Paul White is an Australian born dancer and choreographer, based in Berlin, with an international reputation. After starting as a dancer at Jupiters Casino in Queensland, Paul went on to do a pre-professional year at Queensland Ballet, before moving in to a career as a contemporary dancer.
Image by Pippa Samaya
One of Australia’s highest regarded dancers Paul has worked as a performer and artistic collaborator around the world. Including working with companies and directors; Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Lloyd Newson (DV8 Physical Theatre), Chunky Move, Tanja Liedtke, Nigel Jamieson and Garry Stewart (Australian Dance Theatre), Narelle Benjamin, Kristina Chan, Martin Del Amo, Danzahoy and Meryl Tankard.
“I am someone who is interested in continually developing, or continually learning, and not having a similar flavour in life, all the time.”
Paul was the first dancer to join Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, after the death of Pina Bausch in 2009. He was an ensemble member from 2013-2017, and still dances as a guest artist for the company.
Paul’s list of awards is extensive and include Dancer of the Year German, Critics’ Circle UK Award for Outstanding Modern Performance, Helpmann Award’s for Best Male Dancer, Australian Dance Award’s for Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer.
Paul is the Honorary Patron of Tanzrauschen Wuppertal, a dance-on-film society founded in Wuppertal and a founding member of the Free Arts Scene Society, Germany.
In July 2017, Narelle Benjamin & Paul White premiered a new work Cella at Colours International Festival, Stuttgart and later presented at the Sydney Festival, in 2018. Several years in the making, this intimate work explores the cells on the human body.
“I am totally hooked by collaboration, particularly with friends”
The close relationship between the performers makes the work truly captivating. Cella will be restaged during Dance Massive and is certainly one not to miss.
Cella Vimeo from Narelle Benjamin on Vimeo.
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‘We value everyone equally, but you know, of course each person has a role to play in the team that's been created, but no one is, you know, less valuable than another.’
‘My daughter Billie, she was in rehearsal today. My son Archie grew up the first two or three years of his life, like, on tour with me when I was with Bangarra Dance Theatre and just being in the artistic environment and being surrounded by people is such a beautiful gift, I think, that I can give to them as well.’
‘When I'm making dance and when I think about choreography or art, I often relate my early childhood experiences to the things that I make now as well.’
‘I guess for a lot of people, ballet is still very much an evolving, developing language. I think people think it was probably stuck in a time and hasn't progressed. But modern ballet is very challenging and arresting and it's finding new ways of working with an old structure.’
‘In my hibernation my creativity turned to writing. I spent hours happily at my computer with my writing, which sometimes feels like choreography. The results of these writing hours are some rough chapters recounting special experiences of my life, and in particular, my life here at Mirramu.’
‘So I've been refusing the temptation to put work on online to put work on platforms where they eliminate that very core function of connecting people’
Edna Reinhardt, a passionate creative dance and yoga educator with decades of experience in the field.
I used to say for a long time that I thought the dance was the Prozac of the art forms. […] there is an aesthetic that dominates our work, often complex or ugly or difficult issues are glossed over because people are pointing their feet and look very lovely.
I'm really looking forward to finding more lightness and more joy and looking forward to exploring some of my ideas.
I think now I am really sort of hungry to do more things that are really outside of my preconceived box of what I can do or what kind of dancer, I identify as or think of myself as.
“What I love about the dance world is that it has the possibility of bringing together so many different cultures, so many different people, beliefs, ways of thinking, ways of being in a space … we always find a common ground and a way to exist and support one another and to create something really beautiful”
"[Dance] It gave me an outlet and a way to express myself, and to be in a space where I could see myself represented."
“Dance, it has a tribal background, everyone does dance, initially, as kids, and we will do it socially. So I think there's a very powerful message there that can be utilised by choreographers when they're creating their works.”
“Dance can provide a space for people to have a kinesthetic response to something and to be given a place to meet their body in watching another body move.”
"I really loved the freedom of expression, and just realising that... I don't need to use my mouth if I wanna tell a story."
“some of the best advice that I ever got, as a young student, was make the dance that you want to watch”
