The board of leading dance company Shaun Parker & Company (SP&Co) has announced the establishment of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship supported by the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation in New York; a landmark $100,000 per year fellowship created to support the development of significant dance works by leading choreographic artists. A rare occurrence, this is one of the only American-funded fellowships of its kind in the Australian arts and dance sector, and is distinguished by both its scale of funding and its ongoing support for the creation of a specific artistic outcome.
The inaugural recipient is the outstanding Beau Dean Riley Smith, who will receive the fellowship over two to three years, culminating in the World Premiere of a major new work, created with Shaun Parker & Company’s nine outstanding dancers.
Beau Dean Riley Smith is a Wiradjuri and Gamillaraay man from Dubbo NSW, raised on Yuin Country in Culburra Beach, Nowra, now living on Gadigal land. He is an award-winning dancer, choreographer and actor, and performed with Bangarra Dance Company from 2013 until 2022. During his 10 years with the company, he performed in over 22 major productions and choreographed Miyagan from OUR land people stories – a work that Bangarra returned to Country as part of the 2018 regional tour which won a Helpmann Award for best regional touring program. Recently Beau made his musical theatre debut as Dave Daylight in The Sunshine Club by Queensland Theatre under Wesley Enoch’s direction.
The Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation is a private foundation based in New York who support education, philanthropy, voluntarism, and Human Services, primarily in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Announcing the fellowship, SP&Co Artistic Director Shaun Parker said, “This fellowship is the result of a relationship built slowly, and with great care. I remember sitting with the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation in New York and a discussion about my dreams for our company and what Australian dance could become. I couldn’t have imagined back then what we are announcing today. To have this very significant support from the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation is genuinely life changing; for Beau, whose talent and vision I have long admired, for our nine outstanding dancers who will be transformed by this process and for the Australian dance sector as a whole.”
Beau Dean Riley Smith said, “I am thrilled and humbled to be chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship. This opportunity will give me the room to go deep, without cutting corners and allows me the time to explore all facets of the work, to create a really thought-provoking piece.
Having two years to develop a work is an incredibly rare opportunity and one I am endlessly thankful for. It allows us to respect the creative process, having this time, to respect and honour the work. Particularly, when the works I create are pulled from the lived history of this country. Getting to work with Shaun Parker & Company’s nine outstanding dancers is a dream, there is a real feeling of commitment from everyone, which bonds and connect us, creating ‘Miyagan’ as we all become the caretakers for this story.”
The Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation said, “Our relationship with Shaun Parker is one that has grown organically, and with great warmth, over many years. We have seen that Shaun has a rare gift for making one see the world through a different lens. Shaun’s capacity to design intricate movement, engaging full length work and highly conceptual frameworks is what drew us to his company in the first place.
We have watched and supported Shaun’s vision for his company with deep admiration, and when the opportunity arose to support this fellowship, we felt wholly confident that he could steer his Fellows in the creation of groundbreaking new work.
We hope this contribution paves the way for the extraordinary artists who will benefit from it, for a broader conversation about what Australian dance can be and sets a precedent for who can support it.”
Shaun Parker & Company is an exhilarating and bold Australian dance company that has exploded onto the international dance scene. It creates critically acclaimed dance productions, which are renowned for their integration of stimulating choreographic forms, arresting musical scores and theatrical invention.
Based in Sydney (Gadigal), the company was founded in 2010 by award winning Artistic Director and Choreographer Shaun Parker and has toured across Australia and to 25 countries globally, including a sold-out season at London’s prestigious dance house Sadler’s Wells. The company has won a multitude of awards including the Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography, the NSW Premier’s Creative Achievement Award, two Australia Dance Awards, a Banksy Award (New Zealand), the Argus Angel Award (UK), the Bearer Of Hope Award (Germany), several Helpmann Award nominations, finalist for the CHASS Prize, the 2021 NSW Premier’s Resilience Award, and the 2024 Australian Enterprise Award ‘Most Innovative Dance Company – Sydney’ and ‘Performing Arts Company of the Year’.
Visit https://www.shaunparkercompany.com/ to learn more.
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