Aimee Smith - EPIC07

Aimee Smith is a Perth-based dancer and choreographer with a focus on developing arts practice for social change.

Graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2004, completing a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Dance (First Class Honours), Aimee has produced and created a number of award-winning works, establishing herself as an exciting young independent artist.

Her recent projects include the politically charged Alphabeta, a performance based on a sound score that is taken from a state of the union address by George W Bush that’s been alphabetised. She produced 53’ - her first full length work in 2004.

Aimee created the interactive dance piece, Press Play with her colleague Jessyka Watson-Galbraith in 2005.

Aimee is a member of the ArtsWA Young People in the Arts Panel and featured as a ‘young and emerging artist’ at the Dancers are Space Eaters International Contemporary Dance Festival in Perth in 2003, performing her solo work state-of-in-between.

Aimee has lead numerous arts festivals, taught dance to young people and represented Australia in EARTH Dance Festival - an international festival focused on arts for social change, held in Canada in 2006. She is also the current choreographer for Buzz Dance theatre – Western Australia’s educational youth based dance company.

The organisation

Awesome Arts Australia Ltd (AWESOME) is a not for profit arts company based in Perth, Western Australia. AWESOME aims to inspire creativity in young people by developing arts projects that will engage, inspire and encourage them to think creatively. AWESOME brings interest and entertainment to the everyday. By removing the boundaries of traditional art forms, AWESOME encourages young people to have a fulfilling arts experience, in particular reaching young people who have had no previous interaction with the arts. 

The project

EPIC07 will provide Aimee with a 12-month internship with AWESOME in the role of project producer for a community cultural development project in remote WA.

Aimee will work with young people and communities in the Gascoyne, the Pilbara, the Kimberley and the Great Southern. Through this project, she will also target the Punmu community in the Eastern Pilbara region.

Both components will build structurally from Smith's existing creative work Press Play, where a remote control roams the audience inviting participation. Each button on the remote control has a particular sound and movement score and the audience controls the performance by changing the buttons.

The EPIC Initiative has been assisted by the Australian Government's Young and Emerging Artists Initiative.