Where we’re at: Street Dance in the Australian cultural landscape
Street dance is an artistic and cultural expression in Australia that reflects our interculturalism and continues to evolve with its influences locally and globally. Its current and future impact is shaping our landscape in multifaceted ways.
In collaboration with Cypher Culture and VCA, this panel discussion on street dance will look at the theoretical and social movements of the collectivised forms and what roles we have within creative industries in supporting it. The invited speakers come together from across the sphere of street dance from local, national and international contexts including artists, grassroots initiatives and cultural organisations.
This discussion will be facilitated by Julie Minaai with our panel of cultural makers from across the ecosystem. International guest Thomas DeFrantz, Efren Pamilacan on behalf of Cypher Culture, Carolyn Ooi from the Dancehouse team, Lowell Demetita repping L2R Dance and independent artists, Feras Shaheen and Troi -Saraih Isley.
This panel will be captured on the night, so if you can’t attend in person we’ll be circulating this post event.
Thomas F. DeFrantz directs SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, a group that focuses on live-processing interfaces deployed in the interests of theatrical storytelling. DeFrantz assembles artists into formations to explore themes of social possibility in theater performances, symposia, workshops, and publication projects. DeFrantz received the 2017 Outstanding Research in Dance award from the Dance Studies Association, and contributed concept and voice-over for a permanent installation on Black Social Dance at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. DeFrantz thinks alongside other artists continually, in formations at the American Dance Festival, Movement Research, ImPulsTanz, SNDO, PARTS, Ponderosa, Juilliard, and the New Waves Dance Institute, as well as at MIT, Stanford, Yale, NYU, Hampshire College, Bennington College, the University of the Arts, Duke, Northwestern University and the University of Nice. DeFrantz designs soundscapes, dances, creates texts, and wonders how we could gather through art as a register of possibility and expertise. DeFrantz believes in our shared capacity to do better, and to engage our creative spirit for a collective good that is anti-racist, proto-feminist, and queer affirming. Recent publications include Dance History(s): Imagination as a Form of Study (with Annie B-Parson, 2024); “Dance On” in Black Art and Aesthetics: Relationalities, Interiorities, Reckonings edited by Michael Kelly and Monique Roelofs, Bloomsbury, 2024, pp 313-322; and “Breaking In My House: Popular Dance, Gender Identities, and Postracial Empathies” in The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies edited by Mary Fogarty and Imani Kai Johnson, Oxford University Press, 2022, pp 243-259.
Troi-Saraih Ilsley (Wunyju) is a proud Wamba Wamba, Gunditjmara, and Dja Dja Wurrung woman based in Naarm (Melbourne). A multifaceted artist and community leader, Troi-Saraih has a rich background in both traditional and street dance. As a dancer, Troi-Saraih brings two decades of experience in traditional Aboriginal dance and six years in street dance. She’s a member of the Red Ochre Dancers, an all-female Aboriginal traditional-contemporary dance group. Additionally, Troi-Saraih is involved with Mind Over Mutant, a collective that organises community street dance events, and Orphanz, a krump crew.
Beyond her artistic pursuits, Troi-Saraih is deeply committed to her community and culture. She currently works for the peak body of Koorie Education in Victoria, advocating for Koorie students from early years to post-secondary levels. Her dedication to youth development shines through her role as a board member for the Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sports and Recreation Centre and her past mentorship through the Korin Gamadji Institute.
Efren Pamilacan is a dance maker, curator and independent producer of Filipino descent living on the unceded lands of the Kulin nation. His work crosses cultural and social spheres intersecting between hip-hop culture, underground dance forms and the contemporary arts sector; and aims to create space for new dance communities to thrive. As a dancer and dance maker, Efren is a contributor to the 9DIMES collective, founder of City Sessions and has been part of the Hip hop dance community for over 15 years. As an independent producer, he supports independent artists / collectives across street dance and Hip hop music. As a curator he has contributed to events and festivals such as Frame: A Biennial of Dance, AsiaTOPA and Sorbaes.
Currently, Efren is the artistic director of Cypher Culture and program manager at Dancehouse.
Feras Shaheen is an artist curious in letting his conceptual interests lead him across a variety of mediums. Working with choreography, installation work, film, performance, design, and street dance to communicate his ideas, the core of Feras’ practice is to connect and engage audiences. He seeks to bring activism into his art practice, with outcomes that are accessible and community centred. Holding a Bachelor of Design from Western Sydney University (2014), Feras often subverts traditional relationships between mediums to challenge audiences’ perspectives, specifically to disrupt colonial discourses and reduce western reliance on neutrality and apathy.
Born in Dubai to Palestinian parents (Gaza/Al Lid), and moving to Western Sydney at age 11, Feras engages with his practice as a way to reflect and examine how he views the world, addressing local and global issues. Winner of The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer (TEC) in 2021, Feras has performed and exhibited at Carriageworks, Venice Biennale, Pari, Kampnagel, AGNSW, Campbelltown Arts Centre, and Théâtre de la Ville. Recent works include ‘Art Festival’, ‘The Bop’, ongoing collaboration ‘Klapping’, and ‘Forum Q’.
Carolyn Ooi (Caro) is a Naarm-based dance artist, producer, teacher, and choreographer of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. With over a decade of classical dance training, she now specialises in Waacking and is a proud member of Burn City Waack – Australia’s largest Waacking community. Her practice is deeply influenced by her lifelong connection to street dance, which began during her time as a university student and leader of a dance society. Caro’s work spans producing events, teaching, choreographing, and leading in various capacities. Over the years, she has immersed herself in diverse street dance cultures and forms, engaging with a wide range of communities. Since 2021, Caro has been the Community Producer at Dancehouse.
Lowell Demetita is a Filipino artist, born and raised in Melbourne. He has been dancing since 2005, joyfully exploring the many forms within street dance. His practice of dance comes in the form of choreography, freestyle, stage and film direction, mentorship, and program/event development. He is greatly known in the Melbourne community for his easy-going nature and knowledgeable, yet fun, teaching style. He has created award-winning choreography shows, including the champion title for Grounded: Battle of the Arts in 2015 and 2016. He has initiated and worked collaboratively in delivering several dance community initiatives such as Project Humble: Blueprint, AUS and NZ Dance Leader Fellowship, ‘support the homies’ fundraiser, and Melbourne’s Own. In 2017 he started Inner Movement, which provides dance-related coaching programs and events that are focused on self-discovery and personal development. His journey has led him to L2R , where he hopes to feed his hunger in understanding how to facilitate dance in ways that can positively influence a community and its culture, empowering the individuals that are exposed to it.
Cypher Culture is a not for profit organisation that exists to empower street dance communities and cultures to thrive, bridging the gap of representation in Australia, and building community capacity for sustainable careers. We support street dance communities and culture through employment & performance opportunities for street dancers, providing workshops teaching street dance culture & history, supporting street dance productions for community & public engagement, building sector development via advocacy, and connecting grassroots street dance communities with the creative industries.
L2R Dance is Australia’s only youth hip hop/street dance not-for-profit; providing free hip hop dance programs, arts leadership opportunities and employment pathways for young people throughout Melbourne’s Western suburbs and beyond. Founded in 2009, L2R offers culturally safer, creative spaces for young people aged between 6-25 experiencing barriers to entering creative opportunities. L2R nurtures creativity, supporting people to explore the world through the power of dance. L2R’s vision is a more inclusive world where people’s lives are enriched through access to the arts. L2R believes in one language… DANCE!
The Event is in partnership with the team from Cypher Culture