Thank you for visiting this page.
Below is support material relevant to House of Sand’s application for ‘New Works’ with the Canberra Theatre Center.
Part 1: Examples of prior work
Part 2: Artists info
Please feel free to brows the rest of the House of Sand website to get a sense of what we do.
or visit our Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/houseofsand, Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/houseofsandarts, Instagram - @houseofsandarts
Thank you for your consideration,
Eliza & Charley Sanders + The whole House of Sand family
Part 1: examples of prior work
Triptych
Triptych is a series of three dance theatre works that explores the nature of parent/child relationships, overpopulation, memory and nurturing. The comprising works; Knitting While Sleeping, Feet.us & Fear of Eggs premiered to sell out seasons a year apart at 2016-2018 NZ Fringe Festivals and received numerous awards and critical acclaim.
Our time at CTC will be a continuation of the substantial research done through these highly successful projects. A chance for us to bring this established creative investigation to our audiences in Canberra.
Video Edit: Jacob Edmonds. Footage: Filippo Gasparini
That Was Friday
That Was Friday is a new contemporary performance work about distance and connectedness, familiarity and strangeness. About being a stranger in your homeland and at home in a strange land.
This show is an innovative combination of forms, combining theatrical auto-fiction, dance & autobiographical documentary in an epic multimedia live production.
That was Friday is approaching its third development and premier season in Canberra in early 2022.
Womb Man
Womb Man is a durational dance installation piece commissioned by Art Not Apart 2020. Over three hours a the ‘Womb Man’ grapples with her desire to nurture and to be nurtured in an increasingly unstable environment. Womb Man places the youthful female form in a strange and grotesque setting with elements that hint to sexuality, motherhood, nurturing and dependency. By harnessing the power of the lone female body, primed for reproduction, Womb Man draws into question the ever changing and contentious view of what a young woman is ‘for’.
Photos: Lorna Sim
all hOurs
all hOurs is a 24-hour performance event in public spaces uniting dance, contemporary music and video art
all hOurs is a spectacle of stamina, a complex meditation on daily life cycles, and most importantly, a reminder that challenges cannot be overcome alone. Is it ‘a day in the life’ or ‘a life in a day’?
The tremendous energetic feat of performing all hOurs is only possible because the three artists (dancer, musician and videographer) experience it together and with the audience; it is a celebration of the power of community to facilitate resilience that takes place in real time. all hOurs accumulates to create a stunning film installation left in the space long after the live event has finished.
Video: Jacob Edmonds
Part 2: ARTISTs Info
House of Sand
House of Sand created madcap, visceral performance work with a signature expressionistic style in and across artworks including theatre, dance, cabaret and visual & performance art.
"Eliza and Charley Sanders are important artists who give us an alternate view of the world"
— Suzy Wrong, Suzy goes see & Auditorium (UK)
House of Sand is the brainchild of sibling creative partnership Charley Sanders and Eliza Sanders, but it is more than a funny play on the surname Sanders. It’s a way of describing how our creative partnership works: We’re like children on windblown beaches building castles, each one a collection of a billion tiny grains of inspiration, following our own sense of play. We gather people and ideas and build epic imaginative creations - knowing that eventually, whether with the next tide or the king tide - they will finally be washed away.
We came together through a shared belief that the dance and theatre worlds could learn a lot by looking to each other for innovative new ways of working and modes of performance, and it just so happened that we each had siblings on the other side of the fence! The playful blending of art forms to create experiences that are more fecund and more accessible to broad audiences is at the centre of our ethos as a company.
Since the beginning of 2015, we’ve worked with over 100 collaborators in 3 countries and 6 cities and partnered with 7 venues to present 24 seasons of 15 productions independently and at 6 festivals.
We build tight-knit family style groups of collaborators to explore what it means to be a citizen of the world by looking towards the very personal, intimate and specific. And we’ve developed a methodology which brings the idea of global/local citizenship into the body, the muscles and the guts, and results in a signature aesthetic: visceral, expressionistic, and slightly absurd.
House of Sand have received support and funding from ArtsACT, The City of Sydney, The State Theatre Company of South Australia, Creative Partnerships Australia, The Australian Cultural Fund, The Helpman Academy, AusdanceACT, DANZ Aotearoa, QL2 Dance, The Oak Performing Arts Center, Creative New Zealand, The Wellington City Council, Barbarian Productions, The Vogelmorn Bowling Club, F.O.R.M Vancouver, W.I.T.C.W.A.T Festival, Holden St Theaters.
