Exposed
Restless Dance Theatre
Presented in Season 1 2023
Assistance Animal
Assistive Listening
Companion Card
Quiet Space Available
Visual Rating 75%
Wheelchair Accessible
Presented by Arts House and Restless Dance Theatre as part of FRAME: A biennial of dance
Wednesday 22 – Saturday 25 March 2023
Wed – Fri, 7.30pm
Sat, 2pm & 7.30pm
45 minutes
Tickets
Standard $35
FRAME Pass $28
Reduced $20
BLAKTIX $10
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Warnings
Exposed is suitable for all ages for ages 8+. Contains haze, low lighting and lights that change colour and intensity
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Assistance Animal Assistive Listening Companion Card Quiet Space Available Visual Rating 75% Wheelchair AccessibleSeven diverse dancers explore risk, vulnerability and trust in this mesmerising new work from Restless dance.
With our backs to the wall, we build boundaries and communities to protect our most fragile sides. But what happens when those borders prove unstable?
Exposed is an evocative exploration of vulnerability and risk, taking as its central metaphor that most uncontainable of bodily expressions: the breath. Our breathing is a register of threat, calm or panic, and here the sonic possibilities of the breath entwine with a haunting score to accent the movements of seven Restless dancers.
Through movement, design and music, Exposed will explore the unstable foundations on which we construct our lives, while at the same time hinting at the ways our communities and interpersonal relationships offer lifelines on which we rely. Even strangers can support us in moments of need, just as our own choices can impact the lives of others.
Exposed is a brave response to a universal experience, in which traumas and failures mingle with desires and hopes. It teases the line between standing up for yourself, and opening up to another, through a series of visual and aural experiences that will leave their mark on your soul.
‘A simple backdrop, a heartfelt composition for strings, and six dancers moving with grace and pure emotion: Restless Dance Theatre’s new work is a gentle and truthful exploration of what it means to be courageous in the face of vulnerability.’ – InDaily
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Artist Statement
Exposed is a work exploring vulnerability, uncertainty and risk through movement, design, and music. Be taken on a journey where the breath is a metaphor for feeling threatened or safe, agitated or calm, and the sonic possibilities of breath are entwined into the mesmerising score.
Director Michelle Ryan says, 'It is my response to the feeling of vulnerability – a powerful standing up for oneself. Most of us are free to make choices about what parts of our life we keep private and what is public. But for some, this choice is often not so straightforward. We need to rely on others, sometimes strangers to help us with moments in life that you might take for granted. And if we are lucky, we will have people around us who we trust. Trust is built slowly over time, relinquishing ourselves to the hands of others.'
Director Michelle Ryan says, 'It is my response to the feeling of vulnerability – a powerful standing up for oneself. Most of us are free to make choices about what parts of our life we keep private and what is public. But for some, this choice is often not so straightforward. We need to rely on others, sometimes strangers to help us with moments in life that you might take for granted. And if we are lucky, we will have people around us who we trust. Trust is built slowly over time, relinquishing ourselves to the hands of others.'
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About the artists
Restless Dance Theatre’s dancers have diverse minds, bodies, imaginations and achievements. Together they create contemporary dance theatre from everyday lived experiences; manifested into beautiful art. Restless Dance Theatre celebrates diversity, collaboration and creative thinking and movement.
Michelle Ryan
Restless Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director, Michelle Ryan has enjoyed a career that has spanned over 30 years in the arts. Michelle joined Meryl Tankard in Canberra and Adelaide as part of Meryl Tankard’s Australian Dance Theatre for Seven and half years, followed by projects in Europe as Tankard’s assistant. Michelle was also a founding member of Splintergroup and worked at Dancenorth for five years in various capacities. Michelle returned to performing in 2011 as a guest artist for Alain Plattel Out of Context for Pina by Les Ballet C de la B followed by Take Up Thy Bed and Walk by Gaelle Mellis in 2012. She performed in London at the Unlimited Festival, at the Melbourne Malthouse Theatre and the Adelaide Festival Centre in Torque Show’s Intimacy. The production won the 2015 Australian Dance Award for Independent Dance and Michelle was awarded the Adelaide Critics Circle Award for her performance. Michelle also worked with Tankard and Hedone Productions on the multi award winning film, Michelle’s Story directed by Tankard which premiered at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award for Best Short Film and the 2016 Australian Dance Award for Best Film. Michelle was appointed Artistic Director of Restless Dance Theatre in 2013 and has created numerous works for the company including Intimate Space, Seeing Through Darkness and Guttered. The major works for the company have been presented in festivals both nationally and internationally to critical acclaim. Michelle celebrates diversity in all elements of her work. In 2015 Michelle was inducted into the South Australian Woman’s Honour Roll. Michelle was the recipient of the 2020 Australia Council for the Arts Dance Award.
