Australia Dancing - Lea, Elizabeth (Liz) (1970

Lea, Elizabeth (Liz) (1970 - )

Platman, Lara: Liz Lea performing 'The Incense', a re-interpretation of Ruth St Denis' solo, London, ca. 2004

Liz Lea has created an eclectic career as a dancer and choreographer by drawing upon traditional Indian classical dance forms and fusing these with contemporary Western dance and the martial arts of Asia. More recently she has developed an interest in reinterpreting the work of early choreographers such as Ruth St Denis and Anna Pavlova, creating contemporary renderings that are infused with the theatrical intensity of their style.

Born in Sydney, Lea travelled widely with her family, living in Malawi, Bangladesh and Pakistan and began dancing at an early age in Melbourne. After two years of an anthropology degree she deferred to dance full time at Manly Dance Arts Centre. Her first professional engagements were as a showgirl in Japan and on the Sydney Harbour Showboat, with the style of these early performances reflected in her ongoing work as a Baroque dancer and actress. She then went on to train in the United Kingdom at the London Contemporary Dance School and at Akademi, the South-Asian dance centre in London. She also trained at the Darpana Academy in India and worked with Imlata, Ranjabati Sircar, Sankalpam and Mavin Khoo.

Lea began choreographing in 1998. She bases her work in the UK and Australia and in recent years has also performed and taught in Korea, Bulgaria, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania, Germany, Russia, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Canada, and the USA. She regularly works with the English National Opera, and has created works for the Mavin Khoo and Intoto Dance Companies, UK, and Ballet Arabesque, Bulgaria.

Lea has been recognised through a number of dance awards. In 2003 she was the recipient of a fellowship from the Australian Choreographic Centre and an AHRB research grant from Roehampton University, UK. In that year she also received awards for her solo Inland at the 6th Solo-Tanz Competition, Germany, and was short-listed for the Jerwood Choreography Awards, UK. In 2004 she was one of twenty artists commissioned to create works for the inaugural Place Prize competition.

In 2005 Lea premiered her solo Bluebird at The Royal Opera House, London and toured with Sankalpam Dance Company, UK’s foremost traditional Bharata Natyam company. In 2006 she toured Australia, the UK, Europe and the US with her solo production The Blue Tour (Bluebird, The Incense, Radha, Quicksliver) and worked on Accented Body, a multimedia project for the Brisbane Festival. In 2007 she premiered eros eris, commissioned by the Royal Opera House, and in 2008 Ajanta, based on Pavlova’s 1923 ballet Ajanta Frescos. In 2009 she was an associate artist at QL2, Centre for Dance, Canberra and pursued her research into Anna Pavlova in Asia at the Australian National Library and National Film and Sound Archive where she received a Fellowship.

In January 2010 Lea was appointed artistic director of Canberra Dance Theatre.

Research Materials

Ephemera | Picture | Website | All

Other resources

Find more about Lea, Elizabeth (Liz) in:

Internet - Google
Libraries - Libraries Australia