Current Collaborators

Sarah Andrewartha

Sarah Andrewartha is trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance. She has choreographed and danced with Nelipot Collective since 2015. Sarah has been part of Nelipot’s major independent works, Adrift (2018) and Seasons and Reasons (2015), and performed with Nelipot at festivals and events around Tasmania. Her performance history also includes The Dark Chorus (Lucy Guerin Inc/Dark MOFO 2017) and Blacklist (Dark MOFO 2016, 2015). Sarah was a member of the Young Dancers Company in Melbourne from 2009-2010 and Drill Performance in Hobart from 2015-2016. Sarah also works as an animal physiologist and studies how animals respond to stresses such as climate change. She is a passionate science communicator and enjoys the challenge of working with a wide variety of audiences and using the arts to communicate complex scientific issues. Live arts performance provides an ideal forum for discovery, exploration and questioning and has the potential to reach audiences that may not otherwise engage with important scientific issues such as climate change and wilderness preservation.

ANDREA BREEN

Andrea Breen is an Australian multimedia artist, improviser, educator and composer living in lutruwita/Tasmania. She has worked with international teachers of performance improvisation, Al Wunder, Peter Trotman, Ruth Zaporah and Andrew Morrish and is mentored by Andrew Morrish. In 2014 she was commissioned to collaborate with New York-based Australian choreographer Rebecca McCormac (CoreDance Contemporary) to design the sound for performances of Of Loss: Grief's Transitions. In 2023 she was commissioned to compose for a film that celebrates St Brigid and women in community: HERSELF (county Galway, Ireland). In 2022 she presented (with a live improvisation, online) at the Performance Studies Network conference, University of Surrey UK; Recent improvisation performances include at: Precipice national improvisation festival (Canberra), Launceston Improvised Music Association, MONA-music and at Hobart community events. Andrea conducts regular classes in improvisation in Hobart. Andrea is a violist in the art orchestra that was an initiative of KickStart Arts, Tasmania in 2021 and that is now supported by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for further development. She is a member of the Clarence Jazz Festival ensemble for the performance of mulaka milaythina (composed by Nunami Sculthorpe-Green and Louise Denson). Andrea Breen's sound installations/performances include: t[w]o islands (Hobart 202; Brum Brum radio pieces, commissioned by Sisters Akousmatica for the Junction Arts Festival (Launceston 2021); Opening of Sally Rees’ exhibition Crone (Mona 2021); Dark Edge of Europe (Kinvara, Ireland 2019); Small Daily Showings (Melbourne 2013); Res/pond/ing (Brisbane 2010); Will the real Australia please stand up (commissioned by the University of Tasmania (1996) and Contemporary Art Space Tasmania (1997); improvisation-image-voice: a collaborative studio recording with Tasmanian poets (1999); and a live broadcast performance in the national Improvisation Awards (ABC Radio, 1999). She has devised, collaborated on and directed musical theatre and dance works for the Adelaide Fringe (dancemusic 2015), Hobart Fringe Festivals (Conundrum 2001, Clown Pieces 2002), and has been resident musician with Playback Theatre. Recordings of her experimental sound and poetry oeuvre have been broadcast on ABC new music programs and recently on community radio. She has completed two artist residencies at the Burren College of Art (county Clare, Ireland) and will return to BCA for another residency in 2023.

