Give Me a Microphone & Some Warm Bodies 2025

Give Me a Microphone and Some Warm Bodies is a reimagined program designed to nurture and support recently graduated artists. This initiative provides a structured mentorship within the CoExist community, guiding participants through the full process of creating a choreographic work - from initial concept to final performance.

Selected artists worked over four months alongside the CoExist team to develop their choreographic skills. Their commitment, creative vulnerability, and openness to the process has culminated in an incredible performance season.


Give Me a Microphone & Some Warm Bodies 2025 Presents:


Oppy

Choreographed by Miki L Rolton | Performed by Bree Lyddieth, India Stewart-Williams, and Rory Warne

Oppy is inspired by NASA’s Mars rover, Opportunity. Through abstract and textured movement, the piece explores how we project human emotion onto machines, how scientific progress shapes our sense of time and memory, and the tension between discovery and futility. Rooted in the haunting phrase, “My battery is low and it’s getting dark,” the work reflects on mortality, ambition, and loss. With three performers and a soundscape built from Martian and Earthly rhythms, Oppy invites audiences into a world where data, fiction, and humanity collide.

Fermata

Choreographed by Ashleigh Furniss | Performed by Iskha Meave, Francesca Grande, Mila Odea, Zahra Omar, Eilish Fry, and Tori Wat

Hold, pause.

Fermata explores the uncertainty of stillness and its duration. In this piece, the dancers delve into the anxiety of the unknown and the pressure they feel to move, to perform, to do something - anything. A Fermata, in music, signals a pause; taking the moment to slow down, breathe and reflect. During this rest, will you grasp onto what was, or will you become the composer of the life you want to lead?

Soft Belly in the Shell

Choreographed by Hannah Vella | Performed by Madeleine Moloney, Riley Okely, Brianna Lyddieth, and Ayva Duddington

Soft Belly in the Shell is a contemporary dance work inspired by hermit crabs. Performed by four dancers, it explores the space between protection and exposure, permanence and change. The movement follows bodies as they shift, grow and leave behind what no longer fits. Always seeking, never still.

Sediment

Choreographed by Amélie Logan | Performed by Opal Russell, Chiharu Valentino, Erin Taube, Minami Kurota, and Jake Ware

Sediment drifts through a world of unrest where stillness is devoured and momentum takes hold. Drawn from the microscopic and natural worlds, bodies weave through states of assembly and dispersal, caught in rhythms that refuse to settle.

Bind

Choreographed by Phoebe Allen & Emily Bourke | Performed by Hunter Mains & Lily Hinson

An exploration of femininity as a force forming power, unity, fragility and vulnerability - forces that both bind and unsettle us. Studying the boundaries of femininity through universal bonds and collective division. An abstract work that captures the essence of a collective through physical, energetic, emotional and social influences.


Plus original new work choreographed by Sam Lipkin


Give Me a Mic 2025 has been proudly supported by Transit Dance & Creeping Cat. Thank you for everything - this project wouldn't be a reality without you.

Produced by Tenae Smith

Creative Direction by Byron Jay & Kristen Cafari

Videography by Alec Katsourakis

Photography by Alex Katsourakis & Avril Eatherley

Poster Design by Tenae Smith

Production & Lighting Design by Kristen Cafari