KATE DENBOROUGH – Director/Co-Creative Director KAGE
Kate is recognised as one of Australia's foremost choreographers and directors of dance-theatre. She is an award-winning creator of multi disciplinary works that cross the mediums of film, television and live performance. In 1996 she co-founded KAGE with Gerard Van Dyck. As the Co-creative Director of
KAGE Kate has devised, directed and/or performed in all of the Company's works. Many of these have won industry awards and national and international recognition. The awards include the
Canberra Critics Circle Award for Dance, a Green Room Award for Female Emerging Artist in Dance and joint winner of the Eva Czajor memorial Award, which salutes women directors. Kate was awarded the Paris residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in 2001. Her work as a choreographer and performer has been seen internationally and nationally throughout Australia. In 2007 Kate directed Frank Woodley’s solo show Possessed as well as Appetite for KAGE for the 2008 Melbourne
International Festival of the Arts. In 2009 KAGE was invited to be the inaugural Company in
Residence at Melbourne Arts Centre. In 2010 Kate undertook a directing mentorship with Peter
Evans, Artistic Associate with Melbourne Theatre Company. In 2011 Kate directed two new works for
KAGE. Sundowner (in partnership with Alzheimer’s Australia) which will undertake an extensive national tour in 2013 and Look Right Through Me (a collaboration with Australian poet and philosopher Michael Leunig). Both works were nominated for the 2011 Artshub Award for Innovation
in the Arts.
In March 2013, Kate will perform alongside Gerard in a new duet called Flesh and Bone as part of the
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Kate is currently developing two new works for KAGE entitled FORKLIFT and Team of Life. FORKLIFT is an international collaboration and will see the creation of a new contemporary outdoor circus work.
Team of Life harnesses the power of two great dramatic traditions – sports and theatre. By honouring the great Australian Game (AFL) and the World Game (soccer) it tells stories of young people’s search for different kinds of freedom.
GERARD VAN DYCK – Performer/Co-Creative Director KAGE
Gerard’s training and performance experience includes contemporary dance, slapstick, puppetry, motion capture, aerial flying, acting and modeling. Gerard choreographs teaches, critiques and regularly discusses dance. After graduating at the Victorian College of the Arts he co-founded KAGE with Kate Denborough and has performed in all of KAGE’s award winning works throughout Australia and overseas. Gerard clocked up 50+ performances of his solo The Collapsible Man and won some awards along the way. He has toured extensively with BalletLab and Polyglot Puppet Theatre, and worked locally with artists such as Nat Cursio, Eleventh Hour Theatre, Legs on the Wall, desoxy
Theatre and Sandra Parker. Gerard has performed in music videos, directed circus and comedy, and provided dramaturgy for ballet. When Gerard isn’t busy with KAGE he works as a Marriage Celebrant, and is a dance panel member of the Green Room Award Association.
HELEN MORSE – ‘Peggy’
Since collaborating with Jim Sharman in his groundbreaking productions of the 1960’s & 70’s –
A Taste of Honey, As You Like It, Terror Australis,, (the latter notably championed by Patrick White) – and whistle stop tours of Shakespeare and Poetry & Songs for the Arts Council, Helen has worked

with most of the leading theatre companies in Australia in over ninety productions embracing the classics, contemporary works and music theatre. Her wide range of roles include the eccentric, cartwheeling governess/magician Carlotta in The Cherry Orchard (Melbourne Theatre Company), the disembodied ‘Mouth’ in Samuel Beckett’s Not I (Nimrod), Ariel in Gale Edwards’ production of The
Tempest, and Paulina in Neil Armfield’s production of Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman’s electrifying play
Death & The Maiden for the Sydney Theatre Company and national tour. She played Désirée
Armfeldt opposite John O’May as Fréderik in Roger Hodgman’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s A
Little Night Music (MTC & tour) and twin Aunts in a musical version of Steele Rudd’s The Selection
(MTC) Her theatre work also includes Duet For One, (Marian St & national tour), A Streetcar Named
Desire,( Harvest T/C tour SA & MTC), Twelfth Night, Hedda Gabler, Mrs Klein, The Recruiting Officer,
Our Country’s Good, The Crucible, The Marriage of Figaro, Nothing Sacred, Arcadia (MTC); Private
Lives, A Happy & Holy Occasion, Noel Coward Cabaret (HVTC); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘Tis Pity
She’s A Whore, Under Milk Wood (State TC of SA), Arcadia (the STC tour) and more recently The
Breath of Life by David Hare (directed by Kate Cherry for Hit Productions) and Frozen by Bryony
Lavery for MTC & STC for which she was nominated for Green Room & Helpmann Awards.
