The Mill is thrilled to announce The Kinetik Collective as the recipient of the 2024 Brand X Residency, presented in partnership with Brand X, Sydney.

This residency offers place and space as part of a vibrant arts community, for artists to develop and show new or existing work and then take that work interstate for further development, presentation and networking opportunities.

About the artists:

Bianka Kennedy (Designer/ Co-Founder of The Kinetik Collective): Bianka is a designer + maker with a diverse practice, working across the stage, screen and gallery settings. Bianka has been Head of Prop Making for the multi-award-winning children’s TV series Beep and Mort, lectured in the creative industries division of Adelaide College of the Arts, is Co-Founder of Kinetik Collective and operates a workshop from Fab, the former acclaimed George Street Studios. Currently, Bianka is working on the design of DreamBIG festival (2025).
Bianka’s design for State Theatre Company of South Australia’s 2019 sold-out season of Animal Farm was a national finalist in the Australian Production Guild’s awards for emerging designer for live performance. Her debut solo exhibition Sugar won an Adelaide Fringe 2021 visual arts award and was an industry example of integrating accessibility into the design, fabrication and exhibition of an art experience. Her accessible theatre designs have also been recognised with a 2022 Ruby Award. Permanent public artworks can be found in Adelaide and in the Kangaroo Island Sculpture Trail. Collaborators include Warner Brothers, Windmill Theatre, Windmill Picture + ABC, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Kinetik Collective, Crossover (London) + Adelaide Fringe, Largent Studio (New York) +FOMO, Fox Creek + Garden of Unearthly Delights, SA Water, SA Tourism Commission, SA Power Networks, Adelaide City Council, independent theatre and private commissions.
Clara Solly-Slade (Director/ Co-Founder of The Kinetik Collective): Clara graduated from the acting stream of The Adelaide College of the Arts (2013) then undertook further training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London (Acting Shakespeare course, 2016). In 2017 she trained in Italy with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company at their International Directors Symposium. Clara was awarded the Helpmann Academy’s Neil Curnow Award (2018) where she interned in the USA with The H.E.A.T Collective, Working Classroom and continued her work with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company. She is a member of the multidisciplinary art collective The Bait Fridge.
Clara worked for two years full-time as an Emerging Director Fellow with the State Theatre Company of South Australia and State Opera of South Australia (2019-2020). In 2021 Clara directed Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons at Adelaide Collage of the Arts and for Dream Big Children’s Festival with Finnigan Kruckemeyer’s Everything They Ever Said with Fingers Crossed Behind their Backs for the Say Art’s Youth Ensemble. Co-Founder of Independent Company The Kinetik Collective she Directed Kill Climate Deniers in 2022 as part of The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s ‘Stateside Program’. Clara Co-Directed The River that Ran up Hill with Andy Packer for Slingsby Theatre Company presented in the 2023 Adelaide Festival, Hypercolour Miscellaneous Bistro Buffet with Dave Court for Slow Mango and The Bait Fridge as a part of Illuminate Festival and The Sight with Victoria Falconer for Dark Mofo.
Anthony Nocera is a writer based in Adelaide. He writes essays, criticism and plays.
In 2017, he was commissioned to co-write Boys of Sondheim for Woodward Productions. The play premiered at Melt Festival before touring to Sydney Mardi Gras in 2019. In 2023, Anthony’s work My Hair is Thinning was developed as part of Vitalstistix’s Adhocracy program and Theatre Republic presented his short play Black Widow Pussy as part of the FUTURE:PRESENT new writing incubator.
Anthony’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Age, Metro, Vice, Voiceworks and CityMag among many others. His essays have been anthologised in collections published by Black Ink and Wakefield Press. He has appeared at the National Young Writers Festival and Noted Festival.
His work has been rejected from many publications and places of note.
Zoë is a performing artist and emerging maker currently living and working on Kaurna Yerta. She studied at the New Zealand School of Dance graduating in 2011 with a Diploma in Dance Performance and is a NZSD Distinguished Alumni for 2021.
After being offered a position at Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) in 2012, Zoë worked full-time and as a guest dancer until 2020 under the directorship of Garry Stewart.
As an ADT dancer and independent artist, Zoë has toured nationally and internationally, and worked with local and international choreographers including Daniel Jaber (Nought and Dirt) and Ina Christel Johannessen (North).
