INFLUENCER is a captivating exploration of hierarchies of power, trends, manipulation and the conscious or subconscious methods and platforms in which humans affect, lead and follow each other.
Led by Kyall Shanks, five artists equipped with 50 selfie lights unravel the power of digital algorithms, social “norms,” and how they shape our everyday behaviours.
From the influences of political leaders and pop culture to the captivating allure of social media personas, INFLUENCER offers a unique insight into the subconscious manipulation we all face.
INFLUENCER promises a dynamic fusion of talent and perspective, featuring powerful storytelling, innovative choreography, and thought-provoking visuals.
CREATIVE TEAM
Lead Artist/dancer: Kyall Shanks
Dancer/collaborator: Amber McCartney
Dancer/collaborator: Jenni Large
Dancer/collaborator: Gabriel Comerford
Sound designer: Anna Whitaker
Production + Light Consultant: Chris ‘Wolfe’ McBride
Tour Manager: Bodhi Aulich-Croll
INFLUENCER REGIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM
In 2025, the INFLUENCER Creative Team ventures into regional Lutruwita/Tasmania for the final creative development of the work before the world premiere in Nipaluna/Hobart.
You will find the team in the following towns:
11th-15th AUGUST — STANLEY & SMITHTON
18th-22nd AUGUST — KING ISLAND
25th-29th AUGUST — FLINDERS ISLAND
1st-5th SEPTEMBER — ST HELENS
If you would like to learn more about how to connect with the team while they visit your town, contact Bodhi at bodhi@tasdance.com.au
Arts Tasmania and Regional Arts Australia proudly support this residency program.
SHOW DETAILS
NIPALUNA/HOBART SEASON
WHEN
12 September Thu 7:30 pm
13 September Fri 7:30 pm
WHERE
Studio Theatre, Theatre Royal
DURATION: 60 mins
Proudly supported by Arts Tasmania, Creative Australia, RANT Arts (RAF)
LEARN MORE
KYALL SHANKS
LEAD ARTIST
Kyall is a Naarm/Melbourne-based contemporary dance artist. Kyall works in various areas of the dance industry, including performing, teaching, choreographing, directing, and producing for professional companies, institutions, national festivals, and organisations. Kyall's creative practice is an extension of this, often employing introspection, humour, and absurdism to reflect on and highlight behavioural patterns and societal structures.
Upon graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2015, they were awarded the Orloff Family Trust award for Most Outstanding Dancer. Since then, they have danced for Tasdance, Antony Hamilton Projects, Chunky Move, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Opera Australia, The Delta Project and Liquidskin Dance Company.
Kyall is a Creative Associate of Assembly 197 and Tasdance and has been the Artistic Director of the preprofessional youth dance company Yellow Wheel since 2021.
JENNI LARGE
DANCE ARTIST
Jenni is an independent dancer, teacher, and award-winning choreographer/director based in Lutruwita. Driven by the personal, political and transformative forces of embodiment, Jenni’s multi-limbed practice centres care and radical play. Her choreographic work seeks to subvert relational narratives, analyse socio-politics that impact women, and playfully expose modern assumptions of stigmatised subjects. Heavily influenced by aesthetic and cinematic tropes, Jenni aims to balance experimentation, risk and entertainment value within her work.
As a dancer, she has collaborated and performed extensively throughout metropolitan, regional and remote Australia as well as Europe, the UK, NZ, the Americas, Japan and Singapore with artists and companies including Dancenorth, Tasdance, Legs On The Wall, GUTS Dance, SA Opera/Leigh Warren and Ashleigh Musk.
