Jess Hall - Organik Dance Director

From 1999–2002 Jess studied Shiatsu bodywork and TCM in Oxford, England. The concious approach, and grounding skills, developed through this training have contributed to her depth of knowledge of the body.

She has been lucky enough to study and work with many inspirational dance, performance and musical artists along the way including Candoco Dance Company. Cecilia Macfarlane, Jane George (Coral Arts), Julyen Hamilton, Jayante Bose (of Nitin Sawney), Dr Didge and Dadadrum and The Living Dance Institute here in Fremantle.

In 1999 with an Arts Council Bursary she studied dance in Senegal, West Africa and taught a year long drum and dance schools education project in England. Jess joined Organik Dance in 2005 after moving from Holland to Fremantle with her family. She immediately enjoyed the supportive and creative energy of the group. Jess became more and more involved and committed to Organik Dance, and excited by it’s potential.

In June 2008 she co-created The Feathers and Fur project with Kathy Mcpherson. Jess has been directing Organik Dance since July 2008 after Kathy left on extended maternity leave. In 2010 Jess completed level one Rock and Water training and The Active After Schools coaching.

Current work includes teaching, directing and administrating Organik Dance. Dance teaching on the Active After Schools Program and leading dance at Spearwood Alternative School.

Kathy McPherson - Organik Dance Director

Kathy McPherson founded Organik Dance in 2004, after being involved in professional dance and movement based therapies for 16 years. She started dancing at 17 when she worked for ‘Dance Encore’, a music theatre company based in Sydney.

Over the next 5 years she travelled much of Asia performing the traditional art of French Cabaret. Back in Sydney , she went on to work in the theatre restaurants the “Showboat” and “Showclub”, as well as being involved in other projects in both Sydney and Melbourne. While she was working as a freelance dancer Kathy studied contemporary and jazz-funk dance. Once in Perth she qualified as a yoga teacher and taught for many years, whilst furthering her studies with Ayurvedic training. In Fremantle, Kathy serendipitously got involved in the thriving African music scene. She loved the fusion of drum and dance and found the choreography really inspiring and liberating.

She became the dancer/singer/percussionist for popular drumming band “Deredjev Dubar” in 2000. Since then she has been collaborating with the majority of Perth ’s most talented percussion artists and has been involved in countless projects all over the State.

These include: “Djembe Dun Dance Troupe” (regular at Mojo’s in 2003), Ngewell Kora (Fairbridge Festival, amongst others) “Taste Dance Jam” for Ausdance, “Worn-Art” ( Denmark ), “Women in Dance” (at Kulcha MultiCultural Arts), Southbound Festival (Busselton), Fremantle Festival, Touch the Sun Festival (Mandurah) and “The Feathers Fur Ball” (The Fly By Night Musicians Club).

She has often performed at benefit gigs for different charities and has taught African dance from Broome to Albany, in schools and private workshops. With the formation of Organik Dance, Kathy set out to create a performance group that is supportive of its members and creative in it’s productions.

She has worked to incorporate traditional dance styles with her own choreography and often hosts guest teachers from Africa to teach her students. For Kathy, Organik Dance is about  the ‘joy of dance’, and sharing that with the wider community has been one of her primary goals.                            

Anna's love for textiles has been a lifelong one. She was brought up amidst an array of fabrics, patterns and designs of her Mum's, and with her mum making clothes for herself and her 2 sisters on a sewing machine in the corner of the kitchen!

Anna began at an early age with sewing clothes for her dolls, progressing to garments for herself and friends, and later on this included numerous leotards, tights, and costumes for her ballet and jazz lessons.

Anna is interested in creating holistic costumes which are not only appealing from an audiences' perspective, but also capture the imagination and feeling of the movement brought to life by the performer. This process encompasses making the costume enjoyable as a garment for the performer to wear, and creating a connection between all these elements which make performance art.

Currently, Anna is involved with Organik Dance, and has been with the troupe since 2006 as a dancer and choreographer, and as a costume designer and maker. She is also making children's and adults clothing.

Anna is passionate about continuing this exploration and development of textile art for performance, festival, educational and fun purposes!