Josephine Weise and Nelson Earl join SDC

New year, new faces. Sydney Dance Company recently welcomed dancer Josephine Weise and trainee Nelson Earl to the ensemble. Learn more about each dancer below:

Josephine Weise

Weise received her offer of a full-time 2016 contract at the completion of her 2015 SDC traineeship. The 19-year-old is originally from Queensland, where she first began her dance training at the Pamela Marshall Academy of Dance in Pialba, Hervey Bay. She graduated from the Queensland Dance School of Excellence (QDSE) in 2013 in association with Kelvin Grove State College.

In 2014, she undertook full-time study as part of SDC’s inaugural Pre-Professional Year program, and was selected to tour with the company on a two-month understudy contract performing SDC Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela’s 2 One Another in Western Australia, Queensland and regional New South Wales.

Last year she was offered an official traineeship with the company, which saw her perform in Mira Calix’s Inside There Falls at Sydney Festival; in Bonachela’s Frame of Mind in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne; and in Bonachela’s Emergence and Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, as part of the company’s 2015 De Novo tour to the Northern Territory, South Australia, regional Victoria and Tasmania.

Bonachela says, “I am delighted to officially bring Josie on board as part of the company. It has been a pleasure to watch this exceptional young dancer grow and develop through her experience with us over the past two years. I look forward to working with her throughout this amazing year we have ahead.”

Nelson Earl 

Earl, also 19 years old, is following on Weise’s same career trajectory. A recent Pre-Professional Year graduate, he’s now been offered a five-month traineeship.

A local dancer from Sydney’s North Parramatta and a graduate of Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, he’s already experienced touring with SDC. Following his completion of SDC’s Pre-Professional Year program last year, he toured with the company on a three-month understudy contract, performing Emergence and Cacti as part of the company’s 2015 De Novo tour.

To See Them In Performance

Both Weise and Earl are currently in rehearsals for CounterMove at the company’s Walsh Bay studios along with SDC dancers Bernhard Knauer, Cass Mortimer-Eipper, Charmene Yap, Chloe Leong, Daniel Roberts, David Mack, Fiona Jopp, Holly Doyle, Janessa Dufty, Jesse Scales, Juliette Barton, Petros Treklis, Richard Cilli, Sam Young-Wright and Todd Sutherland.

CounterMove opens at Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay on February 26; Canberra Theatre Centre on May 19; Southbank Theatre in Melbourne on May 14; and will also tour to regional New South Wales, Queensland, Darwin and Western Australia this year. For further information, go to www.sydneydancecompany.com.

Photo: Nelson Earl and Josephine Weise in rehearsal for CounterMove. Photo by Peter Greig.