Contemporary dancer.
Improviser.
Artist?
A Very Serious Third-Year Work
Image courtesy of Tom Salisbury and Olivia Fisher, Deakin University
Reuben is a dancer and emerging artist with a particular interest in improvisation. They are a member the Youth Dance Makers Initiative Advisory Committee one of the facilitators of On The Table at Dancehouse. Reuben earned a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance) with Distinction from Deakin University… It is the most expensive piece of paper they will ever own. Reuben spends a lot of time in youth practice and has recently been thinking deeply about attention - as performer and audience member. They are interested in how the act of live movement generation narrows and focuses attention. Reuben and the word “practice” are old foes, and they still engage in regular skirmishes. Reuben is a huge process nerd whose movement and written works often end up accidentally being about choreography or rehearsal.
Upcoming Projects
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Reuben will be participating in Alec Katsourakis’ development for The Ballad of Bouncing Back (JumpD). Drawing from athletics and contemporary dance training, this intense work will ask ‘what does it take to keep going when stopping isn’t an option?’
A ten minute version of JumpD will be shown at Out of Bounds Session #4, 4:30pm Saturday May 3. Register here.
A twenty minute version of JumpD will be presented as part of the Gravity Duality double bill running 7pm Friday May 16 - Sunday May 18. Tickets here.
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Saturday May 24
Reuben will participate in Conference of the Birds, a multidisciplinary art walk taking place over two kilometres on the Gippsland Rail Trail. Inspired by the spiritual interpretation of the Sufi poem, audiences will move through seven themed valleys filled with visual and performance art. Reuben will perform in the Valley of Astonishment and Bewilderment and the finale.
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May-July 2025
Drawing on the methods of the avant-garde Judson Church Theatre, this series of fortnightly sharing invites artists to present work for discussion. Reuben will facilitate the space, aiming to honour the democratic foundations of 1960’s New York while in search of post-post-modernist choreography.
For an invite email: reubenmd12@gmail.com
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August 2025
Serving as a culmination of the Church to Courthouse series, A Concert of Dance #17 continues the Judson Dance Theatre legacy, imagining our own works following in their lineage. Works will be selected by participants of the series for a public presentation.
Recent Projects
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Meet Reuben
Reuben is a contemporary dancer and emerging artist living in Naarm/Melbourne.
Third person singular is how you write a resume, right? It feels weirdly impersonal. Let’s add something with a bit more humanity.
They grew up dancing on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung land in central Victoria. Reuben’s local studio became a place for creativity and vulnerability, and in many ways they are looking to recreate this space elsewhere.
I think one is supposed to prove their credentials. Um, what have I done? Oh, I’ve worked with some cool people!
They danced in the openings of the 2017 and 2019 Castlemaine State Festivals, working with Robbie Graham, then with Bec Jensen and Sarah Aiken. Reuben worked with choreographer Gilbert Douglas to teach and perform for the Together program in 2022. They attended the 2022 Australian Youth Dance Festival, dancing with Bec Jensen, Sinsa Mansell, Alisdair Macindoe, Mason Kelly-
- And a bunch of fantastic young dancers!
… And a collective of emerging artists.
Since 2022, Reuben has been a Company member of Yellow Wheel, a critical piece of Melbourne’s dance architecture that supports young and emerging artists. Kyall Shanks and Jacqui Maida provoked Reuben’s creative interests. Highlights include creating and performing with the Company.
Now I’m really misleading you. The highlights have been turning up for training and improvisation. And talking… so much talking! It seems to me that we prioritise discussing the works we have made or the choreographers we have worked for. I’m not sure if this resonates with others out there, but the deepest impressions on me have been left by the people I dance with.
In 2023, Reuben completed their Bachelor of Creative Arts from Deakin University. The culmination of these studies involved making a 45-minute solo work, as well as collaborating with peers to create a festival encapsulating their graduation works.
And now I’m in the void, staring down a world which seems, if not actively opposed to a career in dance, then at least oblivious to its challenges. Which is to say, um…
Reuben is working part-time, developing some smaller-scale creative projects, and hopes to dance and choreograph with collaborators new and returning.
(Thanks to Paea Leach, from whom this format was adapted.)
Image courtesy of Tom Salisbury and Olivia Fisher, Deakin University