performing arts residency

public program, performing arts residency, first nations residency

First Nations Dance Residency: Caleena Sansbury, 'Mullamar'

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Supplied by Caleena Sansbury.

Showing and Q&A

book tickets

When: Friday, September 13, 6-7pm

Where: The Breakout at The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. This event will be 1 hour (including a Q&A). 

  • This showing and Q&A will be held in The Mill Breakout. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.

    Please arrive at 5:45pm arrival for a 6pm sharp start.

    This event will be 1 hour (including the Q&A).

    Accessibility

    Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Mullamar is a new project by Caleena Sansbury, in collaboration with Adrianne Semmens and Kaine Sultan Babij, aiming to create a rich, multidimensional exploration of her great-grandmother Mary Cooper’s life.

By blending storytelling, physical movement, and projection, this creative development will investigate the personal and systemic challenges faced by Aboriginal people in the 1940s, highlighting their resilience and cultural significance.

About the artist:

  • Caleena Sansbury is a prominent First Nations artist whose diverse background and extensive experience have established her as a leading figure in the arts. Her heritage, encompassing Ngarrindjeri, Narungga, and Kaurna cultures, deeply influences her work and perspective.

    A graduate of NAISDA Dance College, Caleena’s career spans various disciplines including performance, choreography, and program coordination. She has showcased her talents on both national and international stages, working with respected artists and companies.

    Her notable collaborations include:

    • Vicki Van Hout on productions like Long Grass and Les Festivities Lubrufier.

    • Thomas E. S. Kelly on the performance work [MIS]CONCEIVE.

    • Karul Projects on the piece SSHIFT.

    Caleena’s experience extends to children's theatre, where she has performed in shows produced by InSite Arts such as Saltbush and Our Corka Bubs, and with Polyglot Theatre in Tangled. Her work demonstrates a deep understanding of both dance and theatre, particularly in contexts involving young audiences.

    In addition to her performance career, she has contributed to theatre as an actor in Legs On the Wall’s The Man With The Iron Neck and has showcased her organizational skills as a producer for the Melbourne Fringe in 2018. She has also toured South Australia with Taree Sansbury’s Mi:wi 2019, and performed in Jacob Boheme’s dance work Gurranda in 2024. Caleena continues to perform and practice dance in and throughout South Australia. 

    Currently, Caleena is a Program Coordinator at The Mill, an award-winning multi-disciplinary arts organisation. Her role at The Mill continues to reflect her commitment to fostering a vibrant and dynamic First Nations arts community.

public program, performing arts residency, first nations residency

First Nations Dance Residency: Kaine Sultan-Babij, 'Sovereign Sequins'

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Morgan Sette.

Showing and Q&A

book tickets

When: Friday, May 31, 6-7pm

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. These events will be 1 hour (including a Q&A for the 6pm showing). 

  • This showing and Q&A will be held in The Mill Breakout. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.

    Please arrive at 5:45pm arrival for a 6pm sharp start.

    This event will be 1 hour (including the Q&A).

    Accessibility

    Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Fusing Contemporary Indigenous Dance with the bold artistry of drag, Kaine Sultan-Babij will explore themes of identity, self-expression, and storytelling through movement and character.

Audiences can expect a captivating performance blending contemporary Indigenous dance with elements of drag. The show promises to take viewers on a dynamic journey exploring culture, identity, and expression, leaving them inspired and uplifted.

Kaine Sultan-Babij is a versatile artist renowned for their work in dance, choreography, and drag performance, captivating audiences with their dynamic performances that blend genres and push artistic boundaries.

About the artist:

  • Kaine Sultan-Babij is an Arrernte and Gurindji Contemporary Dance Artist, renowned for their work in dance, choreography, and drag performance. Based in Kaurna Country, Kaine stands as an Independent Dancer and Choreographer, contributing to the vibrant Australian performing arts scene.

    Alongside their achievements in dance, the emergence of Estelle, a captivating Drag Performer and Persona, has added another layer to Kaine's artistic repertoire. Through electrifying performances, Estelle has earned a respected place in the Adelaide drag scene, embodying a powerful fusion of Tradition, creativity, and contemporary expression.

    With a background that includes performing with Leigh Warren and Dancers, Bangarra Dance Theatre, and the Australian Dance Theatre, Kaine has skilfully blended Contemporary Dance and Contemporary Indigenous Dance. Based in Kaurna Country, Kaine stands as an Independent Dancer and Choreographer, contributing to the vibrant Australian performing arts scene.

    Together, Kaine and Estelle embody a powerful fusion of Tradition, creativity, and contemporary expression, making a lasting impression on the dance and drag communities in Australia.

This residency has support from

 
 

performing arts residency, public program, theatre residency

Theatre Residency: The Kinetik Collective, 'My Hair is Thinning'

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Courtesy of The Kinetic Collective.

