AUSTI Company Classes 2025

AUSTI. Dance and Physical Theatre company class are open for intermediate - advanced level dancers. Classes are run by the director, Michelle Maxwell, former company artists and highly experienced guest teachers. Classes run intermittently throughout the year depending on the company’s performance and rehearsal schedule. 

COST:

1.5 hour classes = $15

2 hour workshop/classes = $20

4 hour workshop/classes = $40                                                                                                                                                     

All proceeds go towards supporting AUSTI. Dance and Physical Theatre's annual programs. We thank you kindly for your support!

Please see upcoming classes/workshops below:

OCTOBER 2025:

OPEN BALLET with Hannah Nash

• Thursday 30 October, 10.30 - 12.00pm

Born in rural NSW, Hannah completed her full time training at Alegria Dance Studios in Sydney. When she was 17, she moved to London to begin studying at the English National Ballet School. During her time at school, she toured the UK with My First Ballet: Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. On graduating in 2020, Hannah accepted a contract with Národní Divadlo Moravskoslezské of Ostrava, Czech Republic as a corps de ballet member with soloist obligations. After 3 seasons performing a wide range of classical and contemporary works, Hannah returned to London to work with English National Ballet on Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella performed in the Royal Albert Hall. Most recently Hannah has performed as a freelance artist with the Ukrainian Classical Ballet on three European tours.

OPEN CONTEMPORARY with Marni Green

• Friday 31 October, 12.00 - 2.00pm

Marni is a dancer working across Naarm/Melbourne, born in Wollongong, NSW. 

Marni has worked for artists and companies including Stephanie Lake Company, Lucy Guerin Inc, Antony Hamilton/Chunky Move (Yung Lung, 2022), Israel Aloni and Lee Brummer. She is currently performing in Stephanie Lake Company’s Manifesto and The Chronicles, touring nationally and internationally. Marni is also a Rehearsal Director for Colossus.

Marni began her training at a young age as a ballet dancer. She trained at Queensland Ballet’s Senior Program before undertaking Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Course (under the direction of Linda Gamblin), followed by Tr.IPP (Transit International Professional Pathway) under the direction of Israel Aloni.

NOVEMBER 2025:

COUNTER TECHNIQUE Class with Madeline Harms

• Saturday 1 November, 10.00 - 11.30am

COUNTER TECHNIQUE Workshop with Madeline Harms

• Saturday 1 November, 11.45 - 2.00pm

Born and raised in Australia, Madeline completed her Bachelor of Dance (BDa) at the Codarts University for the Arts, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Basing herself in Europe for a further 10 years, she worked as an independent artist before joining tanzmainz, the dance company of Staatstheater Mainz, Germany, under the direction of Honne Dohrmann. There she worked closely in creations with choreographers Sharon Eyal (L-E-V), Rafaële Giovanola (Cocoon Dance), Roy Assaf, Guy Weizman and Roni Haver (Club Guy & Roni), amongst many others, and toured extensively throughout Europe and abroad. In 2022 Madeline joined Sydney Dance Company, performing nationally and abroad with works by Rafael Bonachela, Antony Hamilton and Tra Mi Dinh. Most recently she performed with Stephanie Lake Company (Melbourne), touring the award winning work Manifesto by Stephanie Lake.

WHAT IS COUNTERTECHNIQUE?
Countertechnique provides tools for body and mind to deal with the deman­ding dance practice of the 21st century. It is a movement system to help the dancer think about the dancing body, focusing on the process of incorporating information into action.
Countertechnique was developed by Dutch choreographer, dancer and teacher, Anouk van Dijk throughout her twenty-five year career. Over the last eighteen years, the knowledge and experience she gained – in constant dialogue with her dancers – was gradually transformed into a detailed theoretical system and a teaching method, which now together form the Countertechnique system.

SOCIAL MEDIA (Online) with Buddy Malbasias

• Saturday 8 November, 12.00- 2.00pm

Buddy Malbasias is a Filipino Australian (Bukidnon-born) independent artist-researcher, director, choreographer and performer, working at the intersection of contemporary performance, waacking and interdisciplinary experimentation. Rooted in Filipino diaspora, Buddy’s practice traverses cultural hybridity, queer identity and imaginative world-building, serving as conduits for interrogating/reimagining the ‘immigrant Filipino’ body.

Supported by national and international residencies, Buddy has become a dynamic voice in QLD’s artistic landscape having worked with leading global voices such as Studio1, QLD Museum, Ars Electronica Austria, Stephanie Lake, Catapult Dance, BrisFest and Johannes Kepler University.

