Ausdance National has named Xin Ong and Chung Nguyen as the recipients of its 2026 choreographic fellowships, which return this year following a hiatus after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Together, the Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship and Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship will provide $20,000 in direct support for choreographic and artistic development. The funding is intended to give artists greater capacity to pursue research, travel, experimentation, professional development and new creative relationships alongside the demands of an active career.
Boorloo/Perth-based interdisciplinary artist Xin Ong has received the 2026 Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship.
Ong’s practice centres presence, connection and deep listening. She has been invited to work as assistant to artistic director Farooq Chaudhry OBE during the forthcoming development of The Bridge in Shenzhen, China.
Built around intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, the project will allow Ong to observe a complex creative development at close range while working under Chaudhry’s mentorship. Ausdance said the experience would support the continued development of her choreographic practice and enquiry.
Naarm/Melbourne-based dance artist Chung Nguyen has received the 2026 Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship.
Nguyen is a Vietnamese/Australian artist, somatic movement facilitator and Biodynamic Craniosacral therapist whose practice spans live performance, video installation, choreography and community engagement.
Through the fellowship, Nguyen will continue developing Breathing is Remembering, extending their investigations into their Australian migrant journey through residencies and creative developments across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.
The project will engage with communities and sites connected to Agent Orange, an agricultural chemical weaponised during the war in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The fellowship will provide dedicated research and development time while supporting Nguyen’s leadership and skills in community-based, cross-cultural and choreographic research.
The fellowships are supported by bequests associated with two significant figures in Australian dance: choreographer, teacher and founding artistic director of The Australian Ballet Dame Peggy van Praagh, and dancer, choreographer, teacher and movement specialist Keith Bain OAM.
According to Ausdance, the bequests recognise the role of targeted, artist-centred investment in sustaining individual practices and careers, while contributing to the broader future of Australian dance.
The organisation described the quality and diversity of applications received through the national selection process as evidence of the depth of choreographic skill and ambition across the country. While Ong and Nguyen work across different forms and areas of enquiry, Ausdance noted a shared interest in dance as a means of personal and collective healing and connection.