Michael Smith

Michael Smith is an artist working within contemporary dance, dance-theatre, film and installation. While delving into themes across gender, fantasy, queerness, persona and paradise, Michael’s work also questions the traditional roles of audience and space - traversing active participation and audience as allies.

Michael's choreographic work has been performed across platforms such as Brisbane Festival, Dance Massive Site Responsive Showcase, Ars Electronica (Austria), TanzZiet (Berlin), AGITART Figueres Festival MOU (Spain), Japan Media Arts Festival, STRUT Dance WA, Metro Arts, Sunshine Coast Arts Prize and South Bank Corporations 'Flowstate'. In support of Michael’s emerging choreographic practice, he is currently a recipient of the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayors Fellowship (2019-2020), enabling opportunities across Europe and Israel.

Michael worked as a core artist and continues to collaborate with dance-theatre company The Farm which significantly shaped and developed his artistic ethos as a performer/maker. He has also worked for companies and organisations such as STRUT Dance (DecaDance, Ohad Naharin), QAGOMA (William Forsythe's 'Fact of Matter', Nick Caves 'HEARD') and Opera Australia (King Roger). As a freelance performer and maker, Michael has worked with independent artists including Ashleigh Musk, Liesel Zink, Cass Mortimer-Eipper, Paul Selwyn Norton, Guy Shomroni and Yaniv Abraham, Matt Cornell (Dirty Feet), Lizzie and Zaimon Vilmanis (Prying Eye), Nerida Matthaei (Phluxus2), Gareth Belling (Collusion Music and Dance), Amalia Pica (IMA), Courtney Scheu and Liz Lea.

Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours, First Class - Dance Performance in 2014 from Queensland University of Technology (QUT).