Eliza Sanders Choreographer/Director
Eliza is a multidisciplinary movement artist based between Ngunnawal/Canberra, Australia and Pōneke/ Wellington, Aotearoa. Having trained as a contemporary dancer at the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) Eliza has launched into a practice which includes performing, choreographing, teaching, Improvising, writing and producing. Her works span from durational performance art to meditative poetry podcasts and she predominantly creates dance theatre works with an integrated use of improvisation and voice work. Both as a solo artist and as a facilitator of large teams Eliza is interested in the power of the body to connect us deeply with ourselves and each other. At the core of Eliza’s practice is LIVENESS, COLLABORATION and CARE. She believes that a rich practice is one of breadth as well as depth. Eliza finds her deep investigation in the somatic experience of the body and uses this as a lens through which to inform her collaboration with musicians, actors, directors, designers, visuals artists, videographers and other dancers. She is interested in nurturing her body and enabling others to do the same. Much of her work is in harnessing the virtuosic power of the dancing body in ways that are painless, consensual and respectful while still challenging socially constructed norms of how the body ‘can’ or ‘should’ be ‘used’ in different contexts. Eliza’s work happens at the meeting point of performer and audience, often exploring the agency of each party in subtle ways. Encouraging us to question how we allow ourselves to be (in our bodies) in performative spaces and gently inviting agency. Eliza is passionate about integrating ongoing education and growth into all of her practices. She is a certified teacher of Countertechnique and Vinyasa Yoga and is continuously nuancing her sensitives to leading creative spaces in safe and respectful yet creatively challenging ways. Eliza is passionate about creating as many opportunities as possible for professional dance artists to connect, create, move and explore. She sees the work of nourishing the professional creative community as an essential part of her creative explorations.
As a choreographer Eliza Has worked for QL2 Dance, The New Zealand School of Dance, Footnote Dance co. (the second time in collaboration with James O’Hara) Kim Harvey School of Dance (KHSD) and various Canberra dance schools. Her works have been commissioned by Art not Apart, W.I.T.C.W.A.T Festival, Play_Station gallery Pōneke, F.O.R.M Vancouver and The Sydney Fringe Festival. She has received residencies and funding from ArtACT, Creating New Zealand, STRUT Dance Perth, Wellington City Council and QL2 Dance. As a dancer Eliza has worked for The Australian Dance Party, Borderline Arts Ensemble, Body Cartography, Java Dance Theatre, Liz Lea, Little Dove Theatre Art, WOW Arts, Glenn Ashworth, Katrina Bastian & Malia Johnson. Eliza teaches for The New Zealand School of Dance, Footnote Dance, KHSD, QL2, Make a Move - The Australian National Curriculum, AusdanceACT, S.A.I.D Adelaide, numerous Canberra dance schools and for House of Sands professional independent programs. For House of Sand Eliza has created 3 full length ensemble dance works, 2 multi-award winning contemporary performance solos, 2 durational public performance art works, 1 site specific community work. She danced for 24hr straight in all hOurs and was an actor in REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN by Alice Birch. Eliza was mentored by Ross McCormack and Melanie Hamilton of Muscles Mouth and worked as Artist Liaison at the 2020 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. She was the recipient of the Tup Lang Choreographic award (2017) and a nominee in the Australian of the year awards (2011).
Charley Sanders - Dramaturge
Charley Sanders, Creator & Dramaturge. Charley is a director and theatre-maker and Co Artistic Director of House of Sand. They hold an Adv. Dip. Arts (Acting) from AC Arts and an MFA (Directing) from NIDA and have received an Adelaide Critics Circle Award, numerous Fringe Awards from festivals around Australia and New Zealand, and nominations for an ATG Curtain Call Award, a Broadway World Award and two further Adelaide Critics Circle Awards. Directorial credits Include Pedal, Castles, Knitting While Sleeping, Feet.Us, Fear of Eggs, all Hours, REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. (HoS) Welcome The Bright World (HoS & STCSA), Titus Andronicus; Mother Courage; O Go My Man; Slavs; 5 Years (AC Arts) Trans Scripts (Paul Lucas Prod. NYC) Infected (NIDA) Flood (LHE). As assistant director: Cosi Fan Tutte (Opera Australia), Maggie Stone (STCSA) Love Child, Seven Jewish Children, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later and Like A Fishbone (Earky Worx). In Addition to their core practice, Charley has experience as a teacher of acting and directing, an actor, musical theatre and cabaret performer, drag artist, dramaturge, producer and tour manager, and is currently Artists and Venue Services Manager for the Sydney Fringe Festival.
