Kelly Beneforti

About the Project

This project is about launching a group of exciting young dance artists into the Melbourne arts scene. A trio of short works will be presented at an informal showing for industry professionals, featuring the Menagerie members as highly trained, captivating and dynamic performers as well as thought-provoking and compelling choreographers. This project will provide the collective’s members with an opportunity to harness the momentum from our training years and invest it in professional and ongoing creative practice.



Two of the works for this project are already in development. The first deals with memory and the way in which childhood nostalgia plays out through adult life. Choreographers Rachel Coulson and Rachel Heller-Wagner hope to reveal the importance of memories in animating our histories and how they reflect upon our current actions, experiences and personal identity.

The second work in development focuses on distilling highly charged, atmospheric or emotional states to draw out moments of crystallisation and clarity. Choreographer Timothy Walsh investigates rigorous and challenging modes of working such that the humanity, fragility and strength of the human spirit can be spontaneously illuminated.

For the third work, we are commissioning dance artist James Welsby to choreograph on all of the collective’s members, which will be an exciting and valuable exchange on both our behalves!

Our dream is to use the footage and feedback we get from the showing as support material for future applications for public funding. With further development and a broader support base, these three works will hopefully be presented as a professional performance season in 2013. 

About Menagerie

Menagerie is a dance collective recently established by the VCA Bachelor of Dance graduating class of 2011, as a means of supporting each other through our individual and collective commitment to young and emerging dance artists. With the city of Melbourne as our hub, we have a strong desire to be a part of and contribute to an animated, discursive, and enduring dance and arts community.

Our ambitions for Menagerie take a number of different forms. The creation and performance of original dance work, developing our skills as teachers, mentors, and leaders amongst young dancers in the community, and ongoing contribution to the sustainability of the arts sector by providing paid work for dancers, choreographers, composers, designers and production crew.

Why Pozible Fundraising?

We have decided to use Pozible as our host to help us realise the first stage of this project. If successful in our fundraising campaign, the money raised will go towards hiring rehearsal space for the development of the works, hiring a venue and any associated costs for the public showing (such as printing programs), commissioning James Welsby to choreograph on the collective, and some low-key marketing to make sure that as many people as possible are there to see the products of our work. 

Thanks for your support and we hope to have you along for the Menagerie journey, now and in the future!

Kelly