Spring Updates
The Break Premier, Reflections from Europe, Liquid Love & New Roles
Hi everyone,
It’s been a whirlwind since our last newsletter, and I’m excited to share what’s been unfolding in the studio, on stage, and across new collaborations.
This spring, we are collaborating, reflecting, teaching, and creating:
The Break launches on Williamstown Beach for Melbourne Fringe
Reflecting on two international developments for upcoming pieces
Teaching theory and philosophy across creative arts subjects at two Universities
I’ve been sharing more behind-the-scenes insights via Substack — rehearsal notes, writing fragments, and reflections on dance’s relationship with place and philosophy. It’s a space to explore ideas, questions, and unearth the invisible layers of long-term creative practice. I’d love for you to join the conversation.
Looking Ahead
We’re in the thick of rehearsals for The Break, we have upcoming international collaborations, and new teaching projects on the horizon: there’s so much in motion.
I’m so grateful for your support and curiosity, it means a lot to share this work and these ideas with a community that cares about dance, research, and social engagement.
Warmly,
Zoë
The Break
I’m thrilled to announce The Break, a site-specific performance on Williamstown Beach, presented by Zoë Bastin Dance in association with The Substation, and with generous support from Hobsons Bay City Council and Melbourne Fringe.
Set on the sands of Williamstown Beach, where land meets water, four dancers move with the repetitive and hypnotic rhythm of waves, shaped by unseen tidal forces. This performance comes out of my long-term choreographic project Waves Are Disturbances, which began in 2018.
The Break Performances
8–11 October 2025 | 6:30–7:30pm | Williamstown Beach Foreshore
The Break had a Minimax Residency at Chunky Move in September, providing invaluable time to experiment with dancers Alex Dobson, Summer Peney, Kady Mansour and Roxane Monfort on choreographic details, and sound design with composer Grace Ferguson.
Come along to the VIP opening on Wednesday, the 8th of October. We will have a smoking Ceremony from 6pm, with the performance starting at 6.30pm.
Tickets are available now via The Substation website, and we would love to see you there!
The Ocean Forum: Shared Waters, Collective Futures
11 October 2025 | 4–5:30pm | Williamstown Life Saving Club
The forum is a free panel discussion that explores how the ocean connects communities, holds cultural and ecological memory, and inspires creative practice.
The panel discussion is free, but please RSVP to secure a spot.
Reflections from Europe
Liquid Love – Zagreb Dance Centre
Koraljka Begović and I co-led an intensive three-week development of a new work, Liquid Love, at Zagreb Dance Centre—my first full choreographic partnership, one that demonstrated the generative potential that comes from opening up process, conversation, and reflection between artists internationally.
Working alongside two exceptional dancers Lara Kapeloto and Katarina Baresic, and a creative team that included Saša Fistrić on lighting and scenography, we immersed ourselves in a focused process of research, experimentation, and dialogue.
Liquid Love explores chronic illness, hydra-feminism, and bodily resilience through its interrogation of membranes and boundaries, bodies moving like water, and the relational space between performers, audience, and environment. Scenes unfold with careful attention: a lit cigarette marking time, glitter swirling like a private wind, and light and shadow revealing transformation.
Next steps: Koraljka will join me in Melbourne in November for a month, where we will continue the Liquid Love professional development through a residency at Dancehouse, with further development plans for Europe in 2026.
ImPulsTanz & Beyond
In 2024, I began developing my solo What Appears to Be Abundance at a Distance at the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna. This year, I returned for workshops and to continue refining this solo, including a collaborative experience with Sophia Rodriguez in her workshop Without Filter, which offered fresh perspectives on improvisation, form, and vocal presence.
Beyond Vienna, I travelled across Europe, attending performances and engaging with creative hubs in Avignon, Venice, London, and Zagreb. Through these strategic opportunities, I explored how different cultural and institutional contexts shape choreographic practice. These encounters have expanded my approach to experimental choreography, enriched my movement vocabulary, and opened new avenues for international collaboration and ways to think about presentation.
New Academic Roles
Deakin University
I’m thrilled to be an Associate Teaching Fellow at Deakin University, teaching across interdisciplinary Creative Arts subjects. I’ll bring insights from my practice into units exploring Transgressive Art and Censorship, and the relationship between Art and Technology, where students innovate, critique, and extend creative possibilities across historical and contemporary philosophy.
Guest Teaching at VCA
Two weeks ago at VCA, I explored Embodied Resistance with first year dance students in Thinking Through Practice, bringing identity, queer worldmaking, and movement into dialogue with dance theory and philosophy. Drawing on thinkers like Audre Lorde, Sara Ahmed, Donna Haraway, and Elizabeth Grosz, we considered the body as both site and agent in compositional practice and how that creates new worlds for our bodies to then inhabit.
Students engaged in structured improvisation, reflective writing, and peer feedback to develop their own improvisation toolkits. This practice invited them to interrogate who they are as choreographers and how to find, through the material of the body, their unique voice. We had so much fun, I’d love to teach this workshop again!
Other Creative Projects
Celestial continues its journey toward a 2026 premiere, exploring queer transcendence, embodied ritual, and collective devotion.
The Queer Theory Reading Group remains active at Blindside, connecting artists, writers, and thinkers for monthly discussions on queer theory and creative practice.
I will be presenting at AAANZ Conference in Perth in December about the Waves Are Disturbances choreographic project for the Sounding the Hydrocommons Panel.