About Nebahat Erpolat
Short Bio
Nebahat acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners and Elders, both past and present, as the first inhabitants and custodians of the lands and waters on which she lives and works and recognises that sovereignty has never been ceded.Nebahat is an award-winning choreographer who draws research material from her personal lived experiences as an Australian Kurdish-Turkish dance maker, performer, writer and curator. Her works tend to engage critically on social issues, popular culture, digital futures and ecological environment, layering complex stories to present immersive dance works. For the past 20 years, she has presented in diverse settings such as, public spaces, ancient sites, theatres, galleries, museums, nightclubs and universities, where the context of the work has an impact on the work’s relationship to the viewer. Often focusing on the trappings of memory, land, technology, identity and power, evoking the distancing of traditional art forms, engaging audiences to re-think critically about dance and live performance by exploring universal themes, materials and stories, connecting diverse communities. Her artistic practice is invested in forming inter-cultural exchange and generating new forms of ideas and knowledge to cultural and artistic discourse in Australia and internationally. She is interested in how choreography can create new performance contexts using space, body and objects from an intersectional framework to create highly experimental pieces that challenge power. Her work takes on various forms intended to draw in the viewer as co-author, participant and witness, to create new and unpredictable cycles of thoughts and associations, providing an experimental chance to challenge one’s perceptions, perspectives and assumptions about dance. The use (or absence) of materials in her work are calculated, where avenues of the unexpected and unseen are investigated, to subvert ironic twists to bodies, images or things, provoking audiences to new and perhaps unexplored territories in dance. While she uses a variety of materials and processes in each project and these projects are linked by recurring formal concerns and conceptual themes, the subject matter of each body of work determines the materials and the work. Each project often consists of multiple works in a range of different performative contexts, grouped around specific themes. During research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to the next body of work. Nebahat’s arrangements are delineative, inviting the viewer to move into a space of speculation and rely on our desires for transformation, stories and poetics.She has collaborated with artists from film, visual art, video art, theatre, design, poetry and music, creating works that tread between performative forms and contexts. Her independent work has been presented at international festivals and theatres in the Middle East, Europe and Australia. Nebahat has been nominated for two Green Room awards for her work ‘Conquest Of The Garden for ‘Outstanding Creation’ and ‘Best Ensemble and is the recipient for ‘Best Dance’ award for her work ‘Emptying the Bucket’ for Melbourne Fringe FestivalContact Nebahat
Long bio
As a choreographer, Nebahat has established a repertory of works performing in international festivals such as Galata Days Istanbul/Turkey, Istanbul Art Fair Turkey, Galata Festival Istanbul/Turkey, Dans Doglacma Istanbul/Turkey, iDANS Festival Istanbul/Turkey, MAAT/Cairo Contemporary Dance Festival Cairo/ Egypt, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin/ Germany, Off Europa Festival Leipzig/Germany, 'Transient Museum 25 days/25 artists' Festival, Berlin Germany, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne Fashion Festival, PAS Performance Festival, Berlin/Germany and Melaka Art and Performance Festival (MAP), Melaka/Malaysia.Alongside her independent work, she has been commissioned to create new works and has performed with companies and artists across the Middle East and Europe, such as Galata Perform, Istanbul Art Fair, Garaj Istanbul, Cati Dans, Seyr-i Mesel Sanat Atolyesi Kurdistan/Turkey, Kumbaraci 50, Akbank Sanat, HAU1 Hebbel Am Ufer, Leipzig Theater, Tanzfabrik, Uferstudios, Ada Studios, Transient Museum, Grimmuseum, Petra Rietz Salon, Performer Stammtisch and Live art D.K Copenhagen/Denmark and SNDO School for New Dance Development (SNDO) Amsterdam/Netherlands, MAAT/Cairo Contemporary Dance Center and been featured on TFB Tanzforum Berlin. Nebahat was also regularly invited to teach workshops and present lectures at Maltepe University Istanbul in Dance and Performance Art from 2009-2010. She was a regular teacher and resident artist at Cati Dans Studios in Taksim, Istanbul from 2006-2010 and was Art Critic for 'Live Art Review' Berlin.Works presented; Kiz Kulesi Galata Performans 2007, Kovayi Bosaltma Cati Dans 2008, Sokak Danslar – Digital dance installation & site specific work working with Turkish Romani children in Istanbul 2009, presented for Galata Festival, Dans Guzeli Doglacma Festival Istanbul 2008, The Lost Sultans Galata Performans Festival 2011, Rosetta ve dostlar Seyr-i Mesel Sanat Atolyesi 2010, Bulusma doglacma Kas Turkey 2016.Nebahat’s collaborative work extends to visual artists Leila Ahmadzai (Germany/Afghanistan), Osman