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Gabriel Comerford

 

Gabriel is a founding member of MakeShift Dance Collective and independent artist with almost 10 years professional experience. He thrives off working across disciplines and is constantly seeking to challenge and extend himself. Whilst his practice is rooted in dance, his experiences have allowed him to learn from and incorporate elements of physical theatre, object theatre, puppetry, visual-arts, site-specific, Butoh, Suzuki integrated practice, installation and durational performance.

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His interest lies in collaboration and the creative process; sifting through first impressions to expose the core of the theme or concepts at hand. He has an inquisitive mind, a powerful physicality and a captivating stage presence.

Gabriel began his professional career as a trainee dancer with Dancenorth, performing in the premier of Grace Live, then went on to feature with Compagnié MAADO (New Caledonia) and Israeli company Tami Dance. Over the last 10 years Gabriel has worked and performed with a wide range of companies including: DanceNorth, Tasdance, The Farm, Expressions Dance Company, Prying Eye, Phluxus2, The Dange Ensemble, Australian Dance Party, QL2 and Stompin. He has also worked with many independent choreographers such as: Liesel Zink, Lisa Wilson, Emma Fishwick, LZ Dunn, Claire Marshall, Alicia Min Harvie and Christie Williams.

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With MakeShift Gabriel has made, performed and produced across many platforms including: Brisbane Festival, Anywhere Festival, Melaka Art and Perfomance Festival and Short Sweet+Dance. He has been a part of numerous residencies across Australia and Internationally. MakeShift's work, OneTwoTen, was nominated for an Australian Dance Award for Achievement in Independent Dance.

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In 2013, Gabriel and Makeshift undertook an Asialink residency at Rimbun Dahan (Malaysia), developing and presenting, Uncommon Ground. This gave him the chance to delve deeply into his practice and to begin connecting and understanding his Malaysian heritage, something that has become vital to his artisitc voice.

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Gabriel beleives strongly in the importance of continued training and learning. Some of the professional development opportunities he has pursued include: Secondment with Ultima Vez (Brussels), B12 Festival (Berlin), ImPulsTanz (Vienna), Tasdance Exposure, The Jasper Corner Dance Lab, Strut Dance; Gaga Masterclasses, The Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM), The National Dance Forum and a range of one-off workshops.

Gabriel’s choreographic, teaching and mentoring credits include: The Empire Theatre, QL2 Centre for Youth Dance, Queensland University of Technology, Tasdance, Expressions Dance Company, La Boite Theatre Company, Stompin Youth Dance and Pro Dance Classes Brisbane.