Yolande Brown

Brisbane-born and based, Yolande is a proud Bidjara woman, also of Celtic heritage, and an award-winning cross-disciplinary artist whose practice spans dance, choreography, music, theatre, writing and curation.

A senior artist with Bangarra Dance Theatre from 1999–2015, she co-choreographed the critically acclaimed Dark Emu, created Imprint, and performed in landmark works including Rites, Mathinna and Warumuk — in the dark night (with The Australian Ballet). She received the 2010 Deadly Award for Best Dancer and appeared as ‘Earth Spirit’ in Stephen Page’s feature film Spear (2015).

Music is a central thread in her practice. She released an EP of original songs supported by the Australia Council and has collaborated with Radical Son, and with David Page and Steve Francis as a featured vocalist and pianist. Her work with AIME has included extensive songwriting and live performance, and she was creator, co-writer, director and songwriter of Bangarra Dance Theatre’s recent production The Bogong Song — a call to Country.

Recent projects also include The Sunshine Club (Queensland Theatre) and Nhangam Ngali Nyin (Queensland Ballet). She curated Bangarra’s award-winning digital platform Knowledge Ground and is a First Collective Resident at Australasian Dance Collective.