The Mill and Dancehouse Melbourne are thrilled to announce Andrew Barnes as this year's recipient of the Keir Choreographic Award Public Program, Hotbed and Asia Topa workshops.
About the artist:
Photographer: Zoe Gay
Andrew Barnes, hailing from Adelaide suburbia, completed his Bachelor of Arts at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2017 majoring in ballet. He went on to participate in LINK Dance Company under the directorship of Michael Whaites in 2018, where he decided to make the switch to the dark side (contemporary dance). After the year with LINK, Andrew worked with Lewis Major Productions in a development and research period.
Andrew is a founding member of Syndicate Performance, an independent movement collective in Perth. They explore the human state, what makes us who we are and what makes us tick, jump, dance, and scream. In 2017 he choreographed and performed in a work developed for the Perth Fringe Festival and in 2019 performed at the Australian Dance Theatres' Rough Draft season in 2019 and also in Vital Statistix' program Adhocracy. At this point in time, Andrew is dancing with Motus Collective, an independent collective based in Adelaide.
Andrew is currently creating works based around the sub-cultures and derivation of dance in the EDM culture. He is interested in the culture that surrounds the new age social dances of festivals, nightclubs and doofs. Ideas surrounding what makes people dance, why they dance the way they do and whether their dance styles are born from the music, the people or whether it is one cohesive unit.
In the coming year, Andrew is looking forward to reigning in his artistic values and interests, whether it's creating dance works for stage and galleries or developing and sharing workshops for different festivals and people throughout Australia.