AUSTI. Summer Workshops 2027

AUSTI SUMMER WORKSHOPS

Our summer workshop is the perfect platform for all dancers to get themselves mentally and physically ready for the training year ahead! Dance with qualified and experienced teaching artists over one or two days of workshops, held in the Northern Suburbs of Wollongong.  

Contemporary, ballet and Physical Theatre technique, exclusive international and national repertoire, and valuable improvisation techniques delivered by highly skilled AUSTI Company Artists, in our unique AUSTI way.

This year we welcome Lachlan Grogan, Amber McCartney, Caitlin Mewett, Hannah Nash and Demi Martin teaching across Ballet, Contemporary and Physical Theatre.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Early career and recent graduates looking to deepen their practice, expand their creative skills, and connect with industry professionals in a supportive, professional environment. (14yrs & over)

TICKETS:

1 Day: $70 | 2 Days: $130   

1 Class: $25 | 2 Classes: $50  

Early Bird discounts apply before 22nd December

SCHEDULE:

TUES 13th & WED 14th January 2026

TUES 12th

9.45am - 10.00am: Acknowledgement of Country

10.00am -11.30am: Hannah Nash (Ballet)

11.45am - 1.15pm: Caitlin Mewett (Contemporary)

1.15pm - 1.40pm - BREAK

1.40pm - 3.15pm- Lachlan Grogan (Physical Theatre)

WED 13th

10.00am -11.30am: Demi Martin (Ballet)

11.45am - 1.15pm: Amber McCartney (Contemporary)

1.15pm - 1.40pm - BREAK

1.40pm - 3.15pm- Lachlan Grogan (Physical Theatre)

This is a fundraising event. All proceeds go towards supporting AUSTI. Dance and Physical Theatre's developmental dance company's annual programs. We thank you kindly for your support!

MEET OUR ARTISTS

Caitlin Mewett - Caitlin Mewett is an emerging dance artist who relocated to Naarm/Melbourne from Wollongong (NSW). Caitlin has worked and danced with Australian companies Lucy Guerin Inc, Chunky Move, and TasDance. She has worked closely with Lucy Guerin Inc in works PENDULUM (2022, 2024), NEWRETRO (2023), NEWRETRO Redux (2024), and How to be Us (2023). In January 2024, she toured with LGI to Paris for their season at Chaillot Théâtre national de la Danse. Caitlin also performed in TasDance’s work Collision (2022) choreographed by Jo Lloyd, for Launceston’s Junction Arts Festival. She also worked with Chunky Move for their work Rewards for The Tribe (2022), choreographed by Antony Hamilton for Melbourne RISING Festival. In 2021, Caitlin graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), where she was awarded the Agnes Robertson Dance Entry Scholarship and the Lionel Gell Foundation Scholarship.

Demi Martin - Demi Martin is a classical ballet teacher, studio owner, and youth company director with a strong foundation in classical and contemporary dance. She trained at Nicole Marie School of Dance before completing full-time studies at Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy, achieving RAD Advanced II and Cecchetti Advanced I with distinction & high distinction. Demi became a Registered Teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance in 2018 and has since prepared students for RAD examinations from Primary through Advanced II.

Demi performed with Austinmer Dance Theatre for four years and undertook contemporary residencies with Metamorphosis Dance Collective in Mexico City, San Sebastián, and Lisbon. In 2018, she established Demi Jean Dance and in 2023 founded Ballet Blanc Youth Company, producing Cinderella (2024) and Coppélia (2025), providing dancers with opportunities to work with specialised coaches and expand their knowledge of ballet history, stagecraft, and performance artistry.

Hannah Nash - 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 spent the 24/25 season as a freelance artist with the Ukrainian Classical Ballet, and the 25/26 season with Brisbane Ballet. 

Amber McCartney- Amber McCartney is a Dharawal Country/Wollongong 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. She has collaborated with independent artists such as Jo Lloyd, Jenni Large, Prue Lang, James Batchelor, Antony Hamilton Projects, Alisdair Macindoe and Stephanie Lake.

Amber 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 and The Tanja Liedtke Foundation’s Solitude 1 and created her film Softtrap for the 2021 Activators program.

Lachlan Grogan - Lachlan is a theatre-maker and movement artist from Unanderra, NSW. He completed the Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts at ED5International, and has since gone on to perform across film, theatre, and television. Lachlan has taught consistently at schools across NSW both for dance and drama and TheatreSports. His original work 'Service' debuted in September as part of the MerrigongX Presentation Season.

(Promotional image by Michelle Maxwell)