Sandra Parker is an Australian choreographer. She creates rigorous choreographic works, characterised as continuous in form but prismatic in structure. Her practice focuses on attuning attention beyond the immediate, revealing the limitations, vulnerabilities and potentials of the body and subject in the contemporary world.
Parker's carefully distilled corporealities are situated in specific environments that often put the viewer in close proximity with performance, inviting absorption and involvement in the dancer's quest for reformulation and transcendence.
From durational works to evening-length pieces, theatrical presentations and off-site intimate contexts, Parker does not rest solely on the expectations of dance production. Her works often employ a range of materials including light, sound, video, interactivity, objects/kinetic sculptures and text, where an evolution of methods and processes are interrogated into the creation and presentation of dance.
Sandra Parker has presented her work in Paris, Berlin, Portugal and New York, and undertaken residencies including: the inaugural The Australian Ballet residency; Italy (Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship); China (Red Gate, Beijing and Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Guangzhou); Paris (Cite internationale des Arts), Tokyo (Kei Takei’s Moving Earth); Sydney (Critical Path); Berlin (the Sophiensale and Laborgras); and New York (Residency Unlimited).
She has collaborated with Chinese director Hope Chiang, Macau and Gender/Power artists Maya Ciarrocchi and Kris Grey, NY. From 1998-2006, she was the 3rd Artistic Director of Dance Works, the iconic Australian dance company, creating innovative collaborations with many artists and arts organisations, including Melbourne International Festival of the Arts 2000, 2002 and 2003. International projects include the creation of Span with Shelley Lasica and American Choreographers Bebe Miller and Susan Braham, for Danspace, St Mark's Church, New York and Wave Hill, the Bronx.
Sandra Parker’s work has been supported by Creative Australia (Australia Council for the Arts); Creative Victoria (Arts Victoria); City of Melbourne; City of Port Phillip; Besen Family Foundation; Australia China Council; Ian Potter Cultural Trust; American Australia Association; and Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
Awards & Fellowships
2025 — Victorian Green Room Award, Outstanding Choreography — Safehold
2022 — Victorian Green Room Award, Best Choreography — Yield to Resistance
2022 — The Australian Ballet, inaugural residency
2017 / 2023 — Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship
2012 — Australia Council for the Arts, Dance Board Fellowship
2001 — Australian Government Centenary Medal
Selected writing:
‘Australian Ballet blends contemporary with classical’ This is bleakness of the most thrilling kind’ - Andrew Fuhrmann, The Age, 2026
“2024 Arts Highlights of the Year,” Australian Book Review, Andrew Fuhrmann, January–February 2025.
‘Critics’ Picks 2025 - Sandra Parker’s ‘Consequence’, Fjord Review, 2025
https://fjordreview.com/blogs/all/critics-picks-2025?_pos=11&_sid=cb50ff7d8&_ss=r
‘15 minutes of Frame’ - Gracia Haby, Fjord Review, 2023
https://fjordreview.com/blogs/all/australian-ballet-frame-festival?_pos=1&_sid=c6bdd19f8&_ss=r
‘Adherence; dystopia dance’ – Robert Reid, 2019
https://witnessperformance.com/adherence-dystopic-dance/
‘Postcard From Melbourne’ – Emily Cormack, 2016
https://frieze.com/article/postcard-melbourne
‘Three Angles’ – Robert Nelson, The Age, 2014
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/freudian-vision-stone-clouds-at-niagara-gallery-20140218-32y9u.html
‘The Origins Of Feeling’ – Philipa Rothfield, 2013
http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/Dance_Massive_2013/11011
‘A Room & The Residue Of Movement’ – Keith Gallash, Real Time, 2011
http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue103/10339
‘Memory For Movement’ – Philippa Hawker, The Age, 2011
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/dance/memory-for-movement-20110725-1hwvm.htm
‘Write-Only Memory’ – Chris Boyd, The Morning After, Performing Arts in Australia, 2009
http://chrisboyd.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/write-only-memory.html