We are very excited to welcome Bryn, Jenelle, Madeleine and Jordan to the Tracks team. These four local and inspiring dancers will be joining our resident Dance Animateur, Kelly Beneforti for TRACKTIVATION - activating the city with dance.

Click here for more information on all the fantastic activities that are happening as part of this 10-week project.

Bryn Wackett (far left) is a core dancer with Gary Lang NT Dance Company, a versatile performer and animateur, and regularly coordinates over 40 dance groups as part of the annual Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival. Bryn’s dedicated, light-hearted approach to dance, and enthusiasm and appreciation for all forms of creative and cultural movement have resulted in strong collaborative links with fellow NT artists and arts organisations.

Kelly Beneforti (2nd left) is the Dance Animateur at Tracks Dance Company, bringing with her a diverse history with the company since 2004, as well as national and international experiences. Kelly also performs and collaborates as an independent artist in works such as Beautiful Noise with Jess Devereux and most recently, The Perception Experiment with Frankie Snowdon and Madeleine Krenek.

Jordan Bretherton (middle) is a professional dancer and graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, taking on the role of Roger in the New Adventures production of Lord of the Flies in Melbourne last year. Since returning to Darwin, Jordan has performed in the Tracks Dance production Man Made and worked with Artistic Director of SLIDE Youth Dance Theatre, Joanna Noonan, as a performer, choreographer and mentor for her work EXISTENCE.

Jenelle Saunders (2nd right) is a dancer, teacher, and performer with qualifications in education and contemporary dance. Most recently she co-devised the independent work Dancebox with Kate Mornane, which they performed as part of the Darwin Fringe and Darwin Festival (2016) and the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2017).  She works with schools, arts and social support organisations, and within a broad range of community and dance based projects in urban, rural, and remote cultural contexts.

Madeleine Brown (far right) has just returned from a 6-month contract in Mumbai with a prestigious Bollywood dance company, where she danced in countless shows, events, music videos, and movies, and worked with India’s best choreographers and directors. With a Diploma of Elite Dance from Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance, Madeleine has studied numerous styles of dance including hip-hop, commercial, contemporary, ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom, Bollywood, belly dance and music theatre.

Tracks Dance Company presents

Tracktivation - Activating the city with Dance

TRACKTIVATION is a 10-week program where we get to activate the city with dance. Funded through the NTG Live Darwin initiative, Tracks Dance Company will literally be setting up shop in the city as we relocate our dance studio to the Live Darwin shopfront in the Mall.

Simply put, TRACKTIVATION is a community and civic activation program and our mission is to get the city moving with a range of exciting and innovative activities and events. You can expect to find the vibrant, diverse and ‘fiercely local’ Tracks Dance Company that you know and love, but on a super-sized scale!

Artistic Co Director and Founding member of Tracks Dance Company David McMicken said “Tracks has been activating Darwin city sites for decades. I am so excited to introduce TRACKTIVATION as our latest way of using dance to make this wonderful city come alive in new and dynamic ways. I can’t wait to see how many people across the city get involved in active dance making”.

Four local and inspiring NT dancers will be joining our resident Dance Animateur, Kelly Beneforti for this special interactive project, as dance literally spills out into the streets of the CBD. It will be hiding in unexpected places, activating urban and green city spaces in new and refreshing ways, and providing a junction for ordinary people, passionate amateurs and professional artists to meet.

Learn dance at lunchtime drop-in classes, participate in large-scale community dance events, experience original choreographic works in unconventional places, and witness cheeky dance interventions, TRACKTIVATION is here to transform your city with the pulse and rhythm of dance.

Drop into the dance studio in the Mall (56 Smith St) to find out how you can get dancing or follow us @tracksdance on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the latest program updates.

More information

How to get involved? Click here

Meet the Tracktivators

For Tracktivation photo opportunities or interviews contact:
Company Director Adelaide Wood
E: adelaide@tracksdance.com.au

Aaron Lim, well know Darwin B-Boy and one of the Tracks studio residents, talks about what he’s been working on during his residency, what 2018 holds for him, and what he loves about being a dance artist in the NT.

“I’ve had this crazy obsession over [movement] qualities. I recorded myself doing a whole bunch of different qualities…started slicing it together and then tried to do that again. But I also did that live as well, just trying to mix qualities and seeing what happens. I tried to be as far away from ‘breaking’ as possible… I found it really hard to find different qualities, I didn’t really know where to look, so my approach was like ‘what is completely not breaking?’ Normally I dance with my shoes on, I even took my shoes off…just to see what came out of it.

[In 2018] I’ve got a few show dates for Between Tiny Cities, which is the show with [choreographer] Nick Power...That will be shown at APAM, out in Hong Kong, and possibly Europe… Most excited? Europe… I’ve never been so I’m super excited.

When I was younger, I used to knock being in Darwin but I will never knock it again, because Darwin is such a crazy place for opportunity in dance…because you have great people like Tracks who bring a whole different bunch of styles together and different people from all over Australia to collaborate…I would not be where I am now without doing [Tracks Dance show] Struck back in 2008.”

Tracks Dance Company is calling for applications to our Studio Residency Program, 'Space Time', which offers the Tracks studio free of charge, to foster contemporary choreographic development in the Northern Territory. This program is open to all NT dance artists, as well as interstate artists who can clearly demonstrate benefits to the NT dance community in their application.

Space Time is an opportunity for artists to engage in open research or creative development projects, with a vision to strengthen the NT independent dance community by providing access to rehearsal space, time, and the support structures of a well-established dance company.

Tracks also hosts visiting dance artists who have a strong connection to the company.

Residencies are held from November-March. Please read the Space Time Guidelines and Selection Criteria before applying.

Applications for the 2017/2018 residency program are open. Apply here.

Applications will be assessed on receipt. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application within 10 business days from the date of submission. 

Find out about the 2016/2017 residents here.

Alex is a Dance movement therapist with over 15 years experience in Contact Improvisation. Come and join us in an exploration into Contact improvisation over the next 3 wet and sticky months, in the air conditioned comfort of the Tracks studio!

In the first 4 weeks of the residency we will look into contact improvisation fundamentals. Members with experience in the form will share their favourite basic exercises and core practices.  The practice will then unfold following the curiosity and connections between the group.

Tracks Dance Studio, 10am - 12.30pm on:
Sunday 21st Jan
Sunday 4th Feb
Sunday 11th Feb
Sunday 18th Feb

The second 4 weeks of residency will focus on family dance (including contact based) for older people with their small family members and friends: think rough and tumble on a grand scale... add shapes, stillnesses and different music and dynamics, and we will see what we find.

Tracks Dance Studio, 10am - 12.30pm on:
Sunday 25th Feb
Sunday 4th March (TBC)
Sunday 18th March
Sunday 25th March

Please contact Alex if you are interested to join this exploration. 0425776416/ jordan.andra@gmail.com
facebook page: Adventures in Movement

You are welcome to join either part of the residency, family or contact, or both, preferable for more than one session, but drop ins welcome also.