Stephanie Lake Company
Colossus is an exhilarating contemporary dance performance for 45 dancers created by internationally
renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake. Colossus had a sold-out premiere
season in 2018 at Arts Centre Melbourne and was met with standing ovations, five-star reviews and
a rapturous response from audiences. It was listed as the Number 1 show of the year by Time Out
Melbourne. The show’s video trailer has since gone viral online, reaching a global audience of over
4.3 million. Colossus has since had a return season in Melbourne and toured to Sydney, Perth, Brisbane,
Newcastle (Australia), France, Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, Geneva, Toronto, Montreal, and Buenos
Aires.
This performance is an experimental work presented as part of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival's
ongoing 'Next Mobility' project. 'Next Mobility' is a study of alternative mobility in performing arts
that has emerged after COVID-19, exploring new ways of international exchange of artworks in
response to the changing ways of consuming art in the digital age and environmental sustainability.
The ingenious touring model of Colossus means that only the choreographer’s concept travels, whilst the
dancers are engaged locally. In intensive rehearsal periods, Stephanie Lake Company will collaborate the
work with dancers from Sungkyunkwan University.
From darkness they emerge, a dizzying mass of pulsating bodies. The push and pull of humanity is
embodied by this heaving throng of life, but can a crowd be more than the sum of its parts? As complex
patterns ripple through the flood of figures, a single movement triggers a chain reaction wheeling the
fragile whole from chaos to order.
Colossus is an exhilarating contemporary dance performance for 45 dancers created by internationally
renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake. This riveting, hypnotic dance work explores
relationships between the individual and the collective, solitary striving and joyous union, with a cast
of dancers performing as one.
Artistic Director and Choreographer Stephanie Lake Stephanie Lake is a multi-award-winning choreographer and the artistic director of Stephanie Lake Company based in Melbourne. She is also the Resident Choreographer of The Australian Ballet. Her major works include Manifesto, Circle Electric, Colossus, Skeleton Tree, Pile of Bones, AORTA, Replica, A Small Prometheus, Double-Blind, Mix Tape and DUAL. Her works have toured across Australia and internationally to Theatre Chaillot Paris, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Luxembourg and New Zealand. Lake has created many works for other companies including Sydney Dance Company, Chunky Move, Queensland Ballet, Dancenorth, New Zealand Dance Company, Tasdance, Frontier Danceland (Singapore), Expressions Dance Company and Beijing Dance/LDTX. Lake is a recipient of the prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, Australia Council Fellowship, Dame Peggy Van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship and Chloe Munro Fellowship. She has been awarded Helpmann, Australian Dance and Green Room Awards for Best Choreography. Lake danced for Lucy Guerin, Chunky Move and BalletLab for nearly twenty years, touring widely. She collaborates across theatre, film, visual art and music video and has directed many large-scale public choreographies involving over 1500 participants.
Kim Na-ye is an associate professor of contemporary dance at Sungkyunkwan University, as well as the artistic director of NKMC (Na-ye Kim Movement Collective). She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography. She has performed extensively on the global stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov's Hell's Kitchen Dance. Na-ye has also worked with renowned American choreographers, including Gerald Casel, Aszure Barton, Karole Armitage, Bill Young, Kyle Abraham as a freelance dancer in New York. She was a full-time lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, School of Dance between 2016-2019 and is the first Korean certified Countertechnique teacher.
<Stephany Lake Company>
Choreographer Stephanie Lake
Composer Robin Fox
Lighting Designer Bosco Shaw
Costume Designer Harriet Oxley
Rehearsal Directors Nicole Muscat, Marni Green
Producer Beth Raywood Cross
Production Manager Emily O’Brien
Technical Manager Robert Larsen
Stage Manager Zsuzsa Gaynor Mihaly
Stephanie Lake Company is supported by Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Canny Quine Foundation,
The Humanity Foundation, Arts Projects Australia and generous individual donors.
<Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Dance>
Seoul Coordinator·Rehearsal Director·Translator Kim Na-ye
Dancer Ko Nayoung, Ko Heungyeol, Kwon Daewoo,
Kwon Doyeon, Kwon Mirae, Kwon Wojin, Kim Dabin, Kim Richan, Kim Myeongseon, Kim Mihee, Kim Minjae, Kim
Minchae, Kim Somin, Kim Jiyu, Kim Chaemin, Kim Haeun, Kim Heeyeon, Na Yoonjae, Noh Eunhee, Mun
Jeongyeon, Moon Jeongwon, Park Soyun, Park Jinhyun, Byeon Garyeong, Seo Yewon, Seo Jisoo, Seok I Gang,
Soh Yejin, Shin Ayoung, Ahn Yeseul, Oh Hyunseo, Oh Hyunseok, Oh Hyeonjun, Won Dabin, Lee Dayeon, Lee
Jaejeong, Lee Juhee, Im Sangmi, Lim Jaeyoon, Jung Yoonji, Jung Huiyun, Choi Semin, Choi Jiyu, Han
Yeowon, Heo Chaeyeon,
Stephanie Lake Company is a multi-award winning contemporary dancecompany based in Melbourne. Known for a
gutsy, original choreographic style and striking visual aesthetic, Stephanie Lake Company’s highly
acclaimed works include Manifesto, Colossus, Monsters, Skeleton Tree, Replica and Pile of Bones. Working
in collaboration with Australia’s leading dancers and designers, the company has performed in major
festivals and venues across Australia and the world, touring internationally to France, Germany, Hong
Kong, Denmark, Singapore, Scotland, Ireland and Taiwan.
Stephanie Lake Company collaborates across theatre, film, music video, opera and visual art and has
created several mass scale public participation projects for over fifteen hundred participants.
Stephanie Lake Company’s work is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria, City
of Melbourne and the Sidney Myer Foundation and by generous individual donors.