Siobhan McKenna is a choreographer, dancer and teacher currently working in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia.
Siobhan’s choreographic interests center around exploring relationships between the various materialities of movement, language, sound and rhythm, with a particular focus on considering the fragility of communication and how language — our main form of communication — can be altered and abstracted alongside movement in order to break down its tendency to dominate ‘meaning-making’ in a performance context.
Siobhan grew up in the Bega Valley in NSW, on Yuin Country before moving to the city where she had the privilege of studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance at the Victorian College of the Arts, graduating in 2016. The journey she has undertaken as an artist over the last seven years includes experience performing in other’s work, creating her own work and both teaching and participating in various workshops and residency programs.
Choreographic works
Rhythmic Fictions
Presented in 2022 by Darebin Arts Speakeasy at Northcote Town Hall in Melbourne, Australia.Relay
Presented in 2022 by Temperance Hall in the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Australia.Drama 2,3,4
Presented in 2019 at The Substation in partnership with Lucy Guerin Inc. in Melbourne, Australia.Utterance
Presented in the 2017 Melbourne Fringe Festival and 2019 Dance Massive Festival in Melbourne, Australia.Petri-Dish
Present in 2019 at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia.
Awards and Scholarships
Victorian College of the Arts Choreography Award (2019)
For showing outstanding choreographic potential in the creation of her work Petri-Dish.Create NSW Young Regional Artist Scholarship (2017)
Best Dance Award (2017)
For Utterance in the Melbourne Fringe Festival.Temperance Hall Award (2017)
Supported by Phillip Adams’ BalletLab, for Utterance in the Melbourne Fringe Festival.Received a nomination for the ‘Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography’ in the 2019 Green Room Awards for Utterance.
Received a nomination for ‘Best Choreography’ in the 2022 Green Room Awards for Rhythmic Fictions.
Commissions and Curation:
Co- curation of NOW PIECES 2021
An improvisation event presented by Dancehouse.Yellowheel Youth Company 2020-2021
Commissioned to create a short work, ‘Nonsense’ on the company which was sadly not presented due to lockdowns.Chamber Made’s ‘Little Operations’ 2020
Commissioned to be part of Chamber Made’s ‘Little Operations’ program to support the creation of a work in development ‘Feeling Counts’, with musician and composer Lena Douglas.PIECES presented by Lucy Guerin Inc. in partnership with the Substation 2019
Commissioned to create a short work, ‘Drama 2,3,4’ for the Lucy Guerin Inc. program.
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of the land on which I inhabit and work. I pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has not been ceded and treaties never signed.