Biography

David Corbet and Jacob Lehrer dance together, teach together, perform together and conspire together. They have a broad and diverse range of national and international performance and teaching experience. Through their work together and as members of State of Flux Dance Company they have spent the last decade engaged in researching, teaching and presenting improvised performance. Collectively and individually Corbet/Lehrer have taught and performed for DV8 Physical Theatre (UK), Danceworks (VIC), Chunky Move (VIC), Legs on the Wall (NSW), Y Space (VIC), Antistatic (NSW), Sue Healey Company (NSW), Rosalind Crisp (FRANCE/AUS) and are regular guest lecturers at universities around Australia. They have performed at P.I.C.A. (WA), The Performance Space (NSW), Dancehouse (VIC) and the Australian Choreographic Centre (ACT). Recently they both worked with 1st year VCA dance students to create their end of year performance work titled we’re not responsible. They were also, independently, choreographing and teaching at the Australian Youth Dance Festival in Horsham, April 2006.

State of Flux Dance Company (Flux) was founded 10 years ago as a community building, teaching and performance research company. Flux has been instrumental in disseminating knowledge and direct skills around the practice of Contact Improvisation and body-based performance throughout Australia. The company has actively combined many modalities into their research of improvised performance, including Skinner Releasing Technique, Body Mind Centring, Free Jazz and Martial Arts. As part of the company’s professional development Flux received an Australia Council grant to bring Nancy Stark Smith out from the USA to consolidate and expand upon their research practices – this time also included working with improvisational musician Mike Vargas (USA).

As part of their research Flux curates and performs at a monthly night of improvised performance called Conundrum. Now in its tenth year, Conundrum was founded to allow Flux, and others, to develop a practice in body-based improvised performance. Flux’s performance practice includes the integration of improvised lighting and sound through rehearsal, application and observation. The influence of Flux provides the foundations for much of Corbet/Lehrer’s creative work.

Together Corbet/Lehrer use their base modality of Contact Improvisation, which uses natural philosophy as a generative tool for instantaneous decision-making. In practice they insert this modality into a performance context that involves other levels of decision making around such elements as structure, content and themes.