Dancenorth Australia has appointed ensemble dancers Felix Sampson and Michael Smith as its next co-artistic directors. They will take over from Kyle Page and Amber Haines in March 2027.
The appointments bring two artists with longstanding connections to the North Queensland company into its creative leadership. Dancenorth chair Dr Judith McLean said Sampson and Smith emerged from “an exceptionally competitive field of applicants”, impressing the selection panel with their vision and commitment to the company.
Sampson joined the ensemble in 2017, aged 22. Smith first worked with Dancenorth through secondments that year, returning for an independent artist residency in 2020 before joining the ensemble full-time in 2021.
The incoming directors plan to make highly physical, theatrical work with a strong place for humour, while continuing the company’s emphasis on care for artists and collaboration across its artistic and operational work.
Sampson said their different experiences and artistic interests would inform the shared directorship.
“Our differences in experience, perspective, artistic preferences and abilities both challenge and balance the other,” he said.
Their commitment to working in Gurambilbarra (Townsville) is also central to their plans. Sampson described the local arts community as a significant source of support since his arrival, while Smith, who grew up in Gladstone, said regional Queensland had always drawn him back.
“We are committed to this place; to our communities, our people, and the many dances and stories that are inherent to regional North Queensland,” Smith said.
McLean said the pair’s longstanding relationships with Wulgurukaba people and local artists would continue to shape Dancenorth’s work and create opportunities for collaboration.
Executive director and co-CEO Hillary Coyne described the appointments as a testament to the company’s culture, having developed two artists who could now assume its creative leadership.
Page and Haines have led Dancenorth’s creative work together since 2016. Their final production as co-artistic directors, Galaxia, will receive its world premiere before Sampson and Smith begin their tenure in March.