REELDANCE ANNOUNCES NEW DIRECTOR

ReelDance is excited to announce the appointment of its new director Tracie Mitchell, who is joining us after an extensive career as an independent producer, director and distributor of dance on screen.

Tracie takes over from Erin Brannigan, ReelDance's founding director. After nine years with the organisation, Erin is leaving to take on a new Lecturer position in Dance at the University of New South Wales.

“The Committee and staff at ReelDance are delighted to welcome Tracie to the helm,” says Vincent Sheehan, President of Management Committee of ReelDance. "Tracie comes to ReelDance as a passionate advocate for dance on screen, with experience as a curator, arts manager and filmmaker. We are very much looking forward to working with her."

Recently awarded Key Organisations, Emerging funding from the Australia Council's Dance Board, this is an exciting juncture for ReelDance. "ReelDance has grown from a single screening event as a project of One Extra Dance Company in 2000, to become its very own organisation with a full program of screenings, exhibitions and workshops in addition to the biennial ReelDance Festival. On behalf of the Committee, I thank Erin Brannigan for her dedication and hard work over the last nine years. We wish her all the best in her new career," says Mr Sheehan.

Tracie Mitchell is one of Australia’s leading dance for camera artists and a respected contributor to dance screen networks and festivals both nationally and internationally. Her career as a celebrated choreographer, film director, producer and distributor spans 20 years. Her award winning works have been selected for official screenings worldwide as well as being part of major catalogue collections such as Tanz Museum in Cologne, la Cinémathèque de la Danse in Paris and Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne.
 
In Australia Tracie has successfully implemented a number of public exhibitions of dance screen, including creation and direction of the pioneering three-day dance film festival Dance Lumiere for Dancehouse, Melbourne in 1999. In 2001 she was awarded a prestigious Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship to undertake a two-year internationally based research program, and she is soon to complete her PhD from Victoria University where she has been exploring new critical frameworks to describe the unique artform of dance for camera. Tracie is committed to both formal and informal platforms for artist development and has been involved in a number of mentoring initiatives in order to inspire, nurture and share her knowledge and passion for the art of dance on screen.