TULLIA CHUNG-TILLEY

Tullia Chung-Tilley is a passionate school teacher, dancer, choreographer, and advocate for the Arts. Movement has been a large part of her existence, from cultural dance styles to commercial repertoire. She thrives on being involved in creative dance endeavours for community engagement and social and environmental expression. She began contemporary dance in year eleven and has a background in gymnastics, springboard diving and trampolining. Her choreographic work varies from classroom settings and dance studios to fitness centres and youth and community groups. Over the past fifteen Tullia has worked with schools in the Clarence Plains (Hobart) area and Kununurra (WA) as a dance teacher, facilitator and creative producer with school and community based performances at events such as the Harvest Festival (Clarence City Council), 24 Carrot Carnival (Material Institute), and inter school performing arts showcases. This work is extremely important in facilitating young people to have their perspectives and voices seen and heard in an ever evolving VUCA (Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex, Ambiguous) world. Tullia has performed with The Nelipot Collective in a number of prestigious festivals and events based in lutruwita including the Nayri Niara Good Spirit Festival, Tarkine in Motion (Bob Brown Foundation), Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival, Clarence Jazz Festival, DRILL's 10 Year Anniversary, and independent performances. As an independent dancer, Tullia has worked with and performed with DRILL in their projects 'The Stance' (10 Days on the Island) and 'A Call to Arms' (video collaboration with the Bob Brown Foundation), and for MONA's Dark Mofo events 'Blacklist' and 'Pope Alice', and Geneva Jacuzzi.

EMMA MILEY

Emma Miley was born in nipaluna/Hobart and attended classical dance from an early age, culminating in five years of formal study in dance and movement at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). While continuing to maintain a strong interest in dance she has integrated her formal dance training into her highly regarded and diverse yoga practice and teaching which takes her throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Emma’s yoga practice embodies her passion and respect for the environment - supporting participants to find balance and groundedness - delivering events such as nature yoga retreats around lutriwita and specialised yoga courses. Emma has maintained and extended her dance practice, working with The Nelipot Collective since 2017, which has created many opportunities to perform around lutriwita/Tasmania. A highlight of this has been the strength, bonds, friendships and connections that have emerged and developed amongst the core and previous collaborators ranging from musicians, dramaturgs, dancers, costume and set designers, and festival convenors. In addition, Emma has performed at large events such as Dark Mofo's Night Mass. Emma is now sharing her love and knowledge of classical ballet by teaching at Industrie Performing Arts.

Previous Collaborators

Ivett Simon

Ivett Simon has migrated to Australia from Hungary in her early 20’s. Her creative history has seen her through photography projects in Transylvania, painting and conceptual art in Sydney, fashion design in Melbourne and she now finally lives in Hobart working on her sustainable accessories label www.ivimade.com. Her work has been exhibited at green fashion events at Lavera fashion show in Berlin, the Arts of Fashion foundation in Philadelphia, Melbourne fashion week and the Sustainable living Expo in Hobart to name a few. The common thread running through her practice is respect for the environment, a wonder for nature and positive social impact. She loves hiking, roller blading and dancing.

Suzy Manigian

Suzy Manigian studied film making and print making at Sydney College of the Arts in the 1980s, studied drama in the UK and moved to Tasmania in 1990. She established VanDiemonium making hemp napery in the 1990s and was part of the Tolstoy Sisters and Dolly Putin and the Kazakstan Kowgerls women’s singing ensembles. Since 2000 she has been working in event production as producer, maker, production manager, stage manager and designer for the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the National Folk Festival, Sydney Writers Festival, the Festival of Voices and 10 Days on the Island. She now works full time at Peregrine School in the Huon Valley.

DEVA OʼWHEEL

Deva OʼWheel is a visual artist and costume designer with an extensive career in the circus and theatre industry. She studied Costume for Performance and Visual Arts in Lismore (NSW). These studies have led her to integrating costume, installation and performance with a love of textiles and up-cycling. She is passionate about sustainable clothing and creates up-cycled and original clothing under her eco fashion label Altered State Clothing.

ANDREI NIKULINSKY

Andrei Nikulinsky is a composer and musician and producer of electronic music. Favouring the bass guitar as a tool for the construction of vast, ambient soundscapes, he also has upcoming international techno and psychedelic-trance releases. Andrei is currently recording and mixing a demo album for the local singer/songwriter Isabel Quigley and collaborating with a variety of other musicians on various musical projects.

ROBERT FLEHR

Robert Flehr studied Dance Performance at the Queensland University of Technology. Robert has been working professionally as an independent and collaborative dance artist for the last four years. He is a diverse performer with training in varied disciplines including contemporary dance, circus and samba. Since moving to Tasmania in August last year, Robert has been drawing on much of the local history and European folklore in Hobart to inspire his dance practice.

