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Below is supporting material for Eliza Sanders and James O’Hara’s new work ‘Meeting’
Footage from our previous development 2019
Music by Anita Clarke aka Motte
Filmed and photographed by Isabella Stone, Edited By Jacob Edmonds
Artists bios
James O’Hara has been a collaborator his entire career. With 20 years of experience as a dance performer, teacher, choreographic assistant and director, James is immersed in dance communities all around the world. Born and raised between the Swan River and the Indian ocean in Walyalup (Fremantle) WA, James recently returned to Boorloo/Perth to co-direct STRUT dance. James was a member of Ballet Junior de Genève and recipient of a Princess Grace Foundation Bursary in 2004. He has worked with Ballet Preljocaj, Matthew Lutton (Malthouse, Melbourne), Ross McCormack (Muscle Mouth, NZ), Yang Liping (China), Marina Abramović (USA) and Stephanie Lake (Australia). As a guest he has performed with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet/Ohad Naharin, The Australian Ballet/Gideon Obarzanek, The Norwegian National Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet and The Bolshoi Theatre. He has collaborated extensively as both performer and assistant with Marina Mascarell, Michael Keegan-Dolan (Teac Damsa), Damien Jalet and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Eastman).
Growing up involved in STEPS Youth Dance Company in Perth, a collaboration that continued for over 16 years, fuelled a passion for youth dance and ignited his investment in community engagement. He was Assistant Director at the National Youth Dance Company at Sadler’s Wells (London) 2015-17 and has taught at many universities and institutions throughout the world. James was a full time tutor at the New Zealand School of Dance 2017-18. James has made works with STEPS, Cross Connections (Copenhagen), Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, University of Melbourne, New Zealand School of Dance, Purchase (NY), Transformation Montreal, Footnote Dance (alongside Eliza Sanders), and with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. He has been nominated for Helpmann, Green Room, and Australian Dance Awards and is a recipient of a West Australian Dance Award. James was the Co-Artistic Director of the New Zealand Dance Company from 2020-2022.
Eliza Sanders is a multidisciplinary movement artist based between Ngunnawal land and Aōtearoa NZ. Her practice includes choreographing, performing, teaching, improvising and writing and her works span from durational performance art to meditative poetry podcasts. Predominantly she creates dance theatre works with an integrated use of improvisation and voice. She is passionate about integrating education in all of her practices and is a certified Countertechnique and Yoga teacher and is currently training as a ConTact C.A.R.E practitioner. In 2021 Eliza was a full time tutor at The New Zealand School of Dance
Along with her sister Charley, Eliza is the co-artistic director of contemporary performance company House of Sand. Since launching in 2015 House of Sand have presented 22 seasons of 13 works in 3 countries and 10 cities and received funding from multiple funding bodies including The Australia Council, ArtsACT and CreativeNZ.
As a choreographer & workshop leader Eliza has worked on multiple projects for QL2 Dance, The New Zealand School of Dance, Footnote Dance, Kim Harvey School of Dance, Java Dance Theatre, The New Zealand Dance Company & more. She has danced for The Australian Dance Party, Borderline Arts Ensemble, Body Cartography, Java Dance Theatre, Liz Lea, Little Dove, WOW Arts, Glenn Ashworth, Katrina Bastian & Malia Johnson. Her works have been commissioned by ArtNotApart, W.I.T.C.W.A.T and the Sydney Fringe Festivals. She will soon be working with The New Zealand Dance Company in Jo Loyds new work.
