melbourne, June 2016)
• Poetry Readings at Fort Charles (Brunswick, October 2015)
• Critical Game Show, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, October 2015)
• ‘30 Under 30’, All the Best, FBi Radio, episode 1527 (July 2015)
• Literati Parti (Brunswick, June 2015)
• Epic Word-nerd Battledome, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, October 2014)
• Stop! Grammar Time!, National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, October 2013)
• Spoken Word, 3CR Radio (Collingwood, August 2012)
• Launch of Velour Poetry Zine (Northcote, October 2011)
• ‘Mash’ ▶︎, Overload Poetry Festival (Melbourne, August 2010)
• Narrator, Voiceworks Live (Melbourne, July 2010)