Whilst living in SA, Zoë has also performed with local companies in children’s theatre and puppetry shows including Patch Theatre Company (Home and I Wish...), Windmill Theatre Co (Grug and Bluey’s Big Play) and Windmill Pictures (Beep and Mort: Season 1 and Season 2).
Zoë is an emerging maker and in 2023 she choreographed Co-Incident which featured fourteen AC Arts students. She also completed a first-stage development for her new dance theatre work Llama, which deals with motherhood, transformation, and intergenerational peculiarities.
When she isn’t performing, Zoë enjoys teaching people of all ages and abilities within a wide range of dance organisations, institutions, and studios.
Elizabeth Hay (Performer): Elizabeth is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and lives and works as an actor on Kaurna land. Her theatre credits include Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers, Red Cross Letters, Volpone and Jesikah for the State Theatre Company South Australia, The Garden for Theatre Republic, Baba Yaga, Grug and Grug and the Rainbow for Windmill Theatre Company, Yo Diddle Diddle and The Lighthouse for Patch Theatre Company, and the Helpmann Award-winning Emil and the Detectives for Slingsby. Elizabeth was part of the Australian cast of Girl from the North Country for GWB Entertainment/STCSA.
She joined the main cast of Danger 5 as ‘Holly’ for the series return on SBS and has worked on many other locally made television productions, commercials, and short films. Most recently, she appeared in A Sunburnt Christmas on Stan. Elizabeth is the voice of Olli in Sun Runners, a collaboration between Audioplay and Windmill Theatre Company.
Elizabeth made her directing debut in the inaugural season of RUMPUS at the end of 2019, with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves.
Max is an artist working on Kaurna land, specialising in real-time visual arts, interactive programming, and artistic integration with multimedia systems. Max graduated with a BA in Photography from Charles Sturt University in 2012 and built their technical skills by working at art festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Festival and Adelaide Fringe, and was creative producer at The Lab (Adelaide) until 2022.
Max is a member of The Bait Fridge arts collective and is currently based at Washdog Studios. From a lifelong interest in digital technology, Max has developed a creative practice that blends technical knowledge and multimedia arts, centred around collaboration and experimental process. Installation works include In The Belly Of The Beast (2023), a participatory experimental performance, and Computer Vision (2021) an early AI synthesized video installation. Notable collaborations include ROCKAMORA by Kaspar Shmidt Mumm at ACE Adelaide (2023), Trippin Up (2023) music video by The Jungle Giants created with volumetric 3D data, and ATM-001 (2023), an AI powered talking vending machine by Dave Court. With a diverse range of skills including photography, music and sonic arts, interactive programming, performance art, and lighting design, Max's experience allows them to connect and create using technology across disciplines. Max is proud to be have been selected to be one of Creative Australia’s Digital Fellows for 2024.
Adelaide-based musician and community arts facilitator, Mat Morison (he/they), is always looking for new ways to forge connections between disparate styles and ideas. Originally training in jazz piano, Mat has since taken their skills in improvisation and applied it to a wide variety of pursuits, from film and theatre composition, to performance art, Auslan interpreting, community arts facilitating, coding, and language making.
Mat performs regularly with musical outfit Slowmango, and performance art group The Bait Fridge, and is the Coordinator of Music at disability arts organisation Tutti Arts. They also work in Deaf adult education classes at TAFE SA, and contribute to a number of other community arts organisations such as Girls Rock! Adelaide, Open Space Contemporary Arts, and MUD.
Rob (they/them) is an actor, and writer born in the USA and currently based on Kaurna country. Prior to graduating from Sydney Actors School in 2021, Rob studied engineering, education, and dance, having trained in Ballet (RAD) for 10 years.
They dive head first into everything they do; from contemporary works - Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Shane Anthony, 2021), to classic texts - The Comedy of Errors (Kyle Rowling, 2019), to short works of their own devising - Chip Off The Old Block (Rob C Wells, 2023).
After the 2022 season touring Australia with Poetry In Action, Rob last year moved to Adelaide for love. With a few things in the works, they can't wait to continue to tell challenging stories, and show their dad that the theatre isn't just a "stage".