Ryan Stone - Dancer
Ryan is a dance artist based in Canberra. He trained at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and toured internationally with Link Dance Company. He became a core Party Artist with Australian Dance Party three years ago and has been in every project since including touring nationally with the work Mine and performing in the award winning From The Vault. He is a QL2 Dance alumni, and now also teacher and choreographer for the organisation. Ryan took part in the first development for “That Was Friday” in 2020 and is looking forward to continued collaborations with House of Sand.
Billy Keohavong - Dancer
Born in Australia, William (Billy) Keohavong graduated on scholarship from New Zealand School of dance in 2015, and Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre in 2012. Starting out as a Hip- Hop dancer specialising in Dancehall and House, he then fortunately stumbled upon Contemporary Dance. In 2016, Billy was offered a position with ‘The Human Expression Dance Company’ (Sinagapore) as a full-time Artist. This opportunity brought him all over Asia and Europe, performing and touring extensively within festivals like; Florence Dance Festival (Italy),Zawirowania Dance Festival (Poland), Laiks Dejot Festival (Latvia), Fukuoka Fringe Dance, Festival (Japan), Daegu Dance Festival (South Korea), Bangkok International Dance Festival, (Thailand) and M1 Contact Dance Festival (Singapore), just to name a few. On top of all this, Billy has a strong passion for teaching and movement research where his philosophy sits between the realms of ‘Eastern practice’ and ‘Character work’. He has worked closely as a teacher and coach with full-time institutes like ‘Brent Street Full-Time’ and ‘Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre’. He was one of the core teachers that helped train and nurture the full-time artists within ‘The Human Expression Dance Company’ (Singapore). In Australia Billy has worked for Martin Del Amo, Natalie Allen, Lucas Jervis, Forms Dance Project, Meryl Tankard, Legs on the Wall, Kristina Chan, Sue Healey, Liz Lea and House of Sand.
Jareen Wee - Dancer
Contemporary dance artist Jareen Wee has been performing and choreographing in Australia and Aotearoa since her graduation from the NZSD in 2018. In 2019, Jareen co-directed, choreographed and performed in Well Fare State’s ‘Flying Down Sand Dunes’ which won the ‘Parkin Development Award’ at the NZ Fringe Festival. She assisted James O’Hara on -‘The sky is not so different to us, perhaps’- for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and interned with Footnote Dance and with Michael Keegan-Dolan (Teaċ Daṁsa). Jareen was a recipient of Melbourne Fringe Festival’s 2020 ‘ShowSupport’ grant and her film ‘Let Fall’ was nominated for ‘Best Dance and Physical Theatre’. Jareen performed with Liz Lea Dance Company in ‘The Point’ and is working with Jenn Ma & Collaborators on ‘We Are Here’ and with InPlay Dance Collective and House of Sand on multiple projects. Jareen has performed works by Damien Jalet, Huang Yi (Cloud Gate 2), James O’Hara, Sarah Foster-Sproull, Malia Johnston, Gabrielle Thomas, Michael Parmenter and Adam Barruch and has danced in Tempo Dance Festival (NZ), the International Youth Dance Festival (Macau, China), World of Wearable Art (NZ)and Highlight Carnival (NZ).
Tiana Lung - Dancer
Tiana studied at NZSD, graduating in 2016 with a Diploma in Dance Performance. Upon graduating, Tiana has worked with NZ companies Taki Rua Productions (Tiki Taane Mahuta), Okareka Dance Company (Mana Wahine), Discotheque Dance Company (Missing Lids), Muscle Mouth (As It Stands) and Footnote NZ Dance’s 2020 Choreco Season (New Dance Group). In Australia, Tiana has worked with Kristina Chan (Brightness) and Chunky Move (Token Armies). Earlier this year, Tiana alongside Isabel Estrella were awarded the Moving Ideas Residency from Readymade Works in Sydney, which they used to explore and develop their new work in progress ‘roach’. Tiana is currently in development working with Kristina Chan on her new work ‘Brightness’.
Craig Dear - Designer/ Technician
Craig diligently runs a respected production company with an impressive list of equipment assets and engages over 50 staff made up of long-term, casual and subcontractors, to complete a wide range of events on the Canberra and Australia stage.Living by the motto of “Every effort for every event”, Craig takes a personal interest in each opportunity to impress. He has built a team on respect, integrity and ambition. He has placed significant importance on the treatment of his staff; raising the bar and setting new standards within the Canberra production industry.