Sue Healey is a Sydney-based choreographer, educator, filmmaker and installation artist. She was awarded the prestigious Australia Council Award for Dance in 2021.
Recent work includes:
AFTERWORLD a new major performance work with live musician Laurence Pike and 5 dancers for Sydney Festival 2025
On View: ICONS installation for Sydney Festival 2024
The Long Walk commissioned by OzAsia festival 2022
On View: Panoramic Suite for Liveworks Festival and West Kowloon Hong Kong, 2021
Circumstance 2020, a film with Sydney Dance Company PPY's, premiered in December and screened Sydney Festival 2021
Live Action Relay performed Liveworks Festival, Sydney (Oct 2020) and
On View: Panorama created and toured in Japan (Kinosaki, Yokohama and Nagoya) Jan/Feb. 2020
Her film Eileen won the prestigious Opus Klassik in Berlin (Best Music Video) in 2023 with German musicians David Orlowksy and David Bergmuller and was a finalist in MOVIN' Cannes dance film festival, France 2023. Sue was a 2021 and 2019 Fishers Ghost Award Finalist, 65th Blake prize finalist 2018, Digital Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery Australia 2017 finalist (portrait of Eileen Kramer). She created 2 major public art commissions in 2017; En Route for Wynscreen and City as Portrait Gallery exhibited at the Customshouse, Sydney. She has won 6 Australian Dance Awards for Dance on Film/New Media and for Independent Dance and 2 Hong Kong Dance Awards for On View: Hong Kong (Best Visual Design 2017) and On View: Panoramic Suite 2021.
Originally from New Zealand, Sue graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, before becoming a founding member of Nanette Hassall’s Dance Works in Melbourne. Sue performed and choreographed with this company from 1983-88, and then continued her training in New York with Merce Cunningham School and Trisha Brown Company. Returning to Australia she became Artistic Director of Vis-à-Vis Dance Canberra (1993-96) and a commissioned independent artist (1996-present). Her work has toured to USA, UK, NZ and Asia.
Sue gained her Masters Degree in Choreography (2000) from Melbourne University and was awarded a Dance Board Choreographic Fellowship from the Australia Council 1999/2000 and the Robert Helpmann Scholarship (Arts NSW) for 2009/10.
Sue received the prestigious Creative Fellowship in 2013-14 from the Australia Council for Arts, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
Sue led an international Screendance workshop – New Works Forum: Screendance, produced by West Kowloon Cultural District in 2015 and Taiwan 2016, and 2017 and continued this collaboration into 2016-19 to create On View: Panorama, a major international work in collaboration with artists in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, produced by West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and Aichi Arts Centre. The first stage of this project On View: Hong Kong was performed and exhibited at Artistree, Hong Kong in November 2017. The next iteration of this work On View: Panorama was created in Japan in Jan 2020 and performed in Kinosaki, Yokohama and Nagoya. Because of COVID 19 the work was unable to continue to tour to Sydney and Hong Kong. In light of this, a final new work On View: Panoramic Suite was created with local dancers only, and was presented at the Carriageworks as part of Liveworks Festival (as a digital broadcast due to sudden lockdown) 2021. It was performed live at the Freespace theatre, West Kowloon precinct in 2021.
Based in Sydney, since 2000 she has created 4 major collections of works: Niche series (2002-04), In Time series (2005-07), Curiosities series (2008-12) and On View series (2013 - present). These encompass over 55 works across live performance, dance film, gallery installations and international collaborations. They have won awards nationally and internationally and the major works from each series have been presented by Sydney Opera House and have toured to Melbourne, Canberra, New Zealand and Japan.
Experimenting with form and perception, Healey creates dance for diverse spaces: theatres, galleries and the screen.
Healey is an acknowledged pioneer of dance on screen. Her films are widely acclaimed and have won many awards, screening in over 30 countries. Her films have been finalists in major international film festivals and have been broadcast by Australian and European television networks.
She has created 10 major films with cinematographer Judd Overton, her key film collaborator, including the feature length film, Virtuosi (2012), screened in New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, Prague, Portugal, Berlin, Hobart, Auckland Arts Festival, DocEdge festival Wellington, American Dance Festival and many other international festivals in 2013/14. The film won an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance on Film 2013 and a Silver ACS award for cinematographer Judd Overton. Her documentary The Golds, about a company of dancers aged 55-90 years in Canberra, screened in New York at Dance on Camera Festival, Lincoln Centre in 2016 and won Best Film, Diamond Award at International Performing Arts and Movie Awards, Indonesia in 2015.
Her series On View has been presented:
Recent commissions include:
Mike Nock - a tribute a film commissioned by APRA NZ for the Silver Scroll Awards 2024.