Showing and Q&A

3:30pm showing

When: Friday, May 10, 3:30-4:30pm and 6-7pm

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. These events will be 1 hour (including a Q&A for the 6pm showing). 

  • This showing and Q&A will be held in The Mill Breakout. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.

    Please arrive at 5:45pm arrival for a 6pm sharp start.

    This event will be 1 hour (including the Q&A).

    Accessibility

    Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

My Hair is Thinning is a new work by emerging South Australian playwright Anthony Nocera, directed by Clara Solly-Slade in collaboration with independent theatre makers The Kinetik Collective.

In late 2022, Anthony’s fiancé, Jamie, passed away unexpectedly. He was 24 years older than Anthony. The deal was that he would, most likely, pass away first. But he wasn’t meant to go just yet. Anthony and Jamie’s relationship was coloured by incongruity; Jamie was an extrovert, Anthony an introvert. Jamie, despite being much older, was interested in tech, and Anthony more dubious of it. But, perhaps most incongruously, despite being twice Anthony’s age, having cancer and having undergone chemotherapy, Jamie had a much better head of hair than Anthony.

Now Anthony finds himself at cross-roads: he’s 29, a widow and balding. He can’t help his age, and he can’t help but wade through his grief. He can, however, grow his hair back.

My Hair is Thinning is a darkly funny story about hair regrowth, navigating grief and learning to make peace with things that feel irreconcilable: genetics, death, who we fall in love with and the manner with which it happens.

About the artists:

  • Bianka is a designer + maker with a diverse practice, working across the stage, screen and gallery settings. Bianka has been Head of Prop Making for the multi-award-winning children’s TV series Beep and Mort, lectured in the creative industries division of Adelaide College of the Arts, is Co-Founder of Kinetik Collective and operates a workshop from Fab, the former acclaimed George Street Studios. Currently, Bianka is working on the design of DreamBIG festival (2025).

    Bianka’s design for State Theatre Company of South Australia’s 2019 sold-out season of Animal Farm was a national finalist in the Australian Production Guild’s awards for emerging designer for live performance. Her debut solo exhibition Sugar won an Adelaide Fringe 2021 visual arts award and was an industry example of integrating accessibility into the design, fabrication and exhibition of an art experience. Her accessible theatre designs have also been recognised with a 2022 Ruby Award. Permanent public artworks can be found in Adelaide and in the Kangaroo Island Sculpture Trail. Collaborators include Warner Brothers, Windmill Theatre, Windmill Picture + ABC, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Kinetik Collective, Crossover (London) + Adelaide Fringe, Largent Studio (New York) +FOMO, Fox Creek + Garden of Unearthly Delights, SA Water, SA Tourism Commission, SA Power Networks, Adelaide City Council, independent theatre and private commissions.

  • Clara graduated from the acting stream of The Adelaide College of the Arts (2013) then undertook further training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London (Acting Shakespeare course, 2016). In 2017 she trained in Italy with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company at their International Directors Symposium. Clara was awarded the Helpmann Academy’s Neil Curnow Award (2018) where she interned in the USA with The H.E.A.T Collective, Working Classroom and continued her work with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company. She is a member of the multidisciplinary art collective The Bait Fridge.

    Clara worked for two years full-time as an Emerging Director Fellow with the State Theatre Company of South Australia and State Opera of South Australia (2019-2020). In 2021 Clara directed Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons at Adelaide Collage of the Arts and for Dream Big Children’s Festival with Finnigan Kruckemeyer’s Everything They Ever Said with Fingers Crossed Behind their Backs for the Say Art’s Youth Ensemble. Co-Founder of Independent Company The Kinetik Collective she Directed Kill Climate Deniers in 2022 as part of The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s ‘Stateside Program’. Clara Co-Directed The River that Ran up Hill with Andy Packer for Slingsby Theatre Company presented in the 2023 Adelaide Festival, Hypercolour Miscellaneous Bistro Buffet with Dave Court for Slow Mango and The Bait Fridge as a part of Illuminate Festival and The Sight with Victoria Falconer for Dark Mofo.

  • Anthony Nocera is a writer based in Adelaide. He writes essays, criticism and plays.

    In 2017, he was commissioned to co-write Boys of Sondheim for Woodward Productions. The play premiered at Melt Festival before touring to Sydney Mardi Gras in 2019. In 2023, Anthony’s work My Hair is Thinning was developed as part of Vitalstistix’s Adhocracy program and Theatre Republic presented his short play Black Widow Pussy as part of the FUTURE:PRESENT new writing incubator.

    Anthony’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Age, Metro, Vice, Voiceworks and CityMag among many others. His essays have been anthologised in collections published by Black Ink and Wakefield Press. He has appeared at the National Young Writers Festival and Noted Festival.

