WHEN: 22-25 Feb 2010
SESSIONS: 22 Feb 8pm, 23 Feb 8pm, 24 Feb 8pm & 9.30pm, 25 Feb 8pm & 9.30pm
WHERE: Radford Auditorium, Art Gallery of SA

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Accepting the award, Artistic Director Amanda Phillips spoke of the committment of the team and artists to the project long-term, and thanked the critics and audeiences of Adelaide for their support.

from The Advertiser by Arts Editor, Patrick MacDonald

NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR 2009 ADELAIDE CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS
The Adelaide Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2009 annual awards. The nominees for awards in the performing arts are:
Individual Award
• Paul Blackwell, actor, The Hypochondriac (Brink Productions)
• Chris Drummond, director, The Hypochondriac (Brink Productions)
• David Mealor, director, True West (Flying Penguin Productions)
Group Award
• Brink Productions, The Hypochondriac
• State Theatre Company; Arts Asia Pacific; Power Arts, Metro Street
• Windmill Performing Arts, The Wizard of Oz
Emerging Artist of the Year
• Joanne Hartstone, actor, Oleanna (Theatre Tours International; Guy Masterson)
• Robert Macfarlane, tenor (for a body of work throughout the year)
• Corey McMahon, director, Osama the Hero and The Under Room (five.point.one)
Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation
• Geoff Cobham, lighting designer, for G (Australian Dance Theatre)
• 3xperimentia: live cut (Felicity Arts: Amanda Phillips and Alexander Waite Mitchell)
• The Wizard of Oz (Windmill Performing Arts)
In recognition of the importance of amateur theatre in the community, the Adelaide Critics Circle continues its long-standing support of unpaid workers in the performing arts with the Awards for Amateur Theatre. The finalists in 2009 are:
Individual Award – Amateur Theatre
• Brant Eustace, actor, Oleanna (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild)
• Adam Tuominen, actor, The Glass Menagerie (Adelaide Repertory Theatre)
• Laraine Wheeler, lighting designer, The Glass Menagerie (Adelaide Repertory Theatre)

Group Award – Amateur Theatre
• Adelaide Repertory Theatre, The Glass Menagerie
• Gilbert & Sullivan Society, The Yeomen of the Guard
• Mixed Salad Productions, The History Boys

In addition to the awards mentioned above, two other awards will be announced, being the Award for Visual Arts (a single winner, decided by the Visual Arts critics) and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award.

The 2009 Awards Ceremony, which is a free event open to the public, will be held at the Arts Theatre, 53 Angas Street, on Monday 7 December at 6 pm. This year’s guest presenter will be national and international arts identity Anthony Steel AM.
Award winners receive cash and a trophy featuring the ACC’s unique design. The ACColades are unique in Australia for including a cash prize. The main funding for the awards is from the Department for the Arts (ArtSA), and the Independent Arts Foundation funds a special Innovation award which recognises and encourages ground-breaking developments and exciting experimentation.
The ACColades, now in their 12th year, are the annual awards from the Adelaide Critics Circle, a group of around 20 Adelaide-based critics, writing for the mainstream and alternative print and electronic media

Amanda Phillips, Alexander Waite Mitchell, Sidonie Henbest & Jon Mah accepted the award and celebrated with fellow members of the arts community.

The Ruby awards are about inspiration, creativity, achievement and innovation. They tell great South Australian stories and spotlight our creative citizens.  The Government of South Australia introduced the Ruby awards in 2006 to recognise creative achievement, innovation and excellence. They are named after the late Dame Ruby Litchfield in honour of her remarkable legacy to arts and culture in South Australia.

Amanda Phillips is an award-winning independent choreographer, director and performer who has created a significant body of Australian and Intercultural work which has been presented in Australia, UK, Europe and S-E Asia. She is at the forefront of Australian dance as the creator of the live-edit performance work and 3D-stereo research project, 3xperimentia, and for Australia’s first full dome dance film Future Memory that premiered at the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival in 2009.

She holds a Masters of Dance (Laban Centre, London) and is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Born in Adelaide, Amanda has worked in both Dance and Theatre in London, Europe and Asia and has represented Australia at a high level, including: Cloud Gate 2’s Young Choreographer’s Project 2004 (Taiwan), Taipei Artist Village, 2007 (Taipei); danceWEB (Vienna); and The International Swiss Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC), (Zurich). She is a Churchill Fellow, Centennial Medallist and former Young South Australian of the Year for the Arts.