The Cry of the Whistler a film commissioned by Don Asker 2024.
Baladhu Wagadhaany a film for Jo Clancy commissioned by Mudgee Arts Precinct 2024.
Lake Song, a film for the GOLDS Canberra, choreographed by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman 2024.
Angels, my Angels, My Glorious Angels a short film - dancer/choreographer Anca Frankenhaeuser 2023.
BODY - full length work (originally made for VCA 2019) for AC Arts Adelaide June 2023.
Yindyang Bila - a film for Jo Clancy commissioned by Blue Mountains Cultural Centre 2023.
And...Breathe - a film for 120 community dancers in Canberra 2023.
The Long Walk - a live film broadcast from Robe South Australia - commissioned by OzAsia festival 2022.
2 films for Youth Dance Australia - Alumni and Meeting Place 2022
Circumstance 2020 - commissioned by Sydney Dance Company for the Pre professional year dancers 2020.
Narrabeen and On the Edge - commissions by Sydney Dance Company for the Pre professional year dancers 2018 and 2019.
En Route, a 30 minute film and major public art project for the new 22m screen at Wynyard station Sydney. Exhibited DEC 2016/ JAN 2017.
http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/programs/wynscreen
City as Portrait Gallery – a 12 minute film, a major commission by City of Sydney for the BE. Live the City exhibition at Customshouse Sydney. Exhibited MARCH-JULY 2017.
Garden Party Remix - a 5 screen installation for Lets Dance, Redfern March 2017.
The Seasons Retouched choreography for the New Zealand Dance Company “Kiss the Sky” season June 2017, with the Blackbird Ensemble playing live.
More Information:
http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/Archive_Highlights/9627
http://scanlines.net/person/sue-healey
http://www.realtimearts.net/realtimedance/12_choreographers/sue_healey
http://www.artfilms.com.au/promo/January2012/SueHealey/SueHealey.html
Recent work includes:
AFTERWORLD a new major performance work with live musician Laurence Pike and 5 dancers for Sydney Festival 2025
On View: ICONS installation for Sydney Festival 2024
The Long Walk commissioned by OzAsia festival 2022
On View: Panoramic Suite for Liveworks Festival and West Kowloon Hong Kong, 2021
Circumstance 2020, a film with Sydney Dance Company PPY's, premiered in December and screened Sydney Festival 2021
Live Action Relay performed Liveworks Festival, Sydney (Oct 2020) and
On View: Panorama created and toured in Japan (Kinosaki, Yokohama and Nagoya) Jan/Feb. 2020
Her film Eileen won the prestigious Opus Klassik in Berlin (Best Music Video) in 2023 with German musicians David Orlowksy and David Bergmuller and was a finalist in MOVIN' Cannes dance film festival, France 2023. Sue was a 2021 and 2019 Fishers Ghost Award Finalist, 65th Blake prize finalist 2018, Digital Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery Australia 2017 finalist (portrait of Eileen Kramer). She created 2 major public art commissions in 2017; En Route for Wynscreen and City as Portrait Gallery exhibited at the Customshouse, Sydney. She has won 6 Australian Dance Awards for Dance on Film/New Media and for Independent Dance and 2 Hong Kong Dance Awards for On View: Hong Kong (Best Visual Design 2017) and On View: Panoramic Suite 2021.
Originally from New Zealand, Sue graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, before becoming a founding member of Nanette Hassall’s Dance Works in Melbourne. Sue performed and choreographed with this company from 1983-88, and then continued her training in New York with Merce Cunningham School and Trisha Brown Company. Returning to Australia she became Artistic Director of Vis-à-Vis Dance Canberra (1993-96) and a commissioned independent artist (1996-present). Her work has toured to USA, UK, NZ and Asia.
Sue gained her Masters Degree in Choreography (2000) from Melbourne University and was awarded a Dance Board Choreographic Fellowship from the Australia Council 1999/2000 and the Robert Helpmann Scholarship (Arts NSW) for 2009/10.
Sue received the prestigious Creative Fellowship in 2013-14 from the Australia Council for Arts, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
Sue led an international Screendance workshop – New Works Forum: Screendance, produced by West Kowloon Cultural District in 2015 and Taiwan 2016, and 2017 and continued this collaboration into 2016-19 to create On View: Panorama, a major international work in collaboration with artists in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, produced by West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and Aichi Arts Centre. The first stage of this project On View: Hong Kong was performed and exhibited at Artistree, Hong Kong in November 2017. The next iteration of this work On View: Panorama was created in Japan in Jan 2020 and performed in Kinosaki, Yokohama and Nagoya. Because of COVID 19 the work was unable to continue to tour to Sydney and Hong Kong. In light of this, a final new work On View: Panoramic Suite was created with local dancers only, and was presented at the Carriageworks as part of Liveworks Festival (as a digital broadcast due to sudden lockdown) 2021. It was performed live at the Freespace theatre, West Kowloon precinct in 2021.
