Oli Mathiesen joins us in the studio this week as our first Short-Term Resident of 2026!
This week marks the start of dedicated development towards Just Between Me and Jesus, a new dance work by Oli, commissioned for premiere at the Venice Biennale Danza, and selected by Sir Wayne McGregor out of 695 international applicants.
Just Between Me and Jesus draws on personal narrative, queer theology, and ritualised performance structures, positioning the body as both a site of confession and spectacle. It will combine choreography and design elements to create a highly distilled, visually rigorous work intended for international presentation. Oli is joined in the studio by a cast of six dancers for this project.
The project marks a significant new phase in Oli’s choreographic practice, interrogating the intersections of faith, intimacy, performance, and constructed identity through a contemporary dance lens. It also represents a major international opportunity and contributes to the visibility of Aoteatoa artists internationally.
This is an amazing opportunity for Oli, and we are thrilled to have him back here in the studios.
📸 Jinki Cambronero
Big stage. Global platform. Our own.
Oli Mathiesen @oli_sen , 2024 Pride Elevates alum, has been selected as the sole international artist for Venice Biennale Danza 2026, from 695 applicants overall.
From The Butterfly Who Flew Into the Rave
to RISING Melbourne, Edinburgh Fringe, Auckland Arts Festival,
and now Venice.
This is Olympic-level.
A Takatāpui toa from Aotearoa, stepping onto one of the most prestigious stages in the world.
Unlike sport, there’s no high-performance system supporting them. So together we must back Oli. Properly.
Rehearsal time. Dancers. Creative development. The full team it takes to meet this moment.
If Oli’s work has ever moved you — this is the call.
Donate or share:
olimathiesen.com/biennale
(Link also in bio)
Mana Tangata. Mana Tuakiri. Mana Takatāpui e.
#VeniceBiennaleDanza #NZDance #PrideElevates #Fundraising
A big congratulations to Rose Macready who has been selected as our 2026 New Graduate Resident! 👏
Rose Macready is a queer movement artist currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Having grown up on the Coromandel Peninsula, Rose relocated to Tāmaki in 2023 to study a Bachelor of Dance Studies at the University of Auckland. After graduating in 2025, Rose is absolutely thrilled about this opportunity to kickstart her choreographic career through collaborative creation.
Rose’s work blends feminist and queer lenses to create humorously absurd performances that explore topical issues. Her choreographic stimulus stems from animalistic tendencies, particularly in livestock and vermin. She is currently researching the incarnation of human greed through animal bodies in her piece ‘Cigar(RAT)’.
“Cigar(RAT)s: vermin ruled by instinct, thirst and desire; no thinking, just doing. A reflection of everything we should(not) do. Im(mortality) is in fashion; chasing the highest of highs, and relishing in the mournful pleasure of the lows. No such thing as “taking it too far”, extreme is never that extreme; there’s always further to go. But what happens when the constant fulfilment of their yearning appetites only leaves them starving again? Are they all just dead rats behind a dumpster?”
This work was first performed in 2025, as part of the Dance Studies third-year showcase. Rose cannot wait to continue developing this project with her collaborators Kate Bennett, Boudicca Farquhar, and Sonia Yang.
The Wellesley Studios Panel would like to thank everyone in the community for their continued interest in the Residency Programme and congratulate our recipient for 2026.
📸 Jayla Patching
⭐ We have had three prime time slots open up in Studio 3 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings!
If you’re looking for a spot to host a regular class or have thoughts of trialling a class, please get in touch for hourly rates and more info at [email protected].
Monday evenings are available anytime from 5:30pm - 9pm
Tuesday evenings are available from 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Wednesday evenings are available anytime between 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Please note:
➡️ Studio 3 has a capacity limit of 18 people
➡️ Hireage does not include a carpark, there is Wilson parking available across the road
➡️ Surround sound, AC, Changing rooms, Showers are all included
➡️ As rehearsal, workshop and class rates differ please get in touch so we can advise the right rates depending on your needs
✴ Please note, studio space may available on a regular or irregular basis, subject to availability. Please get in touch with any inquires!
In the mood to move again after a summer holiday break? Most of our classes resume next week and there are plenty of options to choose from!
Take a look at our range of class offerings, and remember to check our online timetable at wellesleystudios.co.nz/classes-and-events/timetable for specific information on class times and registration.
NOTICE 💥
Wellesley Studios announces the postponement of the Producing Clinic with Zoë Venter, scheduled for Saturday 6th December. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
We were thrilled with the excellent attendance at Zoë’s Crash Course workshop last Friday, despite it being such a busy time of the year. The team at Wellesley Studios pass on our sincerest gratitude to Zoë for sharing her knowledge and expertise, and look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.
Thank you to everyone for taking an interest in Wellesley Studios’ event programming. Please keep an eye out for new 2026 dates to be announced!
APPLICATIONS OPEN! ⭐
As part of its vision to provide support for the emerging independent dance sector, Wellesley Studios is calling out for applications for the 2026 New Graduate Residency.
This Residency caters specifically to recent graduates looking to explore their choreographic voice and is open to new graduates who completed their final year of study on a New Zealand Tertiary Dance Course in 2024 or 2025 and are not currently enrolled in any tertiary study. The Residency is open to NZ citizens and residents only.
