16 December 2025
Can you share the story behind Golden Thursdays? How did the ensemble come together, and what sparked the desire to create a company centred on neurodivergent choreographic voices?
Golden Thursdays began from a shared desire by Alice, Max and Bryn to develop their own contemporary dance practices on their own terms. They invited Stuart and me to be what we have called Creative Catalysts—essentially, collaborators who dance alongside them, help refine ideas, and support their artistic independence without directing it, which enables each artists’ choreographic voice to develop in a shared practice. In early 2023 we began gathering in community halls before eventually establishing our studio in North Lismore. Associate ensemble members Freya Toussaint and Sinead Skorka-Brennan, both Brisbane based, regularly join this work.
Our weekly Thursday Lab is the anchor of GT: a space for experimentation, conversation, exchange and discovery. When Max called it “Golden Thursdays,” it stuck, and we have unfolded from there.
Alice explains it well when she said, “We bring all different dances in, that’s why we break the rules”.
The work Golden Thursdays is making is truly innovative. Their neuro-diversity creates entirely new and highly complex movement vocabularies and choreographic structures that surpass the inventiveness of neuro-typical choreographers.
Your work is grounded in rigorous creative processes and inclusive collaboration. How do these principles shape the way you develop new choreography and perform together?
The creative process begins with the distinct sensibilities and embodied imaginations of Alice, Max, Bryn, Sinead and Freya, which generates complex, original movement languages that continually surprise us with their detail, rhythm and emotional clarity. As Creative Catalysts, Stuart and I help them articulate these ideas, build archives of movement, and validate and expand choreographic structures that emerge. Engagement with mentors like Jo Lloyd and Leo Cremaschi has helped strengthen our identity as an ensemble and given the artists confidence to push further.
Stuart comes from a history of dancing with Trisha Brown (NYC) and meticulously embodying her highly specific and incredibly complex movement, so he is uniquely attuned to detailed, researched, meticulously crafted, and highly complex dancing. When Stu was introduced to the work of each of these artists, he saw their dancing through this microscope and was captivated by their artistry.
Stuart says, “The work GT is making is truly innovative. Their neuro-diversity creates entirely new and highly complex movement vocabularies and choreographic structures that surpass the inventiveness of neuro-typical choreographers. It’s rare to find. Golden Thursdays consistently astonish me with the rhythms, coordinations, juxtapositions, timings, relationships and narratives they create with each other. Little else has captivated me in this way from my immersion in dance in New York and Europe over the past decade. GT are redefining the stuff of dance.”
Stuart’s experience helps us to all to be able to see and develop each artist’s movement vocabulary with this level of detail. It’s pure joy evolving their choreographies from this focussed place each time we enter the studio, flipping the hierarchy of excellence in dance on its head.
You’re based in the Northern Rivers and deeply connected to the local community. How does the region influence your practice, and what does it mean to create dance here?
Max often arrives at the studio on Thursdays charged up from his time walking and dancing in nature and pursuing his video and photography practice, Bryn creates dance on his local Pottsville beach, and Alice is awed by walking in nature and swimming in icy cold seas and waterholes especially up on Koonyum Range where her family are based, meanwhile being a regular celebrity in Lismore, having worked at both Flock and now Dark Horse cafe. All three artists are well known in the area from their community engagement and local jobs, and have danced with Sprung! Dance Theatre for many years – they have dug deep roots here.
Sinead and Freya live in Brisbane but when you hear Sinead speak about the Northern Rivers it’s her spiritual home – she is deeply moved by the green hills, and feels cocooned in love and community when she visits for dance work. Both Stuart and I have strong personal ties to Lismore, I was born and went through school here. The region has become our artistic home and the base for our studio. Creating dance here allows us to work in close connection with community, landscape and our local families, cultivating a practice that is grounded, accessible and uniquely regional. This allows us to really go inside our work with sharp focus, and some quiet from the noise of what everyone else is doing, our dream bubble as Max calls it, and then drop into major cultural centres/cities with a practice that we have honed.
We bring all different dances in, that’s why we break the rules.
Golden Thursdays also run person-centred, skills-focused kids’ dance classes in Lismore. What sets your teaching approach apart, and how do you nurture individuality and confidence in young dancers?
Our kids’ classes are intentionally relaxed, person-centred and welcoming to dancers who might not fit into traditional studio expectations. We prioritise kindness, curiosity and individual care as well as investing in each dancer’s skill development. GROOVE CLUB is all about playful creative movement, building coordination, musicality and confidence through games and group exploration. Our Contemporary class supports young dancers to develop strong foundational skills by understanding why movement works, not just copying shapes. We teach for the dancer in front of us, ensuring experienced and less experienced students can grow meaningfully side by side. This develops each dancer’s creativity and confidence to experiment alongside technique, opening up movement possibilities. With the GT ensemble, Stuart and myself teaching, students connect directly with working artists and gain access to contemporary dance as an evolving, expressive practice and develop their identity as a dancer within the living artform.
Looking across recent or upcoming projects, is there a work or creative moment that feels especially significant for the company right now?
Our major focus is Scenes from a Swan Lake, our first large-scale contemporary work. The work was seeded during a Brisbane residency by collaborator Sinead who has dedicated her life to ballet training. She aspires to a career as a ballet dancer. Living with Down Syndrome means that traditional pathways for a ballet career aren’t open to her. She imagined staging Swan Like with GT and as we started to explore the idea, the project opened space for each artist to reinterpret Swan Lake through their own movement languages and emotional truths. We recently completed an intensive with Jo Lloyd, deepening the work’s structure and ensemble dynamics.
Next up is a 4-day Creative Development in our studio in January, which will allow us to begin collaborating with Composer James Brown and Cellist Kaja-Skorka Brennan (Queensland Symphony Orchestra), and then a three-week residency at GUTS Dance in Alice Springs/Mparntwe where we keep going with the project at the Araluen Arts Centre, and immerse, play and research in the desert landscape, as well as facilitate workshops for the Mpartnwe community, and present a work-in-progress showing.
What’s next for Golden Thursdays? Are there new directions, collaborations, or community initiatives you’re excited to explore?
We will perform again this year at the Tropical Fruits Recovery Day Cabaret collaborating with Melbourne/Naarm based drag and dance artist Dandrogany. GT have some big ideas for expanding our local community focussed work in the realm of cabaret and queer performance, so stay tuned.
We’re about to embark on our first major collaboration with a composer, Central Coast/Darkinjung-based artist James Brown. We are excited to get into the studio with James, as his ability to respond creatively and instantaneously in the studio, drawing on his expansive musical knowledge, will blow up the artists’ ideas and provide them access to possibilities they couldn’t otherwise access. Alongside him, cellist Kaja Skorka is going to help shape the sonic world for Scenes from a Swan Lake. Neurodivergent costume designer Amelia Thompson-Cass is developing bold, inventive design concepts for the work’s theatrical vision.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’re expanding our partnerships and working closely with producer Philip Channels as we enter an exciting new phase of growth.
Cunningham Technique with Jaime Scott:
Contemporary dance masterclass focused on the technique and work of the iconic American choreographer, Merce Cunningham. This one-off class will be led by Jamie Scott, a former dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. All levels of dance experience are welcome.
Golden Thursdays Studio, North Lismore | 20 Dec, 9-11am | $30 | Event Link
Contemporary Choreographic Intensive for young people:
An opportunity for young people aged 9 – 14 with an interest in dance and dance creation. This workshop is inclusive for young people with and without neurodivergence and disability and appropriate for dancers with either lots of experience or lots love for dance as it’s all about dance making from the dancers’ own ideas.
Golden Thursdays Studio, North Lismore | 28-29-30 Jan, 9.30am – 4pm each day | $150 | Bookings opening soon
From February 2026, Golden Thursdays will be running a fundraising campaign thanks to the Australian Cultural Fund’s Boost Program, where all donated dollars up to $5K will be matched dollar for dollar. Expect to see GT hosting events you can join and be part of their story. All funds raised will go towards artists’ fees for the development of their first major work, ‘Scenes from a Swan Lake’.
![Creative Feature // GOLDEN THURSDAYS (with Kate McDowell)
Q - Can you share the story behind Golden Thursdays? How did the ensemble come together, and what sparked the desire to create a company centred on neurodivergent choreographic voices?
A - Golden Thursdays began from a shared desire by Alice, Max and Bryn to develop their own contemporary dance practices on their own terms. They invited Stuart and me to be what we have called Creative Catalysts—essentially, collaborators who dance alongside them, help refine ideas, and support their artistic independence without directing it, which enables each artists’ choreographic voice to develop in a shared practice. In early 2023 we began gathering in community halls before eventually establishing our studio in North Lismore. Associate ensemble members Freya Toussaint and Sinead Skorka-Brennan, both Brisbane based, regularly join this work.
Our weekly Thursday Lab is the anchor of GT: a space for experimentation, conversation, exchange and discovery. When Max called it “Golden Thursdays,” it stuck, and we have unfolded from there.
[Read the full interview through our link in bio]
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@golden_thursdays @she_is_a_wonderbabe @stuartshugg @radicalintrovert.online @gdocs.co
Image: Creative Development for Scenes from a Swan Lake, Golden Thursdays' Studio Lismore 2025, Credit Georgia Haupt](https://northernriverscreative.com.au/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)