Shona mccullagh biography of rory

MNZM, NZ Arts Foundation Laureate, 2014 Westpac & Fairfax Woman of Influence (Arts), 2015 Hynds Creative Entrepreneur of the Year.

In 2011, Shona co-founded the New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) and fulfilled a successful tenure of nine years as Chief Executive/Artistic Director NZDC.

A Distinguished Graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance, Shona was a dancer with Sydney based company Darc Swan in 1984, subsequently joining Limbs Dance Company, where she was a dancer, rehearsal director and choreographer from 1985 to 1988. Returning to NZ, the Nelson Festival commissioned an interactive installation titled Beacon and once back in Auckland, Shona created a work for the Unitec graduating 3^rd years titled Those Left that was remounted for Tempo, New Zealand's Dance Festival in 2009 and Unitec's 21^st Celebration Graduation.

In 2010 Shona was commissioned by Taupo's Erupt Festival to create an interactive installation that was met with acclaim.

Mirror Me, 2008, was an interactive exhibition by Shona McCullagh, Michael Hodgson and John Gibson, utilising computer generated software installations that provided an interface with the viewer's projected/live body.

In 2008 Shona was invited to be part of the inaugural Art Venture Acceleration Programme for Creative Entrepreneurs, an initiative of the Arts Regional Trust.

McCullagh was the founding director of the New Zealand Dance Company and was appointed artistic director of the Auckland Festival in 2019. This led to a firming of her commitment to help build a stronger foundation for contemporary dance in New Zealand, the formation of the New Zealand Dance Advancement Trust and the creation of the New Zealand Dance Company which privately launched in 2011.

Biography

Born in 1962 in Hamilton, McCullagh moved to Wellington when she was four and attended Northland School,^[1] and Wellington Girls' College from 1975 to 1979.^[2][3] McCullagh trained as a dancer at the New Zealand School of Dance, graduating in 1983 with a Special Award in Choreography.

Shona developed an international reputation as an award-winning and innovative filmmaker with all three of her films being screened at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. On her return to New Zealand, she was voted 1988's Best Dancer by Metro magazine. In 1984 McCullagh joined the Sydney company Darc Swan.^[4] McCullagh then became was a rehearsal director, choreographer and dancer in Limbs Dance Company from 1985 to 1988.^[5] She was a founding member of the Douglas Wright Dance Company.^[6][7] Prior to that she toured New York performing with Douglas Wright & Dancers (1987).^[4] Companies that McCullagh has choreographed for include Footnote Dance, Douglas Wright Dance Company, The Royal New Zealand Ballet and her own company The Human Garden.^[8]

McCullagh has choreographed for theatre including collaborations with Nightsong Productions, The Watershed Theatre, the NZ Actors Company and Auckland Theatre Company.^[6] In addition McCullagh has both choreographed for screen and directed dance films.

Shona is well known for her choreography for significant theatre, television and film works for Peter Jackson, Rob Tapert, Simon Bennett, Michael Hurst and Auckland Theatre Company in addition to her role as Head Choreographer for the globally broadcast Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony in 2011.

As a choreographer over the last 33 years Shona has created works ranging from short pieces to full length works, often working with NZ composers for companies such as Limbs, Footnote, Douglas Wright Dance Company, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Southern Lights, tertiary institutes and her own company The Human Garden, which was established in 1992 and continued until 2007.

Shona is very grateful for all of the support received to establish and grow the Company: in particular, the brave and generous Board members past and present, her co-founder Frances Turner, funders, supporters, creatives, colleagues and most of all, her family.

Her full-length work for NZDC, Rotunda resulted in the Company’s first international tour to Holland Dance Festival, followed by a nine-centre Australasian tour, accompanied by live brass bands, including New Zealand’s first collaboration between a contemporary dance company and the military.

Shona has choreographed many successful works for companies such as Limbs, Douglas Wright Dance Company, and The Royal New Zealand Ballet.

She has also created work for theatre, television and film, including sequences for Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring and King Kong and Auckland Theatre Company's Equus, Sweet Charity and Cabaret.

In 1992, she formed her own company, The Human Garden, which toured to Chile and was commissioned by the International Festival of the Arts to create a full-length work, Quick, integrating film and live performance.

In 1987, Shona performed with Douglas Wright & Dancers in New York, was a founding member of the NZ based Douglas Wright Dance Company and became its Associate Director in 1991, touring to the London Dance Umbrella and the Holland Dance Festival. Her second film, Fly, won the Australasian ReelDance Awards and her third film Break won the American Dance on Camera Festival in 2007.

A recipient of Creative New Zealand's Senior Choreographic Fellowship, 2007 marked a return to creating full length works, combining Shona' s love of both film and dance by utilising interactive software.

In November 2007 Shona travelled to The Hague as a guest speaker at dancescreen 2007 and in March 08 launched her first installation exhibition at MIC Toi Rerehiko in Auckland.

In 2007 Shona was invited to be part of the inaugural Art Venture Acceleration Programme for Creative Entrepreneurs, an initiative of the Arts Regional Trust that resulted in her decision to assist the growth of the New Zealand dance industry by establishing The New Zealand Dance Company. She was then commissioned to create work by Era New Horizons Festival in Poland, the Nelson Arts Festival, Splore and Taupo’s Erupt Festival.

Her first film, Hurtle, won several international awards, including the Paula Citron Award for Choreography for Camera at the Moving Pictures Festival in Toronto.