Joshua Pether is a Perth based dancer, who frequently travels to the East Coast to perform and develop performances.

A descendant of the Kalkadoon people, Joshua grew up in Mt Isa, spending many years living on an enormous cattle station. He started dance at a young age but gave it up as a teenager, shifting gears and training as a pharmacist.  However, like any passion, eventually Joshua rediscovered and reconnected with dance later.

Joshua also identifies as a dancer with a disability. This has led him to reconsider dance and the ways in which the form can be more inclusive of differences. Increasingly becoming an activist, challenging others preconceptions and proving opportunities for those that are often excluded.

"It is easier to change an aesthetic rather than a physical form, so by having different bodies on stage you then start to change the aesthetic, which then starts to change peoples perspectives."

I spoke to Joshua after the premiere season of his fascinating solo work Monster, programmed as part of Yirramboi Festival. Part dance part live art, this was a dark work that moved between a deeply personal mental state, something that sits below the surface, to an exorcism and release. There is always something refreshing about seeing dance that is prepared to move into the unknown, and deal with dark subject matter.

You can find out more about Joshua’s work:

 

images- Caitlin Dear

• Awaye Radio National
• Interview

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