DanceX: A festival of dance!
Experience bold new works and extraordinary performances by some of our most visionary choreographers and artists.
Curated by The Australian Ballet, DanceX showcases eight leading dance companies from across Australia and New Zealand for two powerful weeks in Melbourne. DanceX is where movement gives rise to new ideas – boundary-breaking and full of possibilities.
About the work:
This dance work, directed by Michelle Ryan, is a response to the work of Expressionist artist Georges Rouault. Ryan explains that the imperfect form of the body and the troubled soul represented in his work resonate with how people with disability can feel and be perceived. Seeing through Darkness is an immersive experience, one that is both a participatory exhibition and a 17-minute performance, in which elements of dance, music, lighting design and moving image are combined. Following the performance, the audience will be able to transform the space themselves – by means of their own shadow, cast in vibrant colour in overlapping arcs on gallery walls. Restless Dance Theatre is Australia’s leading creator of dance theatre by dancers with and without disability. Restless brings artists with diverse minds, bodies and imaginations together to create contemporary dance theatre from everyday lived experiences manifested into beautiful art.
Michelle’s Starting Point
There are many facets that create the human experience. Some are vibrant flashes of joy and achievement while others are the lingering remains of pain and loss. But ultimately, what do we leave behind?
There is an unusual beauty to the work of Georges Rouault. The imperfect form of the body and the troubled soul of the work resonates with how people with disability can feel and be perceived. Some may be confronted while others may see beauty and difference.
Presentations:
- Art Gallery South Australia, September 2020
- Belfast Children’s Festival, March 2022 – screening
- The First Hong Kong International Inclusive Dance Festival, July 2023 – screening
- The 5th Luminous Festival, Hong Kong, September 2023 – screening
- James Darling Celebration of Life, October 2024
- WOMADelaide, The Studio, March 2025
- Dancer: A National Portrait Gallery Touring Exhibition, David Roche Gallery, July-August 2025
- Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, September 2025 (Through Another Lens)
- DanceX: A festival of Dance, The Playhouse – Arts Centre Melbourne, October 2025