Jianna Georgiou
Jianna is a professional dancer, director and choreographer whose involvement with Restless has spanned over a decade, starting with the Youth Ensemble in 2006. In 2013 Jianna was an Artist in Residence at the Bundanon Trust’s Boyd Education Centre, a recipient of the JUMP Mentoring Program through the Australia Council, was a participant in the Creative Young Stars Program, worked with Philip Channells on No Time Like Now and developed her solo work Sound Effects in Nature. Jianna is an Associate Artist and a part of the Education Team for Integrated Australia she has also worked with Down Syndrome SA on their Dance Down Program. Jianna was a Finalist in Channel 9’s Young Achievers Awards in 2015, and was a selected participant in the 2016 Catalyst Program, gaining a mentorship with Dan Daw. 2014 saw Jianna performing in Salt directed by Rob Tannion and in In the Balance directed by Michelle Ryan. Jianna then went on to direct and perform in A Mysterious Lake as part of Debut 5: the dancers direct. Jianna has performed nationally and internationally with Restless including at the Adelaide Film Festival (Creating The Spectacle), at the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, Adelaide Festival with Zizanie, Art Gallery of South Australia with Seeing Through Darkness, and Ecoute Pour Voir with DreamBig Festival and WOMADelaide. Jianna has performed Guttered in Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival and Sydney Festival and was a key performer in both Exposed by Michelle Ryan and Rewards for The Tribe by Antony Hamilton.
Bhodi Hudson
Bhodi has been associated with Restless for many years, first attending a Links class at Restless at the age of 12 and after one year moved into the Central class. Bhodi first performed in Intimate Space (directed by Michelle Ryan) for the 2017 Adelaide Festival. In that same year Bhodi became an office assistant with Restless office staff. Bhodi’s second performance with Restless was Creating the Spectacle for the Adelaide Film Festival in 2018. In 2021 he again joined the Company for award winning Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See, a collaboration with Canadian companies Danse Carpe Diem/Emmanuel Jouthe, Maï(g)wenn and Orteils and Résonances, Agence de Spectacles. In 2022 Bhodi performed in Exposed (directed by Michelle Ryan) for the Adelaide Festival Centre and worked as assistant stage manager for Home, a collaboration with Patch Theatre.
Alexis Luke
Since moving from Yorketown, situated on Narangga land, to begin his training at Flinders University Drama Centre in 2015 (graduating with Honours in 2018), Alexis has developed a keen interest in physical and devised theatre. As of 2019, Alexis has become one of the first members of Restless Dance Theatre’s Company Dancers, allowing him to work and train with practitioners such as Michelle Ryan, Larissa McGowan, and Antony Hamilton. Alexis’ work with Restless has included performing in Intimate Space at the 2017 Adelaide Festival, the 2018 Bleach* Festival in Queensland and the Seoul Street Arts Festival 2019. He performed in Creating The Spectacle (Sue Austin & Restless Dance Theatre, 2018 Adelaide Film festival), Seeing Through Darkness at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), Guttered for Adelaide Festival 2021 and Brisbane Festival 2022, and Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See for DreamBIG Festival 2021 and WOMADelaide. Alexis performed as a dancer in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, and in 2019, he performed in Foolz: The Imperturbable Logic of the Fool, devised and directed by French artist Zabou Breitman in collaboration with Flinders University.
Madalene Macera
After beginning her dance training in Mount Gambier, Maddy went on to train at Brent Street Studios in Sydney, then later graduated in 2016 from Adelaide College of the Arts and Flinders University with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance). During her first year at university, she performed in the highly acclaimed SA Opera’s performance of Glass Trilogy: Satyagraha, choreographed by Leigh Warren. In 2017 Maddy joined Jérôme Bel’s production, Gala, as part of the Adelaide Festival, and later that year appeared in Australian indie-pop band Sheppard’s music video, Edge of the Night, choreographed by Larissa McGowan. In 2019 she collaborated with fellow South Australian artist Daniel Maley and debuted her first full-length contemporary dance work, Abyss, at Adelaide Fringe, winning the Fringe Weekly Dance Award. In 2019 Maddy moved to London where she worked as a freelance dance artist. During this time she travelled around Europe and the UK to work with renowned artists Anton Lachky, Theo Clinkard, Emanuel Gat, and Alice Robinson. She performed in Robinson’s London premiere of her acclaimed immersive production, Does It Matter In The Dark?. Maddy has performed in Restless Dance Theatre’s production of Guttered at the Adelaide Festival 2021, Brisbane Festival 2022 and Sydney Festival 2023 as well as Exposed for the premiere season in Adelaide 2022.