Ürper (Istanbul/Turkey) and Olça Tansuk (Kaş, Turkey) amongst others.In 2010 she has been an artist in resident at Galata Perform Istanbul, Turkey, 2011/2012 Petra Reitz Salon Berlin, Germany, where she created ‘Cultural Memory’ and dance installation work, 2012 Tanzfabrik Berlin, Germany and was a guest artist in resident a The Field Berlin at Tanzfabrik Germany. In 2013 she was awarded a one year Solo artist in residency at Victoria University, in which she began her research project exploring the intersections of fashion, culture, technology, environment and dance, which culminated in performances at Lucy Guerin Inc, Victoria University, Q.V Gallery and West End Art Space for PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2023. In 2023 she was a Research Room artist in resident at Critical Path, Sydney Australia. In 2024 she facilitated an Interdisciplinary Movement Laboratory, part of her research practice in the Drill Hall at Critical Path, Sydney.Since returning to Melbourne in 2013, she has established her own independent arts practice with a special focus on creating highly immersive, experimental and intersectional works, receiving high acclaim from writers Andrew Fuhrmann (RealTime Arts Magazine), Leila Lois (Australian Arts Review, ArtsHub) and Paul Ransom (Dance Informa Magazine) amongst others. In 2013 she curated the successful NEW DANCE SOLO SHORTS event at LOOP Bar Melbourne, presented in the 2013 Short + Sweet Dance Festival, Chapel Space Melbourne and in 2014 was invited to create work supported by Centre for Creative Arts, LaTrobe University Melbourne; ‘Discursive Moments of The Feral’ at the UNLIKELY Journal Launch. Nebahat has been a guest speaker and panellist at Simone Beauvoir Conversations at ACMI Federation Square, supported by Dancehouse 2014. In 2014 her article was published in the Dancehouse Dairy issue #6 ‘The Body In The Raw – Nudity Today’, collaborated with artist Geoffrey Watson for ‘Fashioning of the Body’ performed at First Run at Lucy Guerin Inc. In 2016, Nebahat was invited to TANZMESSE NRW International Contemporary Dance Festival Dusseldorf, Germany as part of the Australian delegate team. In 2017 she worked with Marrugeku, a inter-cultural dance theatre company based in Sydney and Northern Territory, on Burrbgaja Yalirra for Sydney Festival, Invited by Melbourne Festival to moderate a Q&A panel discussion for ‘We Love Arabs’ by Choreographer Hillel Kogan for 2017 Melbourne Festival, presented ‘Shop I Am’ dance work on Sustainable Fashion at Q.V Gallery for Melbourne Fringe Festival, was invited to present ‘Shop I AM’ at Melbourne Fringe and HYPER FRAGILITY event 2017 and worked as a choreographer for Outer Urban Projects dance production ‘Vessel’ 2017 at the Melbourne Arts Centre. 2013 was presenter at Dance Speaks Melbourne, presented ‘Urban Rupture’ Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015, Dancehouse, 2016 co-directed and performed in the film ‘Cello’ a collaboration with Double Dutch Design, ‘Emptying the Bucket’ Melbourne Fringe 2016, Meat Market North Melbourne, ‘Shop I AM’ at Melbourne Fringe 2017, Q.V Gallery and Melbourne Fashion Festival 2023, West End Art Space. In 2020, she led the Diversity & Inclusion group for Think Tank Dance TTD – Assembly Victoria and is an advocate for decolonizing art making, to give voices, representation, and acknowledgement to Indigenous peoples and marginalized artists. In 2022 ‘Conquest Of The Garden’ premiered at Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre to high critical acclaim. 2021 performer in digital dance work by Victoria Chiu and RDYSTDY for Centre For New Geography, from 2020, Nebahat has been developing research for a new project in collaboration with local and international performing artists from the Middle East diaspora. She has trained with, Raimund Hoghe (Germany), Stella Zannou (Germany), Barbara Meness (Netherlands), Andrea Bozic (Netherlands), Mathilde Monnier (France), Ibrahim Quraishi (Netherlands/ Germany), Zeynep Tanbay Dans Company (Turkey), Johannes Deimling (Germany), Marcel Sparmann (Germany), Jörn J. Burmester (Germany), Don Asker (Australia), Nele Suisalu (Estonia/France), Salia Sanou (Burkina Faso/France), Seydou Boro (Ouagadougou/ France), Andrew Morrish (Australia), Tetsuro Fukuhara (Japan). She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Choreography in Dance & Dance Animateuring from Victorian College of the Arts & University of Melbourne, Diploma in Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy from Australian College of Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy Melbourne, Masters Research in Gender Studies from Monash University, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Deakin University and Montclair University, New Jersey /USA.Nebahat has been featured on German T.V (Cohesive.tv LIVE) and Turkish T.V (Fazil DANS Studios Istanbul), regularly a guest on Kurdish, Turkish and Australian radio stations and has been a panellist and moderator on variety of dance and art platforms both locally and internationally.What People Are Saying
“Daring, interdisciplinary, live art dance work. ”
— DanceLife Australia
“Nebahat Erpolat is one of the most interesting voices of the current Australian landscape.”
— Angela Conquet
"Nebahat has a unique vision and powerful aesthetic in her works.”