Jack Ziesing

Notes

Jack Ziesing Jack began dancing in Canberra at Quantum Leap Youth Dance Company under the direction of Ruth Osborne. In 2008 he undertook training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. While there he worked with choreographers Aimee Smith, Melanie Lane, Anton and Amaury Lebrun (Spain). In 2009, he received a scholarship to attend the Taipei Ideas Dance Festival specialising in rope and aerial work. Jack also travelled to the United States to attend the World Dance Alliance Conference and perform choreographer and lecturer Sue Peacock’s any given moment. He graduated from WAAPA in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance. Upon graduating, Jack developed Ghostlight choreographed by Kate Weare (USA) for Buzz Dance Company and also performed in Chrissie Parrot’s Cyg.net 2 for the opening gala at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia. Jack joined Expressions Dance Company in 2011 under artistic director Natalie Weir. He performed in many of Weir’s signature award winning works. He toured extensively nationally and internationally and collaborated with other companies including Queensland Ballet, Opera Queensland, Cathy Sharpe Dance Ensemble, LDTX/Beijing Dance, Singapore Dance Theatre and Guangzhou Modern Dance Company. He performed works by commissioned choreographers such as Antony Hamilton, Lucas Jervies, Paul Selwyn-Norton, Lisa Wilson, Nerida Matthaei, Liesel Zink, Cameron McMillan and Xing Liang. In 2016 he performed in Ohad Naharin’s Decadance for STRUT as part of the MoveMe festival in Perth and in 2017 he appeared in Stephanie Lake’s Australian Dance Award winning piece for best choreography, Pile of Bones. Shortly after Jack joined Dancenorth as a full time company member under the direction of Kyle Page and Amber Haines. Jack performed in many of Dancenorth’s acclaimed award winning works including Dust, Attractor in collaboration with Lucy Guerin, Gideon Obarzanek and Senyawa and the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. During his time at the company, Jack worked with other commissioned choreographers Gabrielle Nankivell and Daniel Riley as well as choreographed several off his own pieces as part of his ongoing Prince of Darkness works. Jack is now a freelance performer and choreographer. He has made works with Stompin Youth Dance (TAS), QL2 (ACT) and Adelaide College of the Arts (SA) and has shown works in festivals such as Mona Foma and the Australian Youth Dance Festival. In March 2020 Jack presented his film installation work Brumbies with collaborators Robert Crispe and Michael Smith at Umbrella Gallery (QLD). He is a frequent performer for Stephanie Lake Company, currently touring the critically acclaimed Manifesto and will be part of the new work The Chronicles set to premiere in early 2025. He recently performed as part of The Lab’s /`3cks/ program with Messianic Gloss for Illuminate Festival. Jack is a multiple nominee for the Australian Dance Awards, Robert Helpmann Awards and Green Room Awards for Best Dance Performance by a Male and his 2020 choreographic work Sympathetic Monsters won the 2020 Canberra Critics Circle Award.