Michaela Coventry produces Harrison Ritchie-Jones’ major projects including Cuddle, Requiem for a CUDDLE and R.A.I.N.
Harrison Ritchie-Jones is a independent dancer & choreographer based in Naarm (Melbourne)
https://www.harrisonritchiejones.com/
His choreographic practice celebrates dance and is fuelled by a curiosity in techniques from a range of physical practices. Upskilling and blending forms, he uses dance to carve out spaces for physical virtuosity to work together in surreal and expressive explorations of storytelling.
Harrison is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and has worked as a dancer with many of Australia’s most renowned choreographers including Stephanie Lake, Antony Hamilton, Jo Lloyd, Lucy Guerin, Melanie Lane, Graeme Murphy, Alisdair Macindoe, Prue Lang and Shelly Lasica.
Recent works created by Harrison and his collaborators include: TANTRUM for 6 (Northcote Town Hall 2025, DARKMOFO:NIGHT MASS 2025), CUDDLE (Chunky Move/Frame Festival 2023, Arts House 2024, Sydney Dance Company’s INDance 2024, STRUT Dance and PICA’S Restore 2025), CLUBBLE (RISING 2024, MONA 2024), Cold-Tooth (Gertrude Contemporary 2024), JUNGLE FURY (Four Sites/Fringe Festival 2024), BIG WIG SMALL GIG (Stephanie Lake Company’s ESCALATOR 2023), Banshee Cried Silver (The Substation/Frame Festival 2023, Dancehouse/Dance (Lens) 2023), Shimmer of the Numinous (2019 Next Wave/Brunswick Mechanics Institute 2019).
Awards and accolades include 2024 Green Room Awards for Most Outstanding Creation in Dance for CUDDLE and Breaking Ground in Dance for Body of Work across 2024. A 2018 Green Room Award Nomination for Best Male Performer for Stephanie Lake’s Pile of Bones. Best Film Award for Banshee Cried Silver at Sydney Short Film Biennale by CINEVERSE in 2023
Latest Project
R.A.I.N
A bold and brilliant work of contemporary dance, R.A.I.N slips between hypnotic control, deadpan absurdity and sudden slapstick betrayal.Breaking and collapsing, past and future haunt each other. The file is corrupted. Who took the medal?
From award-winning choreographer and dancer Harrison Ritchie-Jones, R.A.I.N enters a reflective meditation which gets hijacked by fictional histories. Or perhaps they’re futures.
The performers follow the energetic memory of their own structures until their bodies develop rogue agendas. What emerges is a strange, shared world that oscillates between doing, sensing and performing. Driven by an internal, compulsive logic, R.A.I.N tests repetition to its absolute limit, where the gnarlier a movement looks, the more sensitivity it demands.
Anchored in a rigorous physical investigation, R.A.I.N is a self-reflexive study in surrender and resistance, knowing exactly how to commit to the bit when the tracks begin to falter.
Choreographer: Harrison Ritchie-Jones Dancers: Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Michaela Tancheff
Composers: Moses Carr and Nick Roder Lighting Designer: Alex Nguyen Costume Designer: Andrew Treloar Production Manager: Shiv Geaney Producer: Michaela Coventry – Sage Arts
Wednesday 16 – Sunday 20 September 2026
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St, North Melbourne