Image by Evelyn Bryan
DAnce nexus 2023
in real life
Welcome to Dance Nexus, DRILL’s annual combined schools project, examining our relationships to technology & discovering our joys In Real Life.
The young people in this performance have worked with choreographers HK Vermeulen, Brianna Shahin and Bec Dundas, to collaboratively build a work that reflects the ideas and curiosities of the young people. Through the process they learn skills in choreography, creativity, collaboration as well as building relationships.
We hope you enjoy our performance!
Glenorchy Primary
Music: See Your Face by Electric Fields
Austins Ferry Primary
Music: Dance The Way I Feel by Ou Est Le Swimming Pool
Glenorchy Primary
Music: Karakul by Floating Points and Shake That Leg by Tjurrupu
Montrose Bay High School
Music: Real Life by Jack River
Windermere Primary School
Music: Daydreaming by Young Franco
Finale
Music: Desire by Sumner
CREDITS
Directors/Choreographers
HK Vermeulen
Brianna Shahin
DRILL Artistic Director
Bec Dundas
Producer
Cathryn Williams
Operations assistant
Evelyn Bryan
Supporting staff
Keia McGrady
Zoe Chilcott
Dance Nexus 2023 has been supported by Arts Tasmania, by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, the WD Booth Charitable Trust, Montrose Bay High School and the Healthy Tasmania Fund through the Tasmanian Government.
DRILL Performance Company Inc.
One of Australia’s leading youth dance companies, DRILL supports young people to create ambitious new works of contemporary dance for their community. Based in nipaluna/Hobart, we connect young Tasmanians with inspiring professional and emerging artists through our Junior and Senior Companies and schools-based programs.
DRILL empowers the next generation of leaders, thinkers, nurturers, and change-makers with a commitment to collaborative creative processes. Our works encourage young people to tell their stories, share their values, and voice their opinions through performance and physical expression. We bring young people together to form a tight-knit community, fostering a space for self-development and discovery built on trust and supported by kindness.
DRILL’s Senior Company (ages 13-25) and Junior Company (ages 9-12) create and perform new work annually and we welcome people with and without dance experience. All DRILL programs have a strong commitment to and focus on the entire wellbeing of the young people involved.
HK Vermeulen
HK is a non-binary, Hobart-based dance and performance artist, holding a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tasmania. They performed with youth dance company DRILL periodically since 2007 and in 2018 they began leading the company’s work in schools. They co-choreographed works for DRILL’s Junior Company in 2018 and 2020, and have delivered a number of DRILL’s Dance Nexus Programs in schools including Dance Nexus Glenorchy (2022), Dance Nexus Clarence (2021), Dance Nexus Clarence (2020) and Dance Nexus West Coast (2020). They have also choreographed and delivered Mona's 24 Carrot Carnival in 2019 and 2020 in association with DRILL.
They own their own company Haus of Trash, performing across Tasmania and running workshops for others to discover and express their own individuality. They have also performed at various events including, Ten Days on the Island, Dark Mofo, MONA FOMA, the Taste of Tasmania, Falls Festival Marion Bay and Splendour in the Grass. They are keenly interested in the weird and wonderful, and love finding joyful moments in art.
Brianna Shahin
Brianna Shahin performed with DRILL’s Senior Company for our Ten Days on the Island performance Be Here, and showed us all what a beautiful mover she is. She recently moved to lutruwita after completing her Bachelor of Anthropology. She also completed Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-professional year, holds a Certificate IV in Dance with Ev & Bow and was a performer in Stephanie Lake’s extraordinary work Colossus, at the Sydney Festival. She recently participated in Dancenorth’s secondment program in Townsville and is furthering her interests in exploring the connection between mind and body through dance and improvisation.
Bec Dundas
Bec Dundas is a performer, producer, director & educator living in lutruwita/Tasmania.
Bec studied at Adelaide College of the Arts, completing a Bachelor Dance Performance Degree in 2009.
As a dancer, Bec has performed with Australian companies Leigh Warren and Dancers, Opera Australia & Tasdance & performed in works by Prue Lang, Frances Rings, Graeme Murphy, Jukstapoz, Liesel Zink, Gabrielle Nankivell and Stephanie Lake.
Through company work, Bec has been fortunate to tour to international festivals including The Holland Dance Festival, The Oz Asia Festival, Edinburgh Festival & national festivals in Melbourne, Brisbane & Adelaide, broadening Bec’s experience of arts landscapes in unique places.
Bec has a deep curiosity for cross-pollinating movement forms & engaging with hybrid artists from multiple movement disciplines.
In 2018 Bec began a creative exchange with Finnish artist, Anna-Maria Vaisanen - with visits to & from Tasmania & Finland - resulting in their work premiering at Paikallisliike Festivaali in Kuopio (supported by ITAK) & Lonely in the Rain Festival in Joensuu (supported by Salamanca Arts/Arts Tasmania).
Passionate for youth dance, Bec has worked with Stompin, DRILL and The Australian Dance Theatre Youth Ensemble. Bec also thrives in supporting the pathway from youth dance to tertiary dance education. Lecturing in some of Australia’s most highly regarded institutions, including Adelaide College of the Arts, The VCA, WAAPA (LINK) & Brent Street Studios, Bec has had exciting choreographic opportunities over her career & enjoyed nurturing emerging dance artists.
Through working across Marketing in both the Arts & Tourism industries, Bec has evolved into an artist with a diverse skill set that spans across the spectrum of performing, directing & producing. Working with Junction Arts Festival, Assembly 197 & independently, Bec has co-produced shows for outdoor theatre & in festival environments. Throughout 2022, Bec worked as Associate Producer with Assembly 197 and most recently was the Acting Artistic Director of Stompin Youth Dance for six months.