Michael Noble
After joining Restless dance classes in 2015, Michael was invited to join the Youth Ensemble in 2016. Since then, Michael has performed in the Restless Dance Theatre season of In the Balance for the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival; Swell directed by James Bull and Free and Fearless directed by Chris Dyke as part of Debut 5: the Dancers Direct; Intimate Space, directed Michelle Ryan, at the Hilton Adelaide as part of the 2017 Adelaide Festival, at the 2019 Seoul Street Arts Festival and at the Hilton Surfers Paradise as part of Bleach* at Festival 2018 within the arts and culture program of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Michael has also performed in the opening segment of the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony; in Creating the Spectacle, a collaboration with leading UK artist Sue Austin, for the Adelaide Film Festival; Zizanie directed by Meryl Tankard, for the 2019 Adelaide Festival; Seeing Through Darkness at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2020 and in 2021 performed in the Adelaide Festival and Sydney Festival seasons of Guttered and the DreamBIG and WOMADelaide’ season of Ecoute Pour Voir.
Darcy Carpenter
Hailing from South Australia’s Riverland region, Darcy Carpenter was discovered during a workshop in the Restless Education Outreach program. Darcy Carpenter debuted with Restless Dance Theatre in the Memory Keeper as part of the From The Ground Up Project, and the Watermark Project as part of the Australian Youth Dance Festival. From there Darcy has gone on to perform with Restless in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (In The Balance) at the Adelaide Festival (Intimate Space), Bleach* Festival as part of the Commonwealth Games and the Adelaide Film Festival with Creating The Spectacle. Darcy has also toured internationally performing Intimate Space at Seoul Street Arts Festival, and was an understudy in Antony Hamilton’s Rewards for the Tribe in the UK and Rising Festival Melbourne. Darcy performed in the Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival, and Sydney Festival season of Guttered by Michelle Ryan and Ecoute Pour Voir at the Adelaide Festival Centre for Adelaide’s DreamBIG Festival. She performed in A Date With Restless which toured regionally, Ecoute Pour Voir as part of WOMADelaide and premiered Exposed by Michelle Ryan.
Charlie Wilkins
Charlie joined Restless Dance Theatre in 2017 and performed in Creating the Spectacle for the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival. In 2020 he became a member of The Company and has performed in Guttered for the 2021 Adelaide Festival, 2022 Brisbane Festival and 2023 Sydney Festival, Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See for Adelaide’s DreamBIG Festival and WOMADelaide, Home made in collaboration with Patch Theatre, Seeing Through Darkness for the 2021 tour, and Rewards for the Tribe in Adelaide, the UK and at RISING Festival in 2022. Charlie is also a champion swimmer and went to the World Games for swimming in Abu Dhabi.
Michelle Ryan
Restless Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director, Michelle Ryan has enjoyed a career that has spanned over 30 years in the arts. Michelle joined Meryl Tankard in Canberra and Adelaide as part of Meryl Tankard’s Australian Dance Theatre for Seven and half years, followed by projects in Europe as Tankard’s assistant. Michelle was also a founding member of Splintergroup and worked at Dancenorth for five years in various capacities. Michelle returned to performing in 2011 as a guest artist for Alain Plattel Out of Context for Pina by Les Ballet C de la B followed by Take Up Thy Bed and Walk by Gaelle Mellis in 2012. She performed in London at the Unlimited Festival, at the Melbourne Malthouse Theatre and the Adelaide Festival Centre in Torque Show’s Intimacy. The production won the 2015 Australian Dance Award for Independent Dance and Michelle was awarded the Adelaide Critics Circle Award for her performance. Michelle also worked with Tankard and Hedone Productions on the multi award winning film, Michelle’s Story directed by Tankard which premiered at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award for Best Short Film and the 2016 Australian Dance Award for Best Film. Michelle was appointed Artistic Director of Restless Dance Theatre in 2013 and has created numerous works for the company including Intimate Space, Seeing Through Darkness and Guttered. The major works for the company have been presented in festivals both nationally and internationally to critical acclaim. Michelle celebrates diversity in all elements of her work. In 2015 Michelle was inducted into the South Australian Woman’s Honour Roll. Michelle was the recipient of the 2020 Australia Council for the Arts Dance Award.
