Like many aspiring dancers, Darcy Carpenter has been training since she was a small child.
The 22-year-old, who has Down syndrome, last year achieved her dream of becoming a professional dancer when she was invited to join Restless Dance Theatre.
“This is my future, this is my life,” she tells SBS News following her first season as an official dancer with the company. “I feel proud and independent to come this far.”
In Australia, close to half of people of working age with a disability remain unemployed. But Carpenter and three of her colleagues, who also live with Down syndrome, are developing meaningful careers in the arts.
The Adelaide-based company employs dancers with and without disability. They are paid for rehearsals and performances at professional rates prescribed by the Live Performance Award.
Dancer Darcy Carpenter performing Guttered. Source: Roy Vandervegt
“Money! I get paid,” says Carpenter, when asked about the benefits of working professionally.
“It takes hard work and you need confidence in yourself,” she says after recently finishing a 16-show season of the Restless Dance Theatre production, 'Guttered', at the Adelaide Festival.
Carpenter moved to Adelaide from her family’s farm in the South Australian Riverland district to join the dance troupe and is now among her role models.
Jianna Georgiou, 29, recently won a prominent state award that recognises excellence in the arts.
"When I heard my name for the very first time for a Ruby Award I felt happy and I just can’t believe I have won the Ruby Award for my dancing career,” says Georgiou, who has danced with Restless since she was 16.
Restless Dance Theatre has been providing opportunities for dancers of all abilities for 30 years. Under the creative directorship of Michelle Ryan, who danced with Meryl Tankard’s Australian Dance Theatre internationally, the focus on creating professional pathways has blossomed.
It is partly about educating audiences to expect more than a community production.
“These dancers are really talented and they've worked hard, as does any other dancer,” says Ryan, who moved to Adelaide to lead the company in 2013.
“They put in the training and they have developed their own unique voice within the choreography.”
Ryan’s own experience, acquiring multiple sclerosis at the age of 30 at the peak of her dancing career, has given her a “fire in my belly” to make sure performers with disability have opportunities to be seen, she says.
“When I acquired disability I thought no-one would want to see me on stage and so I didn’t have any ambition for myself as a performer anymore.
Restless Dance Theatre creative director Michelle Ryan during a performance. Source: Regis Lansac
“It was only when I did perform again that I realised how important it is to have representation on stage because the amount of thanks I got from people was quite heartfelt."
Ryan says the NDIS funds training for dancers two days a week which allows them to develop skills to take up professional opportunities. She says the training has given the dancers the confidence to strive for more ambitious goals.
Georgiou hopes to become a director herself one day. Her fellow dancer Darcy Carpenter plans to move into acting.
“I plan on becoming an actress and a dancer,” she says. “I can juggle things.”
Dancer Michael Hodyl previously worked at a fast-food chain. He’s since toured with the company to the UK, Seoul and around Australia.
Michael Hodyl joined Restless Dance Theatre 10 years ago. Source: Peta Doherty/SBS News
Dancing with Restless has “built my future a lot,” the 31-year-old says. “And it allows me to show my personality and my passion.”
“I’d say the Gold Coast was the biggest highlight I ever had. I feel so much happiness in me and pride.”
The company lost its main source of income when The Australia Council axed its multi-year funding in 2020. The federal government's RISE Fund, a pandemic recovery supplement for the arts sector, will see it through until mid-next year.
Ryan says the company will launch a fundraising effort to ensure its dancers retain employment and have the opportunity to make their dreams a reality.
Restless Dance Theatre will tour Guttered in Brisbane and Sydney later this year.
