Image: Monsoon Residency - Kobalt Works/ Critical Path
Bundanon Trust (2015)
Photo: Matt Cornell
Adelina is an award-winning Swedish/Mexican choreographer, curator, producer, performer and educator. She works and lives on the land of the Wadandi people - the traditional custodians of Wooditjup Margaret River in the South West of Western Australia.
She trained at Stockholm University of the Arts, DOCH and CODARTS, Rotterdam. Since moving to Australia in 2007 she has worked in remote and regional communities and choreographed, directed and performed for performing arts companies presenting at Melbourne International Arts Festival, Perth Festival, Federation Square, Sydney Opera House, The State Theatre Centre of WA, Australian Institute of Sport, The Canberra Theatre Centre, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), The Lock Up, Newcastle and Fremantle Arts Centre.
Adelina has worked with David Pledger Not yet it’s difficult (NYID), creative director, Scott Rankin and BighART arts and social change company since 2014, Ql2 Dance, Critical Path, Strut Dance, and artists like Margie Medlin, Bek Conroy, Rhiannon Newton, Andrew Morrish, Deborah May, Trevor Jamieson, Yumi Umiumare, Laura Boynes, David Corbet, Sarah Kaur, Paschal Daantos Berry, Maitland Schnaars and Shoeb Sia Ahmad.
Adelina is the founder and director of Strange Attractor Lab - an interdisciplinary lab that focuses on experimentation and artistic research. As part of a collaboration between the Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences), Sydney Festival and Critical Path Choreographic Centre for Research, Adelina produced Choreographic Lab_Hacking the Anthropocene (2019) engaging facilitator and artist Bek Conroy and invited guests Dr Astrida Neimanis (Dept Gender and Cultural Studies, Uni Syd) and Kenneth McLeod (Research associate, UTS Business School).
As the Associate Artist with BighART Adelina has worked nationally on their projects since 2014, contributing to the