Jianna Georgiou
Jianna is a professional dancer, director and choreographer whose involvement with Restless has spanned over a decade, starting with the Youth Ensemble in 2006. In 2013 Jianna was an Artist in Residence at the Bundanon Trust’s Boyd Education Centre, a recipient of the JUMP Mentoring Program through the Australia Council, was a participant in the Creative Young Stars Program, worked with Philip Channells on No Time Like Now and developed her solo work Sound Effects in Nature. Jianna is an Associate Artist and a part of the Education Team for Integrated Australia she has also worked with Down Syndrome SA on their Dance Down Program. Jianna was a Finalist in Channel 9’s Young Achievers Awards in 2015, and was a selected participant in the 2016 Catalyst Program, gaining a mentorship with Dan Daw. 2014 saw Jianna performing in Salt directed by Rob Tannion and in In the Balance directed by Michelle Ryan. Jianna then went on to direct and perform in A Mysterious Lake as part of Debut 5: the dancers direct. Jianna has performed nationally and internationally with Restless including at the Adelaide Film Festival (Creating The Spectacle), at the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, Adelaide Festival with Zizanie, Art Gallery of South Australia with Seeing Through Darkness, and Ecoute Pour Voir with DreamBig Festival and WOMADelaide. Jianna has performed Guttered in Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival and Sydney Festival and was a key performer in both Exposed by Michelle Ryan and Rewards for The Tribe by Antony Hamilton.
Bhodi Hudson
Bhodi has been associated with Restless for many years, first attending a Links class at Restless at the age of 12 and after one year moved into the Central class. Bhodi first performed in Intimate Space (directed by Michelle Ryan) for the 2017 Adelaide Festival. In that same year Bhodi became an office assistant with Restless office staff. Bhodi’s second performance with Restless was Creating the Spectacle for the Adelaide Film Festival in 2018. In 2021 he again joined the Company for award winning Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See, a collaboration with Canadian companies Danse Carpe Diem/Emmanuel Jouthe, Maï(g)wenn and Orteils and Résonances, Agence de Spectacles. In 2022 Bhodi performed in Exposed (directed by Michelle Ryan) for the Adelaide Festival Centre and worked as assistant stage manager for Home, a collaboration with Patch Theatre.
Alexis Luke
Since moving from Yorketown, situated on Narangga land, to begin his training at Flinders University Drama Centre in 2015 (graduating with Honours in 2018), Alexis has developed a keen interest in physical and devised theatre. As of 2019, Alexis has become one of the first members of Restless Dance Theatre’s Company Dancers, allowing him to work and train with practitioners such as Michelle Ryan, Larissa McGowan, and Antony Hamilton. Alexis’ work with Restless has included performing in Intimate Space at the 2017 Adelaide Festival, the 2018 Bleach* Festival in Queensland and the Seoul Street Arts Festival 2019. He performed in Creating The Spectacle (Sue Austin & Restless Dance Theatre, 2018 Adelaide Film festival), Seeing Through Darkness at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), Guttered for Adelaide Festival 2021 and Brisbane Festival 2022, and Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See for DreamBIG Festival 2021 and WOMADelaide. Alexis performed as a dancer in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, and in 2019, he performed in Foolz: The Imperturbable Logic of the Fool, devised and directed by French artist Zabou Breitman in collaboration with Flinders University.
Madalene Macera
After beginning her dance training in Mount Gambier, Maddy went on to train at Brent Street Studios in Sydney, then later graduated in 2016 from Adelaide College of the Arts and Flinders University with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance). During her first year at university, she performed in the highly acclaimed SA Opera’s performance of Glass Trilogy: Satyagraha, choreographed by Leigh Warren. In 2017 Maddy joined Jérôme Bel’s production, Gala, as part of the Adelaide Festival, and later that year appeared in Australian indie-pop band Sheppard’s music video, Edge of the Night, choreographed by Larissa McGowan. In 2019 she collaborated with fellow South Australian artist Daniel Maley and debuted her first full-length contemporary dance work, Abyss, at Adelaide Fringe, winning the Fringe Weekly Dance Award. In 2019 Maddy moved to London where she worked as a freelance dance artist. During this time she travelled around Europe and the UK to work with renowned artists Anton Lachky, Theo Clinkard, Emanuel Gat, and Alice Robinson. She performed in Robinson’s London premiere of her acclaimed immersive production, Does It Matter In The Dark?. Maddy has performed in Restless Dance Theatre’s production of Guttered at the Adelaide Festival 2021, Brisbane Festival 2022 and Sydney Festival 2023 as well as Exposed for the premiere season in Adelaide 2022.
