Australian Dance Week 2026: People, Place and Culture

21 April, 2026

Emma Dykes from Ausdance ACT reached out to four fabulous artists featured in the 2026 Australian Dance Week program and asked them about how their connection to place, people and culture inform their work.

Dancers and facilitators Floeur Alder, Debora Di Centa, Deni Dominguez and Isabelle Lee share with us some personal stories about what inspires them, and how Canberra and their places of origin influence and infuse their art.

Floeur Alder 

It feels wonderfully serendipitous to be invited by Ausdance ACT to present during Australian Dance Week as an interstate independent artist from Western Australia, particularly with the many connections that have unfolded along the way.

The main connection is that my father, Alan Alder was born and grew up in Canberra with his sister, Joy Reiher, however I have just learnt that the launch of Australian Dance Week will be at Mount Ainslie! Mount Ainslie is where my dad grew up and used to climb as a child with Joy. Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Serena, from Yukkumbruk Dreaming will be welcoming us and I am so excited to meet her and hear more about their culture.

Indigenous Elders and culture from Perth, Southwest and East Arnhem land have guided and influenced my performance work and daily life, this is continuing to happen in ACT, and I know through this that the stars are aligning.

Due to this my solo work, Djilba, A Moment in Time, I created on the land of the Great Southern with artist Virginia Ward and have been performing outdoors regionally in WA for 6 years.

It is extremely fitting that I am presenting Djilba in the beautiful outdoor setting of Mirramu Creative Arts Centre, where I am honoured to meet and work with contemporary dance elder, Dr Elizabeth Cameron Dalman AM, CdOAL. For me it is important to feel accepted, connected and one with country while dancing in nature, so I will be spending the week leading up to the performance out at Mirramu building my performance space and allowing the time for the land to speak to me for this amazing experience and what might come in the future.

Another nice thread to this tapestry of dance is that Elizabeth and my mother, Lucette Aldous AC have shared the stage together as mature artists in Dancing Lives, choreographed by Jim Hughes and performed at WAAPA in Perth.

On the day of the performance of Djilba, I will be facilitating dance healing workshop with artists Debora Di Centa and Grace Peng, a lovely way to lead into the performance and I hope that this is the beginning of a new collaboration between east and west coast.

Image credit: Michael Juliff

Join Floeur during Ausdance ACT 2026 Australian Dance Week

• Dance and Healing Workshop with Debora Di Centa and Grace Peng
• Djilba, A Moment In Time
• Floeur Alder Floorebarre & Contemporary Workshop
• POINTE, Dancing on a Knife’s Edge

Debora Di Centa 

As an independent dance artist, movement analyst, and somatic therapist originally from Italy, I’ve found a creative home in Canberra, building strong connections within the city’s vibrant and welcoming dance community. The Canberra dance scene is joyous and welcoming, embracing professional, experimental, and inclusive dance practices for all ages and abilities.

Over the past decade, I’ve led the local contact improvisation community, bringing my European-influenced style to contemporary, classical, and improvisational dance. Canberra’s spirit deeply inspires my work—open to innovation and community connection. I am passionate about making dance accessible, teaching well-being classes, and collaborating with visiting and local dance companies, schools and art professionals to nurture the next generation of performers.

Nature also plays a central role in my practice. Since 2016, I have run and participated in outdoor contact improvisation workshops, including major national and international events. These experiences, along with my involvement in site-specific performances and dance film, focus on well-being, mindfulness, and reconnecting with the environment through dance, performance, and somatic movement.

Let’s celebrate and strengthen our dance community together! Join me for these inspiring events and experience the power of dance, connection, and creativity in Canberra.

Image credit: O&J Wikner Photography

Join Debora during Ausdance ACT 2026 Australian Dance Week

• ZEST Dance for Wellbeing FREE Class
• Dance and Healing Workshop with Floeur Alder and Grace Peng
• Somatic Dance Movement Open Class

Deni Dominguez

I have been living in Canberra for a little over two years now. Sometimes I consider myself a local artist, and other times someone who’s just arrived and is looking for their place.

As a newcomer, from day one I was captivated by how the city is full of activities, festivals, iconic places, and how people inhabit those public spaces. As an artist and a newcomer, I wanted to explore the dance scene, what is happening, and what is out there. Australian Dance Week was the perfect opportunity, and indeed, I have met incredible artists and cultural promoters, and I have taken some very enriching workshops.

At the same time, I felt alone, a little lost, and full of ideas inspired by street art, people, nature, and urban architecture. I wandered through public spaces, hunting for potential stages, improvising discreet dances, and the answer was right there: street art. I sensed that Canberra residents were interested in the buskers, and they were also keen to see something different or interesting as they walked from the bus interchange or Alinga station towards a city building, or while strolling with their families through the streets and parks. So, having constructed in my mind the structure of a dance to be performed in public spaces, I applied to be part of 2024 Australian Dance Week. After all, the worst that could happen was that they would say no. And they said yes. And I mustered up the courage to stage this urban dance intervention. The day of the performance was incredible: the cold, the images, people stopping to observe for a moment, the autumn, but above all because with each step I took while dancing, I felt that I was making the city more mine, that I was truly inhabiting it, that I was connecting with this ground.

During this time, I’ve met incredible artists who inspire me, but I have also been inspired by the everyday. Multiculturalism is so vast and impressive that sometimes we forget its smallest dimension: the simplicity and complexity of daily life. It is in this dimension that street art finds its connection. Being here, being part of that cultural diversity, in a way, doesn’t make you feel like an outsider, quite the opposite. I have been developing my work as a street artist for a little over two years now, with contemporary dance, shadow puppetry, and body puppetry. Every time I go out to perform, it is an adventure; I always have some unexpected experience, for better or worse, that touches me on a deeply human level.

Now other artists accompany my practice. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with artists from other areas and remarkably diverse backgrounds, and little by little, this path is taking shape.

 Image credit: Cristian Conteras

Join Deni during Ausdance ACT 2026 Australian Dance Week

– Shadows from Heart – Street Performance

Isabelle Lee aka Bgirl Fizzy

I’m Isabelle Lee, also known as Bgirl Fizzy, a Canberra‑based creative — a street dancer, musician, MC, producer, performer, and an all‑round enthusiast for community and connection through creativity. My first love was ballet; I was always dancing as a child. Later in life I discovered street dance, and I became completely hooked on hip hop culture, with its foundations in freestyle, community, and shared expression.

Since then, I’ve become deeply involved in the street dance scene in Australia, travelling interstate for battles (and even versing Raygun at the Olympic Oceania Qualifiers). The connection and community I’ve found through hip hop continue to inspire me, and they are what drive me to create opportunities for others to experience that same sense of belonging and possibility.

I believe that having people who are passionate about dance and what they do is at the core of a dance community – because sharing your love for a related experience and art form is so uplifting and encouraging. When people that love dance realise that they can connect with others simply because of dance – community and connection are almost automatic.

I think having opportunities for dance lovers to connect, out of the studio, is an important aspect to growing yourself. Not just as a dancer, but as a person and a creative as a whole. That is why I wanted to put on The Hip Hop Civic Cypher, an event open to the public, simply to get people on a broader scale to connect through the awesomeness of dance and culture. Canberra has the highest number of dance studios per capita in the country.

There is such potential to create connections and invigorate the community by giving dancers a chance to connect through dance out of the studios. It is wonderful and exciting! Dance makes people happy, and sharing dance with happy people – what could be happier?!

Image credit: Bobby Pang

Join Isabelle during Ausdance ACT 2026 Australian Dance Week

– The Hip Hop Civic Cypher