She has presented her choreographic work both as an independent artist and through commissions Australia-wide at festivals and institutions including; Mona Foma, Ten Days On The Island, Ohm Festival Brisbane Powerhouse, Dancehouse, Carriage Works, Desert Festival, ADT:Raw, Sound + Fury, Sydney Dance Company, WAAPA, Stompin, Australasian Dance Collective and Tasdance. In 2022, Jenni won the people’s choice award for her Keir Choreographic work and was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship. Recently, she participated in an Asia Link Singapore Arts Now exchange, performed in the UK and EU in THAW (Legs On The Wall) and premiered her newest independent work ‘Wet Hard Long’ at Dancehouse in Naarm/Melbourne which has received a Green Room nomination for Outstanding Visual Design.
IMAGE: Melanie Kate Creative
GABRIEL COMERFORD
DANE ARTIST
Gabriel Comerford is an Australian-Malaysian artist with over 10 years professional experience. He is a founding member of MakeShift Dance Collective and is currently based in lutruwita/Tasmania working with Tasdance, Stompin and MakeShift in a range of differing capacities. He thrives off working across disciplines and is constantly seeking to challenge and extend himself. Gabriel has worked and performed with a diverse range of companies and choreographers both Nationally and Internationally. Whilst his practice is rooted in dance, his experiences have allowed him to learn from and incorporate elements of physical theatre, object theatre, puppetry, visualarts, site-specific, Suzuki method, integrated practice, installation and durational performance. His interest lies in collaboration and the creative process; sifting through first impressions to expose the core of the theme or concepts at hand. He has an inquisitive mind, a powerful physicality and a captivating stage presence. Gabriel is a passionate performer, choreographer, educator and mentor who believes deeply in the power of dance to create connection, transformation and healing.
IMAGE: Melanie Kate Creative
AMBER McCARTNEY
DANCE ARTIST
Amber McCartney is a Naarm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Her practice incorporates
prosthetics, mask-making, film, and practical special effects to create new augmented bodies foreign to
the performer and viewer. Amber has worked extensively with Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin Inc., and is a Creative Associate of Tasdance. Amber received a John Truscott Artists Award this year for her solo Tiny Infinite Deaths, which she performed at Rising at the National Gallery of Victoria. The work premiered in Pieces 2022, commissioned by Lucy Guerin Inc. and The Substation.
In 2023, Amber premiered her solo Baby Girl, commissioned by Tasdance, for MONA FOMA in the Nolan Gallery, Mona. In 2022, she was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship from Lucy Guerin Inc. She won a Green Room Award for Best Performer in Prue Lang’s Project F and was a Telstra Emerging Choreographer Award finalist. Her film, Tiny Passenger, was screened at Dance (lens), Dancehouse. In 2020, Amber was a recipient of Solitude 1, Chunky Move’s home-based residency program and created her film Softtrap.
Amber has enjoyed performing for Dancenorth and Antony Hamilton Projects, as well as independent choreographers and multidisciplinary artists, including Jenni Large, Prue Lang, Jo Lloyd, James Batchelor, Su Huiyu, Kyall Shanks, Jonathan Homsey, and Niharika Senapati.
ANNA WHITAKER
SOUND ARTIST
Anna Whitaker is a multi-award-winning Meanjin/Brisbane-based sound designer and composer with a palate for experimental, acousmatic works and surround sound composition. She graduated from Queensland Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music Technology and has since designed and composed for productions including MONA FOMA, Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Company, The Farm, Tasdance, Stompin, Aha Ensemble, La Boite Theatre Company, Brisbane Festival, Bleach* Festival, HOTA Gold Coast, Festival 2018, Vulcana Circus, and Playlab.
Her extensive background in classical music and technology-based sound art yielded musical compositions that blended traditional and contemporary elements. Anna received the 2020/2021 and 2019 Matilda Awards for Best Sound Design for her work on Michael Smith’s Cowboy and The Farm’s Throttle, respectively. Anna's unique voice is also evident in her installation works, which have been exhibited at Bleach* Festival, HOTA, MetroArts, and QPAC Museum. Anna has a strong interest in composition for contemporary dance, as well as creating and collaborating with regional artists and communities.