    His work has been rejected from many publications and places of note.

  • Zoë is a performing artist and emerging maker currently living and working on Kaurna Yerta. She studied at the New Zealand School of Dance graduating in 2011 with a Diploma in Dance Performance and is a NZSD Distinguished Alumni for 2021.

    After being offered a position at Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) in 2012, Zoë worked full-time and as a guest dancer until 2020 under the directorship of Garry Stewart.

    As an ADT dancer and independent artist, Zoë has toured nationally and internationally, and worked with local and international choreographers including Daniel Jaber (Nought and Dirt) and Ina Christel Johannessen (North).

    Whilst living in SA, Zoë has also performed with local companies in children’s theatre and puppetry shows including Patch Theatre Company (Home and I Wish...), Windmill Theatre Co (Grug and Bluey’s Big Play) and Windmill Pictures (Beep and Mort: Season 1 and Season 2).

    Zoë is an emerging maker and in 2023 she choreographed Co-Incident which featured fourteen AC Arts students. She also completed a first-stage development for her new dance theatre work Llama, which deals with motherhood, transformation, and intergenerational peculiarities.

    When she isn’t performing, Zoë enjoys teaching people of all ages and abilities within a wide range of dance organisations, institutions, and studios.

  • Elizabeth is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and lives and works as an actor on Kaurna land. Her theatre credits include Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers, Red Cross Letters, Volpone and Jesikah for the State Theatre Company South Australia, The Garden for Theatre Republic, Baba Yaga, Grug and Grug and the Rainbow for Windmill Theatre Company, Yo Diddle Diddle and The Lighthouse for Patch Theatre Company, and the Helpmann Award-winning Emil and the Detectives for Slingsby. Elizabeth was part of the Australian cast of Girl from the North Country for GWB Entertainment/STCSA.

    She joined the main cast of Danger 5 as ‘Holly’ for the series return on SBS and has worked on many other locally made television productions, commercials, and short films. Most recently, she appeared in A Sunburnt Christmas on Stan. Elizabeth is the voice of Olli in Sun Runners, a collaboration between Audioplay and Windmill Theatre Company.

    Elizabeth made her directing debut in the inaugural season of RUMPUS at the end of 2019, with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves.

  • Max is an artist working on Kaurna land, specialising in real-time visual arts, interactive programming, and artistic integration with multimedia systems. Max graduated with a BA in Photography from Charles Sturt University in 2012 and built their technical skills by working at art festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Festival and Adelaide Fringe, and was creative producer at The Lab (Adelaide) until 2022.

    Max is a member of The Bait Fridge arts collective and is currently based at Washdog Studios. From a lifelong interest in digital technology, Max has developed a creative practice that blends technical knowledge and multimedia arts, centred around collaboration and experimental process. Installation works include In The Belly Of The Beast (2023), a participatory experimental performance, and Computer Vision (2021) an early AI synthesized video installation. Notable collaborations include ROCKAMORA by Kaspar Shmidt Mumm at ACE Adelaide (2023), Trippin Up (2023) music video by The Jungle Giants created with volumetric 3D data, and ATM-001 (2023), an AI powered talking vending machine by Dave Court. With a diverse range of skills including photography, music and sonic arts, interactive programming, performance art, and lighting design, Max's experience allows them to connect and create using technology across disciplines. Max is proud to be have been selected to be one of Creative Australia’s Digital Fellows for 2024.

  • Adelaide-based musician and community arts facilitator, Mat Morison (he/they), is always looking for new ways to forge connections between disparate styles and ideas. Originally training in jazz piano, Mat has since taken their skills in improvisation and applied it to a wide variety of pursuits, from film and theatre composition, to performance art, Auslan interpreting, community arts facilitating, coding, and language making.

    Mat performs regularly with musical outfit Slowmango, and performance art group The Bait Fridge, and is the Coordinator of Music at disability arts organisation Tutti Arts. They also work in Deaf adult education classes at TAFE SA, and contribute to a number of other community arts organisations such as Girls Rock! Adelaide, Open Space Contemporary Arts, and MUD.

  • Rob (they/them) is an actor, and writer born in the USA and currently based on Kaurna country. Prior to graduating from Sydney Actors School in 2021, Rob studied engineering, education, and dance, having trained in Ballet (RAD) for 10 years.

    They dive head first into everything they do; from contemporary works - Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Shane Anthony, 2021), to classic texts - The Comedy of Errors (Kyle Rowling, 2019), to short works of their own devising - Chip Off The Old Block (Rob C Wells, 2023).

    After the 2022 season touring Australia with Poetry In Action, Rob last year moved to Adelaide for love. With a few things in the works, they can't wait to continue to tell challenging stories, and show their dad that the theatre isn't just a "stage".

Videography: Josh Trezise

This residency has support from