view the performing arts residency archive

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

This project is supported by Arts South Australia.

breakout showing, spotlight residency, public program, emerging producer 2022, brand x residency

Brand X Residency: Olenka Toroshenko showing, 'i am root'

chloe metcalfe · September 1, 2022

Photo: Lauren Connelly (LALA Photography)

Public showing

book tickets

When: Friday, September 2, and Saturday, September 3, 8pm

Where: The Flying Nun by Brand X, 34-40 Burton St, Darlinghurst

Cost: $25

Accessibility: If you have access requirements for attending the show, please tick the access requirements box during the booking process. This includes booking companion card tickets. A Brand X team member will then be in touch to ensure we understand your requirements.

As part of the Spotlight / Brand X Residency, 2022 recipient Olenka Toroshenko flew to Sydney to further develop and perform her work i am root as part of Brand X’s Flying Nun Program.

The aim of this residency is to develop national pathways for artists to further develop and present their work interstate along with networking opportunities provided in partnership with Brand X in Sydney.

The residency began at The Mill for 2 weeks earlier in the year, followed by a 1-week residency and performance season at Brand X’s The Flying Nun program. Olenka’s performances will occur on September 2 and 3.

We look forward to reporting on the outcomes from this wonderful development presentation and touring opportunity that is built to empower and support South Australian makers!

Olenka Natalia Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clowning, song, storytelling and ritual performance art.
She is a Katonah yoga teacher, student of The Orphan Wisdom School and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcasting and politics which helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm. She was the co-producer of “wild”, “Shakti Showcase” and “Shakti Rising” multi-artist/disciplinary productions and has toured 4 different continents as a singer, poet and dancer.
She enjoys producing video projects, Burning Man theme camps, and multidisciplinary shows. She is inspired by collaborating with other artists.
Olenka currently resides in South Australia.

Breakout Residencies: Olenka Toroshenko showing, 'I am Root'

chloe metcalfe · May 23, 2022

Public showing

book tickets

When: Friday, June 10, 6pm

Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Duration: 1 hour (including casual Q&A)

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, and a disability toilet is also available. View our accessibility information page.

You are invited to the work-in-progress showing of I am Root, a ritual performance piece by Olenka Toroshenko.

Most of us are transplants. Uprooted from one country and resettled, making home in another's. Do you remember where you came from? What happens when culture, language and ancestry are left behind?

Seed. Water. Root. Grow. Harvest. Eat. Die. Decompose. Repeat.

Told from the perspective of a Ukrainian Canadian living in Australia, this ritual performance piece wonders how one might question, create and nourish culture in a globalised, colonised world. Olenka enlists her mother tongue (Ukrainian) and the mediums of song, dance, folk traditions and recipes, story, poetry and prayer to enliven the depths of the unspoken, mysterious places where spirit lives...if we're willing to cultivate it.

We are future roots.

The showing with be followed by a short Q&A with Olenka, presented by The Mill CEO / Artistic Director Katrina Lazaroff & Associate Producer Louie Dempsey. Audiences will have the opportunity to ask questions about the development and provide feedback about the performance.

Olenka Natalia Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clowning, song, storytelling and ritual performance art.
She is a Katonah yoga teacher, student of The Orphan Wisdom School and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcasting and politics which helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm. She was the co-producer of “wild”, “Shakti Showcase” and “Shakti Rising” multi-artist/disciplinary productions and has toured 4 different continents as a singer, poet and dancer.
She enjoys producing video projects, Burning Man theme camps, and multidisciplinary shows. She is inspired by collaborating with other artists.
Olenka currently resides in South Australia.

Breakout Residencies 2022: Announcing the successful recipients

chloe metcalfe · April 5, 2022

Brink Residency: Samuel Lau

Walk of the Ancestors is a project that explores how Eastern philosophy and values, such as filial piety and ancestor veneration have manifested and directed my life as a second-generation Chinese-Australian.

I was driven to explore this as much of my journey as an emerging artist has been navigating and reconciling my place as an artist of colour, specifically, as an Asian-Australian. I have spent much of 2021 investigating what it means juggling a hyphenated identity in present day Australia with my group of collaborators - Cyrus Kung, Dan Phan, Steph Teh, Alice Yang and Jazmine Deng.

Family and filial piety have become a central theme for us in our investigations. However, though I feel I have somewhat reconciled a place in the present with my immediate family, I have had little opportunity to do so with extended and older generations of my family. This is in part due to all my extended family living overseas and also I have come to an age where all my Grandparents have passed. For me personally, filial piety has such power over me that - although never explicit - there is a great yearning in me to explore, reconcile and, perhaps in some respect, 'redeem' a relationship with my grandparents/ancestors that I never had. This is also fuelled by the fact that my Grandmother on my Father's side had ran out on my Dad's family when he was 2 years old. There are only inklings of what she had done, what kind of life she had before she returned to my Dad again on her deathbed in 2010. Perhaps in investigating this, I can both reconcile in myself my family's generational story and also my Grandmother's lost life. Because of the scarce nature and sources of my Grandmother's life after she ran away, I envision a blending of fiction and non-fictional storytelling of her life. This in part for storytelling purposes but also for me, its a way to honour her life; though it may be fictional, it is how I can remember her by.

