Capstone Dance Research Projects 2026 - Thursday 5 Nov

VCA Dance presents capstone research projects from Master of Dance students.
View all performances in the program here.

Program

Everyday, Every Day: Traces & Resonance by Aslam Abdus-samad

breathing into being by Aiting Zhang

Just Another Day by Sijie Chen

006 by Tianjiao Li

Duration

This event will run for approximately 2 hours, across four performances. Any latecomers will be admitted at the discretion of Front of House.

Venue Information

This event takes place in Studio 221, which is located in the St Kilda Road Performing Arts Building. Please meet Front of House near the ramp on St Kilda Road to be admitted to the event space.

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Kialea-Nadine Williams 2026

Aslam Abdus-samad

Everyday, Every Day: Traces & Resonance is an interactive installation asking you to become witness to the Spectacle of the Mundane. Discover the traces of the everyday, turn your attention to the mundane, and notice what is right in front of you. How is standing on the train different than standing to look at a picture? Or sitting in class different to watching a show? Laying in bed or the grass? Explore, discover and notice.

Content Warnings
This performance contains the following staging and sensory elements:

• Immersive staging

• Installation performance; audience may move around the space and engage with various elements

Credits

Aslam Abdus-samad, writing, editing, video and movement

Aiting Zhang

Breathing into Being explores how movement can emerge from breath, weight, attention and changing relationships within the body. Beginning from a quiet, seed-like state, the work gradually expands through continuity, interruption, spatial awareness and renewed connection. Inspired by Tai Chi practice and contemporary dance, the piece does not reproduce traditional forms, but traces how bodily principles can be transformed into new choreographic possibilities. Through shifting states of stillness, flow and reorganisation, the body moves between sensing, responding and becoming.

Credits

Amy Aiting, choreographer and performer

Sijie Chen

Just Another Day begins with the smallest details of everyday life, exploring familiar gestures and routines. Through the choreographer’s embodied understanding and personal interpretation, these movements are transformed into dance-like material. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, the work explores shifting relationships between the body, objects and space, allowing the familiar to take on an unfamiliar quality..

Credits
Sijie Chen, choreographer and performer

Tianjiao Li

006 is a choreographic experiment exploring visual input, instructions, and the translation of movement from 2D imagery into 3D space.

Drawing on the six stars and connecting lines of the “Neichu” asterism in the Dunhuang Star Chart, the work employs two instructions, “Assignment to a Line” and “down before up, right before left, close before open”, to investigate how points, lines, and spatial relationships can be translated into bodily movement and developed into choreographic material.

Credits
Tianjiao Li, choreographer and performer

Dr. Gareth Belling, choreographic supervision

Dr. Derrick Brown-Appenzeller, research supervision

Jiaqing Li, performer

Nate Killiby, performer

Ben Burchat, performer

Sijie Chen, performer

Chaowei Liang, performer

• Please arrive at the venue at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to secure your seat. Due to high demand, if you have not arrived by the start of the event, your ticket may be released to any waiting patrons at the door. 

• Please stay home if you feel unwell, even with mild symptoms. Face masks are welcome in all settings for community and personal safety.    

• Admission to any of our concerts and events is strictly at the discretion of Front of House. We have zero tolerance for any disrespectful behaviour.  

PARKING 

The City of Melbourne has changed the parking restrictions around the Southbank Campus. Parking control hours are now expanded to 7am–10pm, seven days per week, and are capped at three hours. A $2-per-hour fee after 7pm is also now in place. There is no change to the $4-per-hour peak rate between 7am–7pm. Parking inspectors are regularly in the area fining drivers who overstay their meter, so we encourage everyone to be aware and avoid an expensive fine.  

ACCESSIBILITY 

We are committed to making our events accessible and will accommodate requirements wherever possible. All venues at the Southbank campus are wheelchair accessible. Please contact us at fineartsmusic-tickets@unimelb.edu.au if you have any questions. 

Read more about accessibility at our venues.