Helen has always been involved with new Australian writing; she played Katherine Mansfield in Alma de Gröen’s The Rivers of China (STC & MTC) and received a Green Room award for de Gröen’s play about Anna Akhmatova, The Woman in the Window, directed by Kate Cherry; she played Barbara in
Michael Gow’s Europe (MTC) and Coral in Away directed by Neil Armfield for Playbox; Rita in Nick
Enright’s Good Works (Playbox/dir.Kim Durban); and Theodora Goodman in Adam Cook’s adaptation of Patrick White’s The Aunt’s Story for the 2001 Melbourne International Festival, Brisbane Festival &
Belvoir.
Helen has worked with Keene/Taylor Theatre Project in The Funniest Man in the World; in Kaddish for the 2000 Sydney Festival; and created the role of Sarah/Anna (Green Room Best Actress/Fringe nomination) in Ariette Taylor’s innovative production of Ivanov with Paul English as Ivanov at
Fortyfivedownstairs (2005)
In 2008 Helen premièred Robyn Archer’s new work Architektin inspired by Viennese architect
Margarete Shütte-Lihotsky and directed by Adam Cook for the State Theatre Co of SA and in 2009 she performed Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, directed by Kate Cherry for Black Swan
State TC at the Perth International Arts Festival and WA tour.
In 2010 she worked with Here Theatre on Jane Woollard’s Prophet & Loss, (Green Room Award/best actress/Independent theatre production) and premièred a season of Duets for Lovers & Dreamers by
Sandra Fiona Long at Fortyfivedownstairs. Helen worked on the creative development with Kage
Physical Theatre of Sundowner which premièred at the Castlemaine Festival in April 2011, played seasons at GPAC and the Fairfax Studio Vic Arts Centre, April/May 2012 and tours nationally in 2013.
In 2012 she premièred Tim Winton’s play Signs of Life with Tom E Lewis, directed by Kate Cherry for
Black Swan & WA tour.
Helen’s interest in poetry and music has led to many readings/recitals including the poems of Judith
Wright, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath (Mackerras/New Music Lighthouse Ensemble); Songs, Sonnets &
Rock’n’ Roll (Shakespeare’s Secret troupe); Samuel Beckett with Dublin’s Gate Theatre Company and
Lou Reed (Sydney Festival 2007); A Kind of Radiant Darkness (Gordon Kerry/Peter Steele & ANAM),
The Brontës – a life in letters (MSO Chamber Players), Air & Angels with lutenist Rosemary Hodgson

(Port Fairy) and Rumi & the Persian/Sufi poets with Iranian poet/academic Dr Zahra Teheri and ney player Arya Bastaninezhad at the Love & Devotion Exhibition (State Library of Victoria 2012).
Helen’s film and television work is extensive and includes Iris/Out Of Time – a portrayal of New
Zealand poet/journalist Iris Wilkinson and more recently Syllable To Sound – poetry of defiance screened on ABC TV and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.
In the film version of Patrick White’s novel The Eye Of The Storm directed by Fred Schepisi (2011) she played Lotte, the housekeeper and former cabaret artist. Lotte’s songs were composed by Paul
Grabowsky. Helen’s sisters, both musicians, play on the soundtrack. On Valentine’s Day 2013 Helen will collaborate with her partner, actor Paul English and her sister Isabel Morse, a violist, in readings of poetry at Fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne.
MICHELLE HEAVEN - Performer
As a creator Michelle is interested in animation-type movement of the human body, distorting its appearance through variance of rhythm, speed, scale and movement isolation. Michelle graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Dance in 1992 and Masters of Dance
Performance in 2000. Michelle has worked nationally and internationally with many prominent
Australian choreographers and directors; collaborating, choreographing and consulting for live theatre, dance and film. She is a recipient of The Dame Peggy Van Praagh Choreographic Scholarship,
The Australian Post Graduate Award (Industry) Scholarship and Victorian Green Room Award. She was twice nominated for a Helpmann Award for her work with Chunky Move. Her work Disagreeable
Object was nominated for a 2009 Australian Dance Award and Victorian Green Room Award.
CRAIG BARY – Performer
Craig graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) in 1998. Since then he has Worked with, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Footnote Dance Company, Michael Parmenter's Commotion
Company, Raewyn Hill, Douglas Wright Dance, Garry Stewart's Thwack and Australian Dance Theatre
(ADT), Kate Denborough, Gideon Obarzanek's Chunky Move, Leigh Warren and Dancers and the Sue
Healey Dance Company. A resident dancer at Tasdance for three years Craig worked with Tanja
Liedtke, Shaun Parker, Natalie Weir, Chrissie Parrott, Phillip Adams, Anna Smith, Neil Adams, Fiona
Reilly and Graeme Murphy. In 2005 he was nominated for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts
Initiative. In 2008 Craig won ‘Best Male Dancer’ at the Auckland Tempo Awards. Craig has choreographed on Sydney Dance Company, LINK Dance Company, NZSD, UNSW, and was movement director for Belvoir Street Theatre Company – Company B. In 2011 He danced in Douglas Wrights’
‘RAPT’, KAGE’s ‘Look Right Through Me’ and premiered the award nominated ‘Side to One’ his first full length work with co-creator Lisa Griffiths. 2012 saw the creation of the New Zealand Dance
Company of which Craig is a founding member. He also performed in ‘the nothing’ a new fullength work with Sarah Foster-Sproull and Andrew Foster and showcased his solo 'Awaken Absence' at the
Sydney Opera House. In 2013 Craig will be touring nationally with KAGE, Shaun Parker Company, and he will also be touring New Zealand with the NZDC and Holland with Douglas Wright.
TIMOTHY OHL – Performer
QUT trained, Timothy has been performing professionally for over 13 years. He has worked with
Australian Dance Theatre, Force Majeure, KAGE Physical Theatre, Shaun Parker & Co, Lucy Guerin

Inc, Meryl Tankard, Legs on the Wall, Strings Attached, Stalker, Torque Show, Strut & Fret, Theatre of
Image, The Song Company, Anton, Raw Metal, Opera Queensland, Opera Australia and Chunky Move performing Stephanie Lake’s ‘Mix Tape’ – for which he received a 2010 Green Room award. Timothy has choreographed a handful of short works performing in Expressions Dance Company’s ‘Solo –
Festival of Dance’ in Brisbane and iOU in Sydney SPRING DANCE 2012.
GABRIELLE NANKIVELL – Performer
Gabrielle’s performance and collaboration credits include an eclectic selection of internationally renowned companies and artists. Honing her career in Europe with Belgian artists Alexander
Baervoets and Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus, she has also lived and worked in Germany, Denmark,
Slovenia and Portugal. Since re-connecting with Australia through her own projects, Gabrielle has also worked with Australian Dance Theatre, Splintergroup, Animal Farm Collective, Torque Show and
Chunky Move amongst others.
As a maker, Gabrielle’s choreographic work has been presented in 10 countries. She was cofounder/director of the Slovenian-based project initiative OX with Jurij Konjar from 2003-2007 and has also worked collaboratively with Raul Maia (Portugal) and Thomas Steyaert (Belgium). She is currently working on several new choreographic projects.
In 2011 her solo “I left my shoes on warm concrete and stood in the rain” toured nationally through
Mobile States earning Gabrielle a 2012 Australian Dance Award nomination for Outstanding
Performance by a Female Dancer. Gabrielle was choreographer for Windmill Theatre’s awardwinning School Dance, appearing at the 2012 Adelaide Festival and presented by Sydney Theatre
Company at the 2013 Sydney Festival. She has also worked in various capacities in the independent sector as a movement coach, artistic advisor and writer.
In 1999 Gabrielle was awarded a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship. She also received scholarships for Vienna’s Impulstanz Festival in 2001 & 2005.Gabrielle completed formal training with Jacqueline Tucker in Adelaide, holds a Bachelor of Dance (Victorian College of the Arts), a
Graduate Certificate of Arts in Writing (Swinburne University), a foundation level teaching certificate in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and is mentored daily by the world around her.
STUART CHRISTIE – Performer
Stuart graduated from the National Institute of Circus Arts late 2004 with a Bachelor of Circus Arts and has since been with companies such as Kage Theatre for the World Expo 2005 in Japan for 7 months as a resident performer and recently with their new work Sundowner 11/12 at Castlemaine
State festival, GPAC and the Arts Centre. Circus Oz 2006 as a full time performer touring around
Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and New York for two years, Strut’&’Fret Productions in Brisbane,
Melbourne, Adelaide 08/09 and Perth 11/12, Dislocate 2011 South Korea with “3 Speed Crunch Box” as well as various productions with Circa N.I.C.A.
Stuart has also produced the cabaret night “A little bit of Shhh” and performed as a freelance artist in the Melbourne cabaret scene. October 2009 Stuart premiered his first independent full-length show with fellow performer Kane Pertersen in “Dos or Duo” and was highly commended best Circus show in both the Melbourne Fringe Festival 09, and Adelaide Fringe 2010.Recently Dos or Duo returned to the stage with the sequel/prequel “Dos or Duo Deux” in the 2012 melbourne fringe festival.