Olivia O'Brien, who trained at the Garmonsway School of Dance and Hagley Dance Company has been the first to be selected for the 2019 DANZ Dance Residency.
The programme is being delivered for the first time in city by DANZ in partnership with The Arts Centre and Movement Art Practice.
O'Brien said the residency is a chance for her as a choreographer to grow and develop her skills as a dance artist.
"The residency has given me time and space to experiment with ideas and processes to see how I create as freelancer," she said.
DANZ executive director Sheryl Lowe said The Arts Centre was an exciting place to host its third dance residency.
"We hope this residency will contribute to the reinvigoration of the arts and dance community in Christchurch and help to build on the wonderful progress already being made."
In an exciting new collaboration between DANZ, The Arts Centre and Movement Art Practice, the residency will be hosted over two weeks in Christchurch.
The residency is set to take place in alignment with the Ōtautahi Tiny Performance Festival on November 30 curated by Movement Art Practice.
The DANZ Dance Residency is aimed at an independent dance artist seeking to develop their practice and is part of DANZ’s strategy to further expand its support to new graduates in the professional dance sector.
O'Brien will be based at The Arts Centre until November 29 and will have the opportunity to work with assigned dancers and to have access to a dance mentor throughout the two-week period of the residency.
At the end of the residency, she will present the work she has created at a showing at the festival. She will also facilitate a workshop at The Arts Centre.
O'Brien is in her final year at Unitec in the Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts (Contemporary Dance) in Auckland.
"I am excited for the opportunity to return to my hometown, Christchurch, for this residency to develop my practice. For me, this residency will allow me to come home and re-establish old connections and relationships", she said.
O'Brien residency project, From Residence, will be developed as a duet on her residency dancers, and will explore her interest in making work that pushes boundaries, provoking and subverting expectations through well crafted, dynamic and virtuosic movement.