Based in Sydney, since 2000 she has created 4 major collections of works: Niche series (2002-04), In Time series (2005-07), Curiosities series (2008-12) and On View series (2013 - present). These encompass over 55 works across live performance, dance film, gallery installations and international collaborations. They have won awards nationally and internationally and the major works from each series have been presented by Sydney Opera House and have toured to Melbourne, Canberra, New Zealand and Japan.
Experimenting with form and perception, Healey creates dance for diverse spaces: theatres, galleries and the screen.
Healey is an acknowledged pioneer of dance on screen. Her films are widely acclaimed and have won many awards, screening in over 30 countries. Her films have been finalists in major international film festivals and have been broadcast by Australian and European television networks.
She has created 10 major films with cinematographer Judd Overton, her key film collaborator, including the feature length film, Virtuosi (2012), screened in New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, Prague, Portugal, Berlin, Hobart, Auckland Arts Festival, DocEdge festival Wellington, American Dance Festival and many other international festivals in 2013/14. The film won an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance on Film 2013 and a Silver ACS award for cinematographer Judd Overton. Her documentary The Golds, about a company of dancers aged 55-90 years in Canberra, screened in New York at Dance on Camera Festival, Lincoln Centre in 2016 and won Best Film, Diamond Award at International Performing Arts and Movie Awards, Indonesia in 2015.
Her series On View has been presented:
- On View: ICONS Sydney Festival 2024
- On View: Panoramic Suite Liveworks Festival Sydney and Freespace West Kowloon Hong Kong, 2021
- On View: Panorama presented in 3 cities in Japan (Nagoya, Yokohama, Kinosaki) 2020
- On View: Thinking Bodies, Dancing Minds Margaret Laurence Gallery VCA Melbourne 2017
- On View: Quintet toured to Dance Massive Festival in Melbourne, March 2015
- On View: Benjamin Hancock - Gertrude St Projection Festival, Melbourne 2016
- On View: Live Portraits was presented by the Performance Space at Carriageworks, Sydney in 2015, in conjunction with the installation On View: Icons – Lucette Aldous and Professor Shirley McKechnie.
- On View installations toured to Toowoomba Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie Glasshouse Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Arts – Cairns and Brenda May Gallery Sydney, 2016.
Recent commissions include:
Mike Nock - a tribute a film commissioned by APRA NZ for the Silver Scroll Awards 2024.
The Cry of the Whistler a film commissioned by Don Asker 2024.
Baladhu Wagadhaany a film for Jo Clancy commissioned by Mudgee Arts Precinct 2024.
Lake Song, a film for the GOLDS Canberra, choreographed by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman 2024.
Angels, my Angels, My Glorious Angels a short film - dancer/choreographer Anca Frankenhaeuser 2023.
BODY - full length work (originally made for VCA 2019) for AC Arts Adelaide June 2023.
Yindyang Bila - a film for Jo Clancy commissioned by Blue Mountains Cultural Centre 2023.
And...Breathe - a film for 120 community dancers in Canberra 2023.
The Long Walk - a live film broadcast from Robe South Australia - commissioned by OzAsia festival 2022.
2 films for Youth Dance Australia - Alumni and Meeting Place 2022
Circumstance 2020 - commissioned by Sydney Dance Company for the Pre professional year dancers 2020.
Narrabeen and On the Edge - commissions by Sydney Dance Company for the Pre professional year dancers 2018 and 2019.
En Route, a 30 minute film and major public art project for the new 22m screen at Wynyard station Sydney. Exhibited DEC 2016/ JAN 2017.
http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/programs/wynscreen
City as Portrait Gallery – a 12 minute film, a major commission by City of Sydney for the BE. Live the City exhibition at Customshouse Sydney. Exhibited MARCH-JULY 2017.
Garden Party Remix - a 5 screen installation for Lets Dance, Redfern March 2017.
The Seasons Retouched choreography for the New Zealand Dance Company “Kiss the Sky” season June 2017, with the Blackbird Ensemble playing live.
More Information:
http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/Archive_Highlights/9627
http://scanlines.net/person/sue-healey
http://www.realtimearts.net/realtimedance/12_choreographers/sue_healey
http://www.artfilms.com.au/promo/January2012/SueHealey/SueHealey.html
|
|
Header image and photos from Perks and Mini fashion shoot 2013
Photographer: Justin Ridler
Photographer: Justin Ridler