Michael Noble
After joining Restless dance classes in 2015, Michael was invited to join the Youth Ensemble in 2016. Since then, Michael has performed in the Restless Dance Theatre season of In the Balance for the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival; Swell directed by James Bull and Free and Fearless directed by Chris Dyke as part of Debut 5: the Dancers Direct; Intimate Space, directed Michelle Ryan, at the Hilton Adelaide as part of the 2017 Adelaide Festival, at the 2019 Seoul Street Arts Festival and at the Hilton Surfers Paradise as part of Bleach* at Festival 2018 within the arts and culture program of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Michael has also performed in the opening segment of the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony; in Creating the Spectacle, a collaboration with leading UK artist Sue Austin, for the Adelaide Film Festival; Zizanie directed by Meryl Tankard, for the 2019 Adelaide Festival; Seeing Through Darkness at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2020 and in 2021 performed in the Adelaide Festival and Sydney Festival seasons of Guttered and the DreamBIG and WOMADelaide’ season of Ecoute Pour Voir.
Darcy Carpenter
Hailing from South Australia’s Riverland region, Darcy Carpenter was discovered during a workshop in the Restless Education Outreach program. Darcy Carpenter debuted with Restless Dance Theatre in the Memory Keeper as part of the From The Ground Up Project, and the Watermark Project as part of the Australian Youth Dance Festival. From there Darcy has gone on to perform with Restless in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (In The Balance) at the Adelaide Festival (Intimate Space), Bleach* Festival as part of the Commonwealth Games and the Adelaide Film Festival with Creating The Spectacle. Darcy has also toured internationally performing Intimate Space at Seoul Street Arts Festival, and was an understudy in Antony Hamilton’s Rewards for the Tribe in the UK and Rising Festival Melbourne. Darcy performed in the Adelaide Festival, Brisbane Festival, and Sydney Festival season of Guttered by Michelle Ryan and Ecoute Pour Voir at the Adelaide Festival Centre for Adelaide’s DreamBIG Festival. She performed in A Date With Restless which toured regionally, Ecoute Pour Voir as part of WOMADelaide and premiered Exposed by Michelle Ryan.
Charlie Wilkins
Charlie joined Restless Dance Theatre in 2017 and performed in Creating the Spectacle for the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival. In 2020 he became a member of The Company and has performed in Guttered for the 2021 Adelaide Festival, 2022 Brisbane Festival and 2023 Sydney Festival, Ecoute Pour Voir/Listen to See for Adelaide’s DreamBIG Festival and WOMADelaide, Home made in collaboration with Patch Theatre, Seeing Through Darkness for the 2021 tour, and Rewards for the Tribe in Adelaide, the UK and at RISING Festival in 2022. Charlie is also a champion swimmer and went to the World Games for swimming in Abu Dhabi.
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Credits
Director: Michelle Ryan
Assistant Director: Larissa McGowan
Musical Score: Hilary Kleinig / Emily Tulloch
Lighting and Set Design: Geoff Cobham
Costume Designer: Renate Henschke
Creative Producer: Roz Hervey
Dancers: Jianna Georgiou, Alexis Luke, Madalene Macera, Michael Noble, Darcy Carpenter, Charlie Wilkins, Bhodi Hudson
Supported by
Exposed has been supported by the Australian Government through RISE, the Government of South Australia through Arts SA and the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
Assistant Director: Larissa McGowan
Musical Score: Hilary Kleinig / Emily Tulloch
Lighting and Set Design: Geoff Cobham
Costume Designer: Renate Henschke
Creative Producer: Roz Hervey
Dancers: Jianna Georgiou, Alexis Luke, Madalene Macera, Michael Noble, Darcy Carpenter, Charlie Wilkins, Bhodi Hudson
Supported by
Exposed has been supported by the Australian Government through RISE, the Government of South Australia through Arts SA and the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
Presented by Arts House and Restless Dance Theatre as part of FRAME: A biennial of dance
Wednesday 22 – Saturday 25 March 2023
Wed – Fri, 7.30pm
Sat, 2pm & 7.30pm
45 minutes
Tickets
Standard $35
FRAME Pass $28
Reduced $20
BLAKTIX $10
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Warnings
Exposed is suitable for all ages for ages 8+. Contains haze, low lighting and lights that change colour and intensity
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Assistance Animal Assistive Listening Companion Card Quiet Space Available Visual Rating 75% Wheelchair AccessibleImage Credit: Roy Vandervegt
Image Description: 5 Dancers performing on stage. The stage is dark. The dancers stand on the ground under a reflective fabric hanging from the stage’s ceiling. Spotlights cast a striking blue light on the group from the two sides.