EMILY SHEPPARD

Emily Sheppard is a Tasmanian violinist/violist, improviser and composer. Trained in classical music at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne (2012/13), Emily is now a casual member of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She also performs in various contemporary folk bands and improvisation ensembles. Compositionally, she draws inspiration from diverse musical fields. Her music is informed by unconventional and resonant places spaces. She has performed in Hastings Cave, Marakoopa Cave and Mt Wellington/kunanyi observation shelter, supported by Arts Tasmania and Hobart City Council grants. She performed at the Tunnel Number Five festival in Darwin, curated by Anne Norman, inside 75-metre long oil storage tunnels. Emily is studying environmental science at the University of Tasmania, and her compositions and collaborations are increasingly inspired by her studies. She recorded an album ‘Portrait of Bob Brown’ with Michael Kieran Harvey, featuring her own composition ‘Aftermath’, which is inspired by being in the Tarkine/takayna following the 2016 bushfires.

EMMANUELLE DECOURTY

Emmanuelle has been a dedicated bodyworker for over ten years since moving from France to Tasmania. She trained in Remedial Massage, Ka Huna Bodywork, Stretch Therapy and more recently as a Hatha Yoga teacher. From early on, movement gave her a sense of freedom, strength, joy and creativity when she explored contemporary dance and dance theatre in her twenties, then Tai Chi, contact improvisation and tango in her thirties. Now in her forties, she is thrilled to be part of a collective with a cause and endeavours through her work, to support individual’s wellbeing in carrying on with their passion towards a more sustainable world.

PEMA CHOO

Pema Choo is a yoga teacher primarily but is expanding herself within multiple disciplines of the arts including movement, sculpture and music. Her endeavours typically hold high regard for the environment and sustainability as she is passionate about creative activism through various expressions. Pema creates sculpture using predominantly natural materials and upcycled objects to portray her messages and has been a part of projects such as the Tarkine in Motion.

ARWEN DYER

Arwen Dyer is a Tasmanian-based nature photographer. She has recently completed a residency in Lofoten Norway (supported by an Arts Tasmania grant) and in 2015 was an artist-in-residence in Karamea, New Zealand and, in 2014, on Flinders Island. Arwenʼs book Luminosity – Star, Sky & Sea was released in 2015. Arwenʼs exhibitions include: a retrospective at Find Your Feet Wilderness Gallery, a joint show with Wolfgang Glowacki at Jugglers Artspace (Brisbane) and at MIECAT Gallery (Melbourne), and a collaboration at the Side Space Gallery with sound artist Andrea Breen, plus various group shows including Tarkine in Motion, Island Light and Wild Island Galleryʼs Tasmanian Landscape Photography Awards. Arwen has a Masters in Creative Arts Therapy.

Adie Delaney

Adie is a multi-disciplinary physical performer and has travelled the world as an aerialist and circus acrobat at various festivals, mostly with the UK’s leading large-scale contemporary circus NoFitState. Personal highlights include playing the Roundhouse in London, the Tohu in Montreal, and being described as ‘irrepressible’ by Total Theatre magazine. Other projects include a smaller scale flying trapeze show that premiered in Finland, managing a circus school in the UK, and performing in a community engagement street circus. Adie returned home to Tasmania in 2015 to start The Circus Studio, and performs sporadically around the state.

HK Vermeulen

HK Vermeulen is a trans, non-binary performance artist, choreographer, producer, dancer and vocalist living with disability, based in nipaluna/Hobart. Currently, they are a teaching artist and choreographer for DRILL Performance Company, a Creative Producer for Nayri Niara and festival coordinator for the Gathering of the Goddesses. They own the artistic collective Haus of Trash, which creates, performs and celebrates Queer artistic works across lutruwita/Tasmania. HK recently graduated from the Tasmanian Community Funds’ Emerging Community Leaders program, a certificate 4 in Project Management, was a finalist in the Tasmanian Training Awards 2022 and are currently studying their Masters of Teaching and Diploma of Project Management. HK is passionate about truth, authenticity and how to give a platform to others to share their stories and voices. They are keenly interested in the weird and wonderful and love finding joyful moments in art.