Interview with CO3 Dance Choreographer, Shaun Johnston
The latest production by Perth dance company CO3, In.Residence:Gathering.2 might confuse people with its purposely misplaced punctuation in title – but that does tend to happen a lot in the arena of dance. Add avantgarde theatre to the mix and you could call a season of dance anything you like, really. A dance production by any other name is only as good as its talent. And CO3 has plenty of talent. Brazen enough to take on and deconstruct any traditional or contemporary dance, and smart enough to see it all flow, seemingly effortlessly (though we’re certain there’s more grit to it all, in rehearsals for sure).
Whether strutting seriously, playing it daft, or delivering pomp with extra circumstance, CO3 do the dance thing brilliantly. The latest production certainly is a fluid one, but also a mesmerising one, transporting the audience into the dance beat and pulse of the group.
An eclectic crew of incredible dancers sync with the music – itself an allsorts mix of electro, club beats, and matinee television musical – with each performer owning whatever space there is between cast member and audience, often with only a split second’s notice.
Although there was narely a prop in sight, the costumes spoke volumes in terms of diversity – indeed, it looked as though Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren were alive and combined their tastes once more for a kind of buffalo-goes-glamour aesthetic… with a sartorial tip or two from Japanese-Australian designer, Akira Isogawa.
Costuming aside, this is the second production of Gathering that Cream has had the pleasure of witnessing, indeed, being a part of, since we couldn’t help getting on the dance floor to join the troupe in a free-for-all at the end of the official performance.
We look forward to a third next year – should the troupe be so bold as to muck up the punctuation again.
Elle Getty & Antonino Tati
‘In.Residence:Gathering.2’ is on at the historic Liberty Theatre until Saturday 4 July, 2026.
Tickets are available through trybooking.com.
Main photo (top of story) by Emma Fishwick.
Interview with choreographer Shaun Johnston by Antonino Tati.
Above, choreographer and dance with CO3, Shaun Johnston.
Hi Shaun. Are you excited to present the new season of CO3’s Gathering for 2026, and what can audiences expect that might be different to last year’s season?
I’m very eager to present Gathering.2 as we have an exciting team onboard, who have all worked hard to realise four bold works. Each work has a clear sense of style and, this year, the Liberty has been set up in a way that adds a new vertical dimension to the space. It’s a shift that opens a lot of creative possibilities for the choreographers, while also improving sightlines for the public.
How much is the performance space considered when choreographing such a production as Gathering? Are there limitations to contemplate?
In a promenade performance such as this, space is essential to consider, both from a choreographic perspective and from a functional one. Because audiences are free to roam, your work is being viewed from many angles at once, so it’s important to consider the three-dimensionality of the work, or how to position certain moments so that audiences have a single viewpoint. For instance, by staging a moment in a corner. And of course, the audience are sharing the same stage with the dancers, meaning the performers must always be ready to negotiate space, often non-verbally.
In last year’s Gathering, it started with a large number of dancers in a tight square space – a small stage in the corner of Liberty Hall. Did any of the dancers find such a tight space limiting, or is that challenge part and parcel of the art of dance?
It can certainly be difficult, but so much of dance training is about navigating space. I think as audiences, we accustom to the scale of a work quickly. This means that on a small stage, movements don’t need to be as large for them to look big, because our attention has zoomed in to fit the frame. Naturally, our movement happens in negotiation with the environment we’re in. I think the real challenge is when the performance space shifts without time for the performers to adjust.
A little focus on your own biography; have you performed and featured in any film or music video that we might be familiar with?
Before finding my way into dance I started in theatre, and now my work sits somewhere between the two, in the dance-theatre space. I’ve performed with The Last Great Hunt, Strut Dance, and will be presenting my work ‘The Scramble’ at Brisbane Festival later this year. Funnily enough, you may recognise my face from the latest WA Health flu vaccine ad.
Do you perform dance yourself these days, or is the role of choreographer enough work for you?
I do perform. I think your skills as a choreographer and as a performer are very interlinked, especially in a field where many have moved beyond the idea of an auteur who has all the answers.
It’s so valuable for me to work with performers who are full of ideas – that creative dialogue is my favourite thing.
Likewise, it’s crucial for choreographers to be attentive to the needs of their dancers, and empower them with the right tools both in process and come showtime.
Who are three icons you look up to in the world of dance?
Dimitris Papaiouannou, whose works feel like a dream that poses more questions than answers. Michael Keegan Dolan, whose work has so much humanity and makes me want to get on stage and join the dancers. Meg Stuart, for finding so much novelty in the form of dance that always feels organic.
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