Melanie Lane has received the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award, it has been announced by The Keir Foundation, Carriageworks and Dancehouse. Lane won the Award for her work Personal Effigies. The Audience Choice Award went to Amrita Hepi for her piece Caltex Spectrum.

Launched in 2014, the Keir Choreographic Award is a biennial competition, which seeks to identify, illuminate, present and promote new, experimental choreographic practices developing in Australia. Mebourne-based artist Atlanta Elke won the Award in 2014, and Sydney-based Torres Strait Islander choreographer and performer Ghenoa Gela won it in 2016.

Melanie Lane’s Personal Effigies. Photograph © Zan Wimberley

For the 2018 Award, entrants were asked to submit a five-minute video pitch for a choreographic idea of 20 minutes in duration. Eight artists were selected by a high-profile international jury to take part in the competition. They were: Nana Biluš Abaffy, Luke George, Amrita Hepi, Melanie Lane, Prue Lang, Bhenji Ra, Lilian Steiner, and Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters). Each of the eight works, created for the Award, were presented at Dancehouse in Melbourne, where four were selected for the final at Carriageworks in Sydney, which took place on Saturday March 17.

Lane...