MEET:JULIE WADDINGTON

Image by Rebecca Thomson

Julie is our new stellar Executive Producer at DRILL

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Julie is a theatre maker, director, producer and educator who has spent a significant part of her 25-year career working in youth arts.  She spent several years in Melbourne working with companies such as St Martins Youth Arts, The National Theatre School, La Mama, Melbourne Fringe Festival, and the Arts Centre Melbourne. 

In 2007 she moved to South Australia to be Artistic Director of Riverland Youth Theatre. Since returning home to Tasmania in 2010 Julie has worked for many local arts companies including the Tasmanian Theatre Company, Ten Days on the Island and Performing Lines TAS.  Julie is also the producer and co-creator of The Motherload a multi-outcome arts project exploring the ‘mental load’ of motherhood, which toured regional Tasmania in 2023.

“I have been passionate about working with young people in creative practice for over 25 years and am excited to be joining Bec to co-lead the company in this next chapter.  I have been so warmly welcomed by everyone and joining DRILL feels like coming home.”

We talked with Julie about all of the essentials this week...

What are three things about you that we might find fascinating and surprising?

  • I have a Bachelor of Science, with a double major in Plant Science and English Literature

  • My first job was in a video store, and my second was in an ice cream parlour

  • I went to dance classes as a five-year-old, but only for a year.  Despite my lack of dance experience, I decided it was a good idea to perform a solo dance in my school’s Talent Quest when I was in year 6.

    These days I mostly dance in my kitchen.

For more chats, or a cup of coffee, reach out to Julie anytime at julie@drillperformance.com

It's not too late to join Junior Company!

Do you know a young person aged 9-12 who might like to dance? And create amazing art with paper and fabric during our school holiday workshops?

For those that missed our show call, there are still a couple of spots to join our Junior Company project KALEIDOSCOPE - performing at Moonah Arts Centre in March! We kick off Tuesday 30th of January with a four-day school holiday intensive at MAC exploring the intersect of dance and design alongside two incredible creatives - Edith Perrenot and Brianna Shahin.

Click on the button below for all the colourful details on how to sign your young one up to join the fun! No dance experience necessary.

Got questions? Get in touch at contact@drillperformance.com

Junior Company is supported by Arts Tasmania and presented in collaboration with Moonah Arts Centre.

Image created by Evelyn Bryan and Bec Dundas

ARE YOU DRILL'S NEXT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER?

DRILL is on the hunt for our next EP!

The Executive Producer will work in close partnership with DRILL’s Artistic Director to deliver our annual program of activity. The current General Manager role has been reimagined into the Executive Producer position, which will entail a greater involvement in working with our amazing young people, to better fit DRILL’s operational needs.

Click the button below to read a full position description of the role and read through the application information package. Closing date for applications is Monday, 15 January, 2024.

If you would like to discuss the position further, please contact DRILL’s chair, Lesley Graham from January 3 at:
Lesley@drillperformance.com | 0412 364 224
Interviews are expected to be held after 22 January

Please share with your networks and have a safe and happy festive season!

- The team at DRILL

Image by Remi Chauvin, from AGE, 2023

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Join Junior Company for Kaleidoscope - Show Call 13 January

DRILL Performance Company Inc.

Kaleidoscope SHOW CALL for young people aged 9-12.

10.00am – 1pm

Saturday 13 January 2024, Kickstart, St Johns Ave, New Town.

 

Calling young movers and groovers aged 9-12!

Starting with all-day school holiday workshops 30 January – 2 February at MAC, Kaleidoscope will explore the messy and wild parts of ourselves and personalities.

 

DRILL is nipaluna/Hobart’s youth dance company, and we are inviting young people aged 9-12 to join our Junior Company. No dance experience is required. Kaleidoscope is a new work investigating the intersection of dance and design, to develop something that is colourful, explosive and fun – with the young people actively involved in creating choreography and contemporary design alongside professional artists Bec Dundas, Edith Perrenot and Brianna Shahin. Performances of Kaleidoscope will be 15-16 March at MAC.

 

The Show Call on 13 January is a FREE workshop to allow young people to experience a DRILL creative space and see if the project is right for them. The fee to participate in the full season is $170, which includes our school holiday intensive, Saturday rehearsals, Wednesday technique class with AD Bec Dundas and all other aspects of the performance including costume. Bursaries and ticket-to-play are also available.

 

Junior Company is supported by Arts Tasmania and presented in collaboration with Moonah Arts Centre. 

Image by Bec Dundas and Evelyn Bryan

See First Sketch this weekend

Join us for our 'First Sketch' of three new short works, fully devised and directed by DRILL Senior Company members.

This six-week choreographic lab has provided a testing ground for our young artists to explore creative concepts that interest them and test the waters on being dance makers with mentorship from our DRILL AD.

Our focus for this project has been developing skills and confidence in curating work in site-specific locations. The program will be presented in curious outdoor spaces in and around the grounds of Kickstart Arts – the home of DRILL.

Come along to one of our three showings to see works-in-progress choreographed by Evelyn Bryan, Kyle Lamb and Molly Taplin.

Duration | 45 mins
Saturday 9th December | 5pm
Sunday 10th December | 2pm + 5pm
Cost | FREE

Where: Kickstart Arts, 12 St Johns Avenue, New Town

See you there!

 BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET 

First Sketch 2023 has been supported by Arts Tasmania, by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and Kickstart Arts.

Dance Nexus performance 24 November

We are delighted that we are collaborating again with Montrose Bay High School, Austins Ferry, Glenorchy, Goodwood and Windermere Primary Schools, to create a collaborative dance work In Real Life.

Parents and friends of our performers are invited to attend the performance. Tickets are available here:

And please find the programme here:


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.

Bruny Island Dance Residency - July

Our AD, Bec, had the pleasure of spending a week on Bruny Island recently with Bruny Island District School in Alonnah. The week coincided with NAIDOC Week and so commenced with an introduction and welcome from Uncle Rodney Dillon, sharing stories about Mutton Birds, Whales, Bruny and taking care of the land.

Bec supported the students through tasking, improvisation, drawing and movement games to create their own dance inspired by the Bruny Island landscape, its inhabitants big and small, and their own impressions and responses to Uncle Rodney’s storytelling. Guided by Aboriginal education consultant, Hayley, the students participated in many other important discussions around the NAIDOC Week theme this year, For our Elders, and created videos to share along with their dance at the assembly celebrating the week.

‘I was particularly inspired by their willingness to listen and become more curious about movement and connecting through dance across the week. This school has a very nurturing environment and an extremely dedicated teaching team. The students spend lunch times building things, dancing, playing drums and running around wild in their blunny’s in the mud. This sense of freedom and abandonment was also obvious in our sessions together and their openness to partake in all of our activities and tasks. Bruny Island is very special, I feel super lucky to have spent time there with the community and school and see how acceptance, inclusivity and wellness is so beautifully weaved into the curriculum (including lunch time yoga!)

-Bec

We hope to return to Bruny again for another creative residency in the future! A huge thanks to the entire faculty for so much support and encouragement throughout our time together.

Should DRILL come to your school?? Get in touch with Bec or Cathryn here: admin@drillperformance.com