A QUT BFA (Dance) University Medalist (Summa Cum Laude) and scholarship recipient, Buddy's works span live and digital contexts, including Lato2x (AUSTI., AIR), Anino (Awarded), Obserbahi:Observe (APAC, AIR) and his debut independent work, Bahala/o presented by Metro Arts this Nov 19-29.  Through choreographic and embodied methodologies, Buddy crafts performance ecologies that disrupt conventional modes of spectatorship and invite critical reflection to provoke, connect, resonate

CREATIVE PRACTICE with Renata Commisso

• 14 & 15 November, 10.00 - 2.00pm

Renata Commisso is a regional NSW-based independent dancer, maker, and educator. She has over 15 years of experience performing with renowned contemporary dance companies and choreographers across Europe, North America, and Australia. As a maker, her choreographic works, including YOUWHO? and Motherhood, have been presented at Sydney Fringe and embedded into the Western Sydney University curriculum. She has also choreographed inclusive works such as Look the Part (Bus Stop Films) and Fluffy (Sydney Festival 2022). Alongside her facilitation and teaching, Renata is committed to creating accessible, high-quality dance and theatre experiences that spark imagination, connection, and transformation.

OPEN CONTEMPORARY with Jack Tuckerman

• Friday 21 November, 10.00 - 11.30am

Born in regional New South Wales, Jack (He/Him) began training in contemporary dance with Wollongong-based youth company AUSTI Dance and Physical Theatre in 2015.  In 2018 he began his BA with the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, graduating January 2021. Jack is currently involved with ongoing creative projects in Newcastle, Wollongong and Sydney as part of his continued partnership with Catapult Choreographic Hub, Proper Motion and Dance Makers Collective’s Future Makers program, as well as his own independent choreographic work.

Jack’s recent credits include ‘Rhapsody’ by Omer Backley-Astrachan (September 2023) and Cadi McCarthy’s ‘Grappling for the Edge’ (September 2022) with Catapult Dance.  Lisa Maris McDonell’s ‘Optimal Stopping’ Wollongong (April 2023) and Mexico City (August 2023) and Raul Tamez’s ‘Kauyumari’ (March 2023) with Proper Motion and his self choreographed show ‘Fault Lines’ (November 2022) co-choreographed by Mikayla Osborne through Catapult Dance’s PROPEL residency program.

OPEN CONTEMPORARY with Hoyori Maruo

• Saturday 22 November, 10.00 - 12.00pm

Hoyori Maruo (she/her) is a movement artist based in Sydney, Australia. She graduated in 2020 with a CUA51520 Diploma in Professional Dance and continued her training through Gibney Dance (NYC) under the mentorship of Jessica Smith. She was a soloist for Chelsea Thedinga’s film Chatter, Cat Cogliandro’s Oh you Bloody, Sam Lobel’s The Diner and a dancer in The Fairy Queen by Pinchgut Opera.

In collaboration with Alex Schmidt, Hoyori choreographed and performed Jane Doe(s) which was presented at Modern Moves (NYC) and B12’s Free Radicals (Berlin). Hoyori also choreographed Run from the Shadows which premiered in the Obremski/Works (NYC) evening length shows. Most recently, she performed in An Honest Conversation with Sacha Copeland as part of FORM Dance Project’s show That’s Two, Thank You and is a dancer in the international tour of Riley Fitzgerald’s EveryB0dy’s G0t a B0mB. Now residing in Australia, Hoyori continues to perform, teach and choreograph.

CREATIVE PRACTICE with Amber McCartney

• Saturday 29 November, 10.00 - 12.00pm

Amber McCartney is a Naarm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Her practice incorporates prosthetics, mask-making, film and practical special effects to create new augmented bodies. Amber has worked extensively with Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc. and is a creative associate of Tasdance. Amber was commissioned by Sydney Dance Company to create ‘leech’ for New Breed 24. She received the John Truscott Artists Award for her solo Tiny Infinite Deaths, performed in RISING 2023, originally commissioned by Lucy Guerin Inc and The Substation. In 2023 Amber premiered her solo Baby Girl, commissioned by Tasdance, for MONA FOMA. In 2022 she was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship from Lucy Guerin Inc. She won a Green Room Award for Best Performer in Prue Lang’s Project F and was a finalist for Telstra Emerging Choreographer Award. Her film Tiny Passenger was screened in dance(lens), Dancehouse. In 2020 Amber was a recipient of Chunky Move’s Solitude 1 and created her film Softtrap for the 2021 Activators program.

(Company Class image by Children of the Revolution Photography)