We will provide:
Studio space and facilities over two weeks in early May 2026 for one choreographer or collaborating group of artists
$2,400.00 financial contribution towards the two week Residency period
Choreographic advisory/mentoring during the two week Residency period
Financial contribution towards collaborators
New Graduate Residency Dates 2026:
4th May - 15th May 2026
Studio space will be available Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm
113 Wellesley St West, Auckland
Applications close 5pm Monday 9th February 2026
For more information and to apply please visit the Wellesley Studios Residency webpage.
WELLESLEY STUDIOS & PERTH MOVES
Final call for applications for the Wellesley Studios Scholarship!
Applications close Thursday 27th November
Apply via strutdance.org.au/pm26-bursaries/
The Perth Moves Workshop Series is a three-week program of deep-dive workshops with leading local, national and international figures of the dance world – hosted in Boorloo/Perth by STRUT Dance. The 2026 edition will see week-long, all-day intensives with each facilitator, giving participants the chance to be fully submerged in the artistic worlds of whoever they choose.
Facilitators include: Dan Daw Creative Projects (UK/AU), Magali Caillet Gajan (France), Emma Fishwick (AU), Martha Hincapié Charry (Colombia/Germany), Antony Hamilton (AU), and Boris Charmatz (France), as well as a curated lineup of morning classes from Anita Hunziker, Joel Bray, The Farm, Azzam Mohamed and Lucy Guerin.
Alongside the Workshop Series, Perth Moves features a free public dance program of performances and activations within the city, presented with Perth Festival. 2026 sees the world premiere of Concrete Echoes by Aotearoa/NZ choreographic duo Ta'alili, the AU premiere of CERCLES by Boris Charmatz | Terrain, and an all-styles, all-ages dance battle.
🗓️ 9th - 28th February 2026
📍 Boorloo/Perth, WA, Australia
🔗 strutdance.org.au/pm2026
The second year of the Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange (TTDE) continues with two exciting residencies in 2026 at Dancehouse, (Naarm / Melbourne) and Wellesley Studios (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland) with support from Creative New Zealand.
Wellesley Studios and Dancehouse Melbourne would like to congratulate Deanne Butterworth, who is the successful Australian recipient of the 2026 Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange Residency.
Deanne will be residing in Tāmaki Makaurau for a two-week period while she undertakes her residency at Wellesley Studios in 2026.
Deanne Butterworth is a Naarm based dance artist whose choreographic, performance, and teaching practice is preoccupied with the investigation of movement and how it relates to the physical, emotional, and sonic space in which it is located.
Over the last thirty years her work has been shown across a range of contexts including traditional performance spaces, galleries and outdoors, and can involve still images, sound, music, text and video — whatever the context the process always starts with a continued fascination with dancing.
She has performed in the works of other choreographers including Shelley Lasica, Phillip Adams, Lucy Guerin, Maria Hassabi, Jo Lloyd, Brooke Stamp, Sandra Parker, and many more, and performed in the work of many visual artists including Alicia Frankovich, Sally Smart, and Linda Tegg. Throughout her career Deanne has been nominated for multiple Green Room Awards for performance and choreography.
Congratulations Deanne!
This Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange programme, providing a residency space, stipend, accommodation, per diems, and travel, has been supported by Dancehouse Melbourne, Wellesley Studios, and funding from Creative New Zealand.
The second year of the Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange (TTDE) continues with two exciting residencies in 2026 at Dancehouse, (Naarm / Melbourne) and Wellesley Studios (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland) with support from Creative New Zealand.
Wellesley Studios and Dancehouse would like to congratulate Rosamund Philpott, who is the successful New Zealand recipient of the 2026 Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange Residency.
Rose will be taking up her residency at Dancehouse in Naarm/Melbourne over a period of two weeks in May and June 2026 where she will be deepening and extending her choreographic research. the
Rose Philpott is an independent artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa working as a dancer, choreographer and educator. Rose’s practice is rooted in queer methodologies, informed by longstanding collaborative relationships with her friends and driven by a persistent commitment to dance. She has performed internationally and throughout Aotearoa with Foster Group Dance and Sarah Foster-Sproull, Tori Manley-Tapu, Footnote New Zealand Dance, Nisha Madhan and Julia Croft, Okareka Dance Company, and Movement of the Human. Rose also co-directs SOFT.co dance company with choreographer Jessie McCall. Their work together involves a co-constructed process informed by live art, textile, and dance practices.
This residency will focus on developing and adapting Rose’s current solo research project. Engaging with speculative choreographic methods, she is interested in how personal lineages may be infiltrated by real and fictitious individuals, disrupting orientations to time, place and queer bodily action.
Congratulations Rose!
This Trans-Tasman Dance Exchange programme, providing a residency space, stipend, accommodation, per diems, and travel has been supported by Dancehouse Melbourne, Wellesley Studios, and funding from Creative New Zealand.
Holly Finch is in the studio this week for a Short Term Residency while she completes final rehearsals for a new show! ⚡
Holly Finch is a choreographer with a deep passion for story telling, music, and collaboration. Blending diverse dance forms through a contemporary lens, she builds worlds where character and narrative become vessels for meta, philosophical and political commentaries to emerge. She seeks to craft work that reflects the endless nuance of our human experience.
Holly will be rehearsing for her new show yes and also no, subject to xyz, fine print applies, premiering at Basement Space from 13–15 November at 6:30pm. The work is created in collaboration with acclaimed cast members Natasha Kohler, Oli Mathiesen, and Tegan Jeffery-Rushton (AUS), and is produced by Deborah Fletcher.