About the artist:

Sam Lau is an Adelaide-based Actor and Musician. With cultural roots in Hong-Kong, Sam is a second-generation Chinese-Australian. A 2019 graduate of the Adelaide College of Arts Acting Program, he has since worked in a variety of mediums such as ABC’s TV series Aftertaste, Anifex studio’s animation film The Better Angels and Too Dumb Blonde’s productions of Does it Please You? which was the recipient of the 2021 Holden Street Theatre Award.

Sam is a frequent collaborator with ActNow Theatre, and has also worked with companies and organisations such as OzAsia (SA), London Artists Projects (UK), CARCLEW (SA), Perform!Education (VIC), Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (NSW), and Echelon Productions (VIC).

Sam is also an accomplished musician, classically trained in piano and trombone. Combining his musicianship with the theatre, he often acts and performs music in productions such as playing trombone in the musical Darlinghurst Nights directed by Michael Hill, piano in ROAD directed by Chris Drummond and has composed & performed original music in Daily Rice’s production of Between Our Stories.

Sam often explores themes of diaspora in his writing and works, such as through his 2021 MakeSpace Artist Residency where he dove into the cultural identity of being in-between cultures; investigating his lifelong navigation of liminal spaces both culturally and spiritually.

find out more about the brink residency

Spotlight / Brand X Residency: Olenka Toroshenko

Most of us are transplants. Uprooted from one country and resettled, making home in another's. Do you remember where you came from? What happens when culture, language and ancestry are left behind? A lot of lumber, but few roots. What now?

Seed. Water. Root. Grow. Harvest. Eat. Die. Decompose. Repeat.

Told from the perspective of a Ukrainian Canadian living in Australia, this ritual performance - i am root - wonders into how one might question, create and nourish culture in a globalised, colonised world. Olenka enlists her mother tongue (Ukrainian) and the mediums of song, dance, clown, folk traditions and recipes, story, poetry and prayer to enliven the depths of the unspoken, mysterious places where spirit lives...if we're willing to cultivate it.

About the artist:

Olenka Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clowning, song, storytelling and ritual performance art.

She is a Katonah yoga teacher, student of The Orphan Wisdom School and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcasting and politics which helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm. She was the co-producer of “wild”, “Shakti Showcase” and “Shakti Rising” multi-artist/disciplinary productions and has toured 4 different continents as a singer, poet and dancer.

She enjoys producing video projects, Burning Man theme camps, and multidisciplinary shows. She is inspired by collaborating with other artists.

find out more about the spotlight / brand x residency

Free-range Residency: Daniel Jaber

Set in a small, decadent, ornate, unobtainable world of excessive wealth and gluttony. Inside the master suite of a penthouse over looking some fabulously lit metropolis of dreams and histories. An Egyptian-sheet smeared bed, which lay under a large French window of this surreal space creates a playground for Putrid Piggy to take place. Part penthouse apartment, part S&M play room, part bunker, the space evokes a voyeuristic insight into an elegant and sophisticated world of sordid desires. The windows become an evolving display of video and photography that dismantles the fourth wall and the audience transitions from shy onlooker to viscerally responsive participant.

About the artist:

Daniel Jaber was born in Nairne, in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. He is of Lebanese and Maori cultural heritage. Daniel’s dance training began in Adelaide with Christine Underdown (Dancecraft Studios) and Barbara Komazec (Barbie Jayne Dance Centre). He further pursued his training through the Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Ballet Company Professional Year and the Adelaide College of the Arts before joining Australian Dance Theatre as a trainee dancer, under the direction of Garry Stewart, at the age of 17.

As a company member of ADT (2004-2021), Jaber has toured the world extensively and participated in the creation of new works as well as touring repertoire.

Jaber has created work for ADT, Expressions Dance Company (now Australasian Dance Collective), Houston Ballet 2, Qantas Australian Tourism Awards, Dance Moms, Dubai Festival, Architanz Tokyo and was the Creative Director of LW Dance Hub (now Dance Hub SA) in 2015. He has choreographed new works on many tertiary institutions, universities and colleges throughout Australasia and the US, including QUT, Adelaide College of the Arts, California State University (LA & Fullerton), Transit Dance and the New Zealand School of Dance.

find out more about the free-range residency