Top of page
Global Site Navigation
Local Section Navigation
You are here: Main Content

Mr Michael Whaites

Lecturer

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 6442
Mobile: 0401 011 151
Email: m.whaites@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Mount Lawley  
Room: ML1.229  

Michael is a Lecturer in Contemporary Dance and the Artistic Director of LINK Dance Company at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Current teaching

  • DAN5103 - Rehearsal and Performance
  • DAN5104 - Rehearsal and Performance
  • DAN5105 - Professional Practice
  • DAN5203 - Touring
  • CUADAN610 - Improvisation 2
  • DAN2125 - Improvisation 2
  • DAN1036 - Choreography 1
  • CUADAN403 - Choreography 1

Background

Michael has been performing, choreographing and teaching for the past 35yrs. He was a founding member of Dance North and danced with Australian Dance Theatre before moving to New York City in 1991. Over the following 4yrs he was a member of Twyla Tharp and Dancers and Irene Hultman Dance. In 1995 Michael joined the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in Germany, where he toured extensively moving back to Australia in 2000. Michael has taught and made works on many different companies and institutions across the globe. As a performer he has guested and worked with many companies in a collaborative capacity. Michael has sat on a number of boards and committees in service to the arts and is currently based in Perth. He lectures in contemporary dance and is the Artistic Director of LINK Dance Company at WAAPA. Creatively in the last years Michael has made works on LINK that have often been site specific immersive theatrical experiences. He has developed several international collaborations working across cultures and forms. In 2017 he instigated a repertoire and training project with the Pina Bausch foundation for WAAPA. This project will have a performance outcome in November 2020.

Professional associations

  • Ausdance

Qualifications

  • Certificate in Performance, Other WA higher ed institution, 1984.

Research Outputs

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2015). Fear, Folk and Superstition in Istres. Pulsion at Maison de la Danse.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2014). Life Cycle. WAAPA.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M., Boynes, L. (2013). Hanging Space. WAAPA in Partnership with Western Australian Museum.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2012). Poem for an Ailing World - choreographed piece. WAAPA.
  • Lehrer, J., McCarthy, K., Peacock, S., Pollitt, J., Whaites, M. (2012). Diversify. Michael Whaites.
  • Whaites, M. (2012). Diversify. Fremantle Arts Centre.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2010). Memorial - Choreographer. World Dance Americas.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2009). Things that Remain. WAAPA.
  • Peacock, S., Alessi, C., Morris, M., Tele, S., Smith, A., Whaites, M. (2009). HARAKIRI -a rite. Strut Dance.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2007). Heaven's Above. WAAPA.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2006). Small World festival.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2004). The Laminex Man. Restless Dance Company.

Creative Arts Research Outputs

  • Whaites, M. (2003). Waiting forl. One Extra Dance.

Research Student Supervision

No data available

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The poetics of gravity: Performance experiments from the natural environment to the stage.

Assistant Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Maloya dance and music: Reunionese Creole Togetherness
  • Master of Arts (Performing Arts), Voice of motion: Connecting voice, acting and movement in contemporary dance
  • Master of Arts (Performing Arts), Choreography as landscape: Landscape discourse framing choreographic practice
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Technique reframed body reimagined
Skip to top of page