Academic and professional qualifications:
Master of Fine Arts
Queensland University of Technology
2002
Professional experience:
Performer & Choreographer:
2020- Now Pieces, Dancehouse, Melbourne. Out-of-Bounds, Lucy Guerin Inc/ Temperance Hall.
Aberdeen Dance Festival (Film presentation & workshops).
Motion Works Hong Kong (2019) idance Festival Hong Kong (2014, 2009), Shelley Lasica Dance project (Malthouse Theatre), Crossing Borders (Melbourne ArtsHouse (2013), DANSCROSS/Beijing Dance Academy & Middlesex University (2009), The Hong Kong Ballet Company (2018), The Hong Kong Opera (2007), The Milwaukee Ballet Company (2005), Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Salt Lake City, Utah (2005), Opera Hong Kong (2005), Australian Contemporary Dance Company, Human Veins Dance Theatre, Danceworks, Australian Dance Theatre, Queensland Theatre Company, Expressions Dance Company, Leigh Warren & Dancers, The West Australian Ballet Company, The Australian Ballet School and the Queensland Ballet Company, as well as numerous independent performance projects.
Teaching experience:
Taught and choreographed at tertiary dance institutions including Rusden (Deakin University), The Victorian College of the Arts, Queensland University of Technology, La Salle College of the Arts- Singapore, Sejong University, Seoul, Korea and Xinghai Conservatory of Music（星海音乐学院) and the Adelaide Centre of Performing Arts, in addition to frequent guest teaching positions with Australian and international dance companies and in Hong Kong with the City Contemporary Dance Company.
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Dance at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2003- 2020).
Other creative work:
Exhibited video installation works throughout Australia (Brisbane – Queensland University Art Museum, Bundaberg Arts Centre, Hobart Cast Gallery and the Sydney Performance Space) & Hong Kong; performed and choreographed in numerous short film projects as well as directed own works for video.
Adjudicator for Jumping Frames– Hong Kong Dance Video Festival (CCDC) 2008 – 1014.
In 2010 created a video/installation work for Hermes-International, which was exhibited at the Hong Kong International Airport as part of their Carte Blanche collaborations with artists’ project.
Hong Kong Dance Festival, Master-of-Ceremonies for the 2010 Dance Awards.
Awards and Participation:
First prize-winner in Genesis, Milwaukee Ballet International Choreography Competition, USA (2002). Nominated for an Australian Dance Award for choreography (2003).
Attended International Course for Choreographers and Composers; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (1998).
2000 New Moves/Adelaide Arts Festival ChoreoLab, held in South Australia and Scotland. Choreographic Workshop and performances.
Guest Artist and Teacher at the Silesian Dance Theatre – International Dance Festival and Conference, Bytom, Poland (2003, 2004, 2005).
Involvement in Arts Organisations:
Travelled to China as part of a cultural exchange delegation organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs Canberra and the Chinese Dancers Association, Beijing, July 1995.
Member of the Dance Advisory Panel, Arts Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. (1993 -1995).
Arts Council of Australia, peer-assessment member. (1996 – 2003).
Member of the Peer- Assessment Panel Hong Kong Arts Development Fund (2007 – 2020).
© 2026 John Utans – Choreographer