Motus Collective’s mission is to increase performance and employment opportunities for Adelaide based and trained dancers, and promote the thriving dance culture we have here in South Australia. Through a unique portrayal of contemporary dance and collaborations with inter-disciplinary practitioners, Motus Collective aim to make work that is accessible and can be enjoyed by many.
Motus Collective was formed in 2019 by Adelaide College of the Arts graduates, Zoe Gay and Felicity Boyd. The collective was formed out of a desire to create a sense of community, to foster collaborations, expand performance opportunities, and to create a revenue of exploration and experimentation. Motus Collective began their journey hosting Improvisation and ‘Jam Sessions’, before expanding into the choreographic world conducting residencies through Australian Dance Theatre, The Mill, VitalStatistix and more. With a heavy importance being placed on inter-disciplinary collaboration, Motus Collective have worked extensively within the visual arts world including performing with Tom Borgas and Amber Cronin in ‘HyperObject’, created in Arthur Art Bar’s ‘SA LA LA LAND’ program, worked with Fine Print Magazine in their live response to ‘If the future is to be worth anything’, performed Hiromi Tango’s ‘Brain Flower’ at Splendour in The Grass, and more recently collaborated with eDuard Helmbold in ‘Elegy of The Pale Lion’ for VitalStatistix.
Motus Collective were selected to be Share House residents at Carclew in 2021, where they produced ‘Open House’, a platform for emerging artists to create and perform, and premiered ‘White Rhino’ in the Adelaide Fringe, performing to sold out audiences and winning the ‘Best Emerging Artist’ award. 2022 saw Motus Collective premiere ‘The Leftovers’, a collaboration with sculptor Nicholas Hanisch, and were selected to be a part of the InSpace program through Adelaide Festival where they developed ‘Trifle’, a choreographic experiment melding clowning, cabaret and contemporary. In 2023, Motus Collective returned to the Adelaide Fringe with a remount of ‘The Leftovers’ and collaborated with Dragon Mill on ‘Unseen Fire Festival’, a month long performance celebrating the Winter Solstice.
About Us
Motus Collective would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the lands and waters of the Adelaide region, on which we meet today. We pay respects to elders both past and present. We acknowledge the First Peoples of Australia as the first artists, the first storytellers, the first communities and the first creators of culture. Those stories and experiences are the heart of this country. Sovereignty was never ceded.