In 2005, Amanda was the inaugural Artist in Residence for the International Masters Workshops at the Shanghai International Performing Arts Research Centre (SIPARC) at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and led a subsequent Australia-China performance series named Shifting Horizons (2006). She was the recipient of the first Australia-China Council Churchill Fellowship (2007) to promote cultural links between Asia and Australia. Amanda presented new research on the phenomenology of performance and her ongoing work transcending performance spaces with 3-D, at the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in 2008 with a professional development grant from ARTS SA. In mid 2009, Amanda was once again resident at the Tapiei Artist Village before returning to SIPARC at the Shanghai Theatre Academy as part of their Interchange Series, where she presented intensive professional workshops for Actors and Dance practitioners.

International Choreographic credits include: Fragile Connexions (Taiwan 2009), Immersion (Taiwan 2007); Agent of Language, Look Left:Not Right, and Ivory (China 2006); Temporary Occupants (China 2005); Chinese Whispers (Australia and China 2005); subliminal translation (Taiwan 2004); tomorrow’s tomorrow, private public, Grown-Ups, SATURATION (Switzerland 2003; 2002); AMNESIA (Canada, 2000); a – void – no – place (London/UK 2000); and Beyond (London; Portugal 2000).  Australian Choreographic credits include – CRUSH; M; Morphic Resonance; and Be Your Age (2006); Manifest (Australian Dance Theatre “Ignition Season” 2004), as well as other work in theatre, film, musical theatre and radio. Amanda conceived and produced CRUSH in collaboration with Frances d’Ath, which premiered at the 2006 “i hear motion” festival at the Golden Grove Arts Centre.

Amanda has directed and produced a number of dance films, including: Future Memory (2009), 3xperimentia (2007); When There’s Only (2002); Midway (2001) and ISH! (2000). 3xperimentia has evolved to become a live-edit cinema experience which premiered in 2008 for the South Australian Living Artists Festival as 3xperimentia: Songlines & Storylines – focusing on the diverse culture of South Australia, and the Antistatic ReelDance Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival as 3xperimentia: Live Cut. It received “Best of the Fringe” for the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2009 and won a coveted Ruby Award for Innovation (2009).

Amanda has worked in various artistic capacities for Tutti Ensemble, Patch Theatre, Windmill Performing Arts, Schools’ Festival Of Music and No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability and has extensive experience in community cultural development practice (CCD). Amanda founded performing arts and digital media collective ‘CompanyOf’ in 1999 to facilitate and support the development of inter-arts.  Since 2003, she has worked in creative partnership with composer Alexander Mitchell to further develop hybrid works incorporating dance, music and technology.  She is recognised as a mentor through several established programs, including the Helpmann Mentorship Scheme and is a Director of Felicity Media Arts – an arts management and production company in South Australia.

Deon is a descendant of the Tjapukai people of Far North Queensland.  Deon graduated from the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association in 1998 with a Diploma in Dance.  He undertook the Emerging Artist program with Leigh Warren and Dancers in 1999 and was invited to become a full member of LWD in 2000. His first major role for the company was as Pierrot in Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire, part of the Masterpieces of the 20th Century program.  As a longstanding member of the company, Deon has worked with a number of different choreographers including William Forsythe, John Utans, Michael Whaites, Peter Sheedy, Tony Rizzi and Gina Rings.  Deon also performed in the Opera Trilogy series, Ahknaten, Einstein on the Beach 1,2,3&4 and Satyagraha, works by World renowned Composer Phillip Glass, presented by LWD and the South Australian Opera. Also as a member of LWD, Deon has collaborated with companies such as Junction Theatre, Ballet Frankfurt, Australian String Quartet and Tankstream String Quartet.

In 2006 he co-choreographed a work for Kurruru Youth Performing Arts Group, which was performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and won best Youth work at the Fringe Awards.  Deon was nominated for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 2006.  He also teaches contemporary dance at various levels and is a mentor to indigenous youth.

In 2007 Deon was invited to work with Gina Rings and Soo Yuen You in Company Miji’s performance of Reliquary, fusing aboriginal and Korean styles of dance and was one of 2 dancers of LWD chosen to work on a collaboration between Leigh Warren and Japanese choreographer Uno Man – Wanderlust – which had its Australian premiere at the Dunstan Playhouse.

In 2008 Deon was involved in Seven, an award winning LWD performance which premiered at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the work Petroglyphs. He recently completed work on Australian-Italian co-production  ’The Children’s Cheering Carpet’ for Come Out 2009, which integrated interactive realtime systems and dance.

Gala Moody is a graduate of the WA Academy of performing Arts. She has worked with the Emanuel Gat Dance Company, Leigh Warren & Dancers, Frances d’Ath’s Zeroballet Company, Amanda Phillips’ Company Of (CRUSH, 3xperimentia), and Canadian experimental arts group Pazzia Comtemporary.

Gala’s choreography credits include: over the far side (2003); The Taxi Symphony (2004); and Bi Er (China 2005); Couch for the Quantum Leap Youth Choreographic ensemble’s season of “Landscapes” (Canberra Playhouse 2006), The Jesuit Novice of Ossegg for the Australian Institute of Classical Dance’s 2006 season at the National Theatre in Melbourne; and Shelf Life.

Gala has performed in several dance works for film, including Extermination, Hell, and Temperance by Paul Williams and the 3D-film 3xperimentia by Amanda Phillips. Gala attended Impulstanz Festival 2007 in Vienna, on a danceWEB Scholarship, where she took part in workshops with influential artists including Meg Stuart, Phillipe Rierra and Chrysa Parkinson.

Gala is part of the original 3xperimentia team – the first Australian live-edit 3D stereoscopic dance work.   She also features in Future Memory, the first Australian dance work for Fulldome, created by Amanda Phillips and Alexander Mitchell that premiered at the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival 2009.

Gala is currently performing with Charleroi Danses in Brussels.

Lisa Griffiths is one of Australia’s most sought after contemporary dancers and has been central to many award-winning Australian and International productions. Lisa completed tertiary dance studies at QUT, Brisbane and at the CPA, Adelaide. After graduating, she worked with Chris Jannides and Darc Swan Dance Company, then joined Chunky Move Dance Company. Together with Craig Bary, Lisa is creating a new dance and multimedia work entitled ‘a side to one’.

She has performed extensively with both Tasdance and Leigh Warren and Dancers. Lisa has also choreographed and performed two commissioned works for Dance Tracks at The Studio, Sydney Opera House, worked with Meryl Tankard on Pearl for a Sydney Opera House performance, and was a dancer for the SiWiC Dance Ensemble in 2003, with Carolyn Carlson, in Zurich.

Recently Lisa performed the choreography of the late Tanja Liedtke on an Australian and UK tour and is currently on tour in Japan with Sue Healey Dance Company.  She will once again join forces with Leigh Warren and Dancers for a new work premiering at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 2010.

Lisa has worked with Amanda Phillips on several productions including the dance films When There’s Only and 3xperimentia; Australia’s first dance work for Fulldome, Future Memory, and in CRUSH, for which she was short listed for a 2008 Australian Dance Award in the category of Most Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer.

Sidonie Henbest is an independent producer, performer and arts promoter.  She is co-founder and director of Felicity Arts, a SA based production house whose credits include theatre, music, dance and multi-media works for the Adelaide Fringe, BigPond Adelaide Film Festival, Feast, SALA and Reeldance Festivals as well as independent presentations for chamber music ensembles, soloists and arts organisations.

As a performer, Sidonie has been involved in music, theatre and dance as a soloist and ensemble member.  She has performed throughout Australia, Europe and the US, with highlights including Resolution! Dance Festival (UK), Australian Festival for Young People, Barossa Music Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival (US).  After completing her formative training in Jazz at the Elder Conservatorium in 1998, Sidonie moved to London, where she was based until late 2007.  As well as performing and collaborating on arts projects, she was a highly sought-after strategic relationship manager in the IT-industry during this period.

Sidonie was the associate-director and producer of the second annual Cabaret Fringe Festival in June 2009 and produced Soundstream: Adelaide New Music Festival 2009 in its first year as an independent South Australian festival.  Felicity Arts is proud to produce 3xperimentia:Live Cut – the 3D live performance cinema work that recently received the Ruby Award for Innovation at South Australia’s 2009 Arts & Culture Awards.

Jonathon Mah currently works for Rising Sun Productions and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Mathematical and Computer Sciences from the University of Adelaide. He has nine years of programming experience, primarily on the Mac, with a special interest in user interface design and human-computer interaction. Jonathon assisted in the development of the real-time graphics engine for the 3xperimentia project in 2008. Then in early 2009, Jonathon led the first-stage development with Alexander Waite Mitchell on a performance interface to the graphics engine, which was used in 3xperimentia: Live Cut at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. This control interface was built to run on a large touch screen, such that both the on-screen content and the physical movement of the director would be visible to the audience.

Over the summer in 2005–2006, Jonathon engaged in work experience at eResearch SA. This primarily involved developing stereoscopic applications, with the guidance of Paul Bourke (University of Western Australia). The main outcome of this was the development and release of a plug-in that added stereo output to OsiriX, an open-source medical imaging application. In 2006–2007, Jonathon took part in the work experience program at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), developing both server-side and client-side web applications. This work was focussed on dynamic layout of graphs created in the web browser. This was incorporated in software already under development for modelling military centre of gravity networks for strategic decision-making. Later, he designed and began implementing a new real-time graphics web interface for modelling social networks, which stored the data in an existing back-end database for analysis by external tools.

Jonathon has attended the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, on scholarships from the Apple University Consortium, an Australian-based group. He attended in 2008 with a scholarship from Apple Computer (US).