For our final Northern Rivers Creative feature of 2025, we are speaking with Kate McDowell about Golden Thursdays. Golden Thursdays is a bold contemporary dance Ensemble led by Alice Boscheinen, Bryn James, Max McAuley, supported by Creative Catalysts Kate McDowell and Stuart Shugg. The company centres and elevates the choreographic voices of neuro-divergent artists, and you may recognise their work from recent performances such as the Tropical Fruits Recovery Day Cabaret and Hidden in the Hinterland’s Halloween Cabaret at the Drill Hall Theatre. Get to know Golden Thursdays from up close!
![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]
-
@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)