BA(Dance), Academy of the Arts, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Role and responsibilities:
“My current dance work and research is around the broad concept of unison which encompasses notions of the individual and collective; using improvisation to produce a ‘group body’; emphasis on modes of sharing practice; and developing processes to create ‘instant’ choreography and impossible repetition. I am interested in the relation/tension between writing and movement, and uses both in my practice and performance works.”
Jane McKernan is an award winning Australian choreographer and performer recently resident in West Yorkshire, UK. She has been a member of the collaborative trio The Fondue Set (with Emma Saunders and Elizabeth Ryan) for over 15 years, and has been making her own work since 2009.
Her most recent work, Mass Movement was a finalist in the inaugural Keir Choreographic Award and won the Audience Choice prize. Other recent work includes: Imagined Piece for Four Players, commissioned work for Synergy Percussion; One Thing Follows Another, a collaboration with composer Gail Priest, funded by the Dance and Music Initiative of the Australia Council; and her solo work, Opening and Closing Ceremony, performed at Arlington Oval, Dulwich Hill.
Since arriving in the UK, Jane has performed in Wendy Houstoun’s Stupid Women at The Place, London and Unity Theatre, Liverpool.
As part of The Fondue Set, Jane has created and performed in six full-length dance stage works, including No Success Like Failure which won a Green Room Award, as well as works for film, museums, bars, foyers and parks. The Fondue Set have performed their work throughout Australia, in Europe and Japan, and have collaborated with Miguel Gutierrez, Wendy Houstoun, Rosalind Crisp, Paul Gazzola and Andrew Morrish.
Selected Residencies and Exchanges (from 2012 only):
2016 Spring Residency, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds
2016 Residency at InDialogue16 and Dance 4, Nottingham with Chloé Dechery
2015 ‘On The Horizon’ Research Room Residency, Critical Path with Chloé Dechery
2014-15 ‘Picnic on the Edge’, Australia Finnish Choreographic Exchange between Campbelltown Arts Centre and Zodiak, Helsinki
2013 Unison Project, Critical Path Responsive Residency
2012 Residency with Lizzie Thomson, Dance 4, Nottingham and Io Myers, UNSW
2012 Residency with sound artist, Gail Priest, Rex Cramphorn Theatre, University of Sydney
2015 ‘The National Dance Festival of Victoria’, Critical Dialogues # 4
2013 ‘In Writing’, Critical Dialogues Issue 1, Guest Editor
2010 ‘Between Space, People and Camera’, RealTime #96 April-May
2010 ‘Out of the Ordinary’, RealTime #95 Feb-March
2009 ‘Merce Cunningham: Generational Mix’, RealTime #91 June
2009 ‘I don’t know about acting…’, RealTime #91 June-July
2016 Imagined Piece for Four Players, Commission for Synergy Percussion, 40 under 40
2014 Mass Movement, Commission for the Keir Choreographic Award, Dancehouse, Melbourne and Carriageworks, Sydney. Finalist and Winner of the Audience Choice Prize.
2014 One Thing Follows Another, collaboration with sound artist Gail Priest, Score Season at Performance Space, Sydney
2012 Opening and Closing Ceremony, site specific solo dance work at Arlington Oval , Halls for Hire Season, Performance Space
2012 You’re Gorgeous and I’m Coming, showing of collaboration with Miguel Gutierrez and The Fondue Set, Carriageworks
