2016 Australian Dance Awards longlist

This longlist of nominations, along with recorded excerpts of performances, goes to the Selection Panel who will vote to shortlist their top four contenders in each category.

Not every single nomination will appear on this list. A long, unedited list (up to 550 nominations each year) is carefully scrutinised by the ADAs advisors and members of the Selection Panel to eliminate any nominations that do not meet all the Selection Criteria.

As the panel looks at excerpts of all nominated work before deciding on a shortlist, it is essential for the committee to keep only the most outstanding/significant nominations so that it remains a manageable task. The committee also takes care to ensure that the professional dance sector is well represented across all states and territories.

The ADAs Selection Panel members not only generously donote their time and expertise, but do so with great diligence and consideration. Without them the ADAs would not be possible.

The shortlist will be announced about mid July, with winners announced at the 2016 Australian Dance Awards in Perth on Sunday 18 September.

Services to Dance

  • Geoff Cobham (VIC) Production manager and designer
  • Nicolette Fraillon (VIC) Music Director & Chief Conductor, TAB
  • Jennifer Irwin (NSW) Costume designer
  • Djakapurra Munyarryan (NSW) Elder, performer, consultant, Bangarra Dance Theatre
  • David Page (NSW) Musician, composer performer

Services to Dance Education

  • Sally Chance (SA) Youth dance practitioner, festival director, founder Restless Dance Theatre
  • Diana de Vos OAM (WA) Examiner and advisor for RAD, dancer, teacher
  • Sue Fox (QLD) Advocate, curriculum advisor, Principal Project Officer for Qld Curriculum & Assessment Authority
  • Joan Pope OAM (WA) President of Dalcroze Australia, writer, teacher
  • Katrina Rank (VIC) Education & Training Manager for Ausdance; chief writer Ausdance skill set for Teaching Dance
  • Kim Vincs (VIC) Choreographer, reseacher, teacher dancer, teacher, reseacher
  • Kim Walker (NSW) Director NAISDA, choreographer, performer

Outstanding Achievement in Community Dance

  • Australian Dance Theatre for Dance Partners—City to Coast
  • Kate Meade for Victorian Dance Festival
  • Bangarra Dance Theatre for Rekindling Youth Program
  • Dancenorth for Twilight
  • Rawcus for Catalogue
  • Tracks Dance Company for Hidden Meaning
  • Tracksuit & DADAA for Small Fortunes

Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance

  • Ballet Theatre Queensland for Sleeping Beauty
  • Catapult Dance for the Flipside Project
  • DRILL Performance Company for Radical Kid
  • DRILL Performance Company & Tasdance for All Your Worth
  • Force Majeure & Powerhouse Youth Theatre for Jump First, Ask Later
  • Restless Dance Theatre for Touched
  • Slide Youth Dance Theatre for Time
  • Stompin Youth Dance Company for 6000 to 1
  • CO3 Youth Ensemble for Toros
  • QL2 Dance for Reckless Valour

Outstanding Achievement in Choreography

  • Waangenga Blanco & Deborah Brown for I.B.I.S [Bangarra dance Theatre]
  • Rafael Bonachela for Variation 10 [Sydney Dance Company]
  • Kate Champion for Nothing to Lose [Force Majeure]
  • Tess de Quincey for Moondance (De Quincey Co]
  • Atlanta Eke for Miss Universal [Chunky Move]
  • Lucy Guerin for Motion Picture [Lucy Guerin inc.]
  • Greg Horsman for Coppelia [Queensland Ballet & West Australian Ballet]
  • Frances Rings for Sheoak [ Bangarra Dance Theatre]
  • Michelle Ryan for Touched [Restless Dance Theatre]
  • Vicki van Hout for Long Grass
  • Natalie Weir for 7 Deadly Sins [Expressions Dance Cpompany]

 Outstanding Performance by a Company

  • The Australian Ballet for 20:21
  • The Australian Ballet for Sleeping Beauty
  • Bangarra Dance Theatre for Lore
  • Chunky Move for Depth of Field
  • CO3 for Carnivale
  • Dancenorth for Spectra
  • Expressions Dance Company for 7 Deadly Sins
  • Marrugeku for Cut the Sky
  • Queensland Ballet for Sleeping Beauty
  • Restless Dance Theatre for Naturally
  • Sydney Dance Company for Frame of Mind
  • Tasdance for Affinity
  • West Australian Ballet for Ballet at the Quarry: Zip Zap Zoom

Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance

  • Makeshift Dance Collective for One. Two. Ten
  • Gareth Belling & Collusion for Desirelines
  • Alice Dixon & Caroline Meadon for This is What's Happening
  • Shone Erskine for White Matter
  • Antony Hamilton for NYX [Antony Hamilton Projects]
  • Antony Hamilton & Alisdair Macindoe for Meeting [Antony Hamilton Projects]
  • Sue Healey for On View - Live Portraits
  • Adelina Larson, Jamie Winbank & Alison Plevey for Strange Attractor
  • Jo Lloyd for Confusion for Three
  • Nerida Matthaei for The Paratrooper Project [Phluxus Dance Collective]
  • Lisa Maris McDonnel for Home Truths
  • Polytoxic Dance Theatre for The Backup Service
  • Vicki van Hout for Long Grass
  • Victoria Hunt for TANGI Wai…the cry of water
  • Liesel Zink for The Stance

Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer

  • Benedicte Bemet for Sleeping Beauty [The Australian Ballet]
  • Madeleine Eastoe for Giselle [The Australian Ballet]
  • Katherine Gurr for Carnivale [Co3]
  • Amber Haines for Syncing Feeling [Dancenorth]
  • Sarah Hepburn Coppelia [West Australian Ballet]
  • Elma Kris for Lore [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
  • Chloe Leong for Frame of Mind [Sydney Dance Company]
  • Clare Morehen for The Sleeping Beauty [Queensland Ballet]
  • Tara Jade Samaya for Depth of Field [Chunky Move]
  • Jesse Scales for Frame of Mind [Sydney Dance Company]
  • Amber Scott for Sleeping Beauty [The Australian Ballet]
  • Niharika Senapati for Depth of Field  [Chunky Move]
  • Brooke Widdison-Jacobs for Cinderella [West Australian Ballet]
  • Kialea-Nadine Williams for A Dying Swan [Leigh Warren Dance]
  • Vivienne Wong for Filigree and Shadow [The Australian Ballet]

Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer

  • Brett Chynoweth for The Dream [The Australian Ballet]
  • Cass Eipper Mortimer for Frame of Mind [Sydney Dance Company]
  • Scott Ewen for Be Your Self  [Australian Dance Theatre]
  • Chengwu Guo for The Dream [The Australian Ballet]
  • Kevin Jackson for Giselle [The Australian Ballet]
  • Rudy Hawkes for Swan Lake [The Australian Ballet]
  • Gary Lang for Long Grass [Vicki van Hout]
  • Matthew Lehmann for Cinderella [West Australian Ballet]
  • Alisdair Macindoe for Motion Picture [Lucy Guerin Inc]
  • David Mack for Frame of Mind [Sydney Dance Company]
  • Kyle Page for Syncing Feeling [Dancenorth]
  • James Vu Anh Pham for Depth of Field [Chunky Move]
  • Daniel Riley for Ochres [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
  • Matte Roffe for Be Your Self [Australian Dance Theatre]
  • Jack Zeising for The Host [Dancenorth]

Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Dance or Musicals or Physical Theatre

  • Anything Goes (Producer: Andrew Hallsworth) [Opera Australia]
  • Fiddler on the Roof (Choreography: Dana Jolley)
  • Marko Panzic & Stephen Tannos for Genesis [The Dream Dance Company]
  • Georgy Girl  (Producer: Richard East & Dennis Smith, Choreography: Michael Ralph, Direction: Gary Young)
  • Circa for Il ritorno

Outstanding Achievement in Dance on Film or New Media

  • Deborah Brown & Lucy Phelan for Hide [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
  • Stephen Page for Spear [Bangarra Dance Theatre]
  • Tim Podesta for Ador [Projection Dance Company]
  • Pippa Samaya for Dancing in the Now [Ubuntu Samaya]
  • Meryl Tankard & Kate Croser for Michelle’s Story [Hedone Productions]
  • Stephen Tannos for The Process
  • Latai Taumoepeau for Repatriate—24 Frames per Second Solo

The Award for Lifetime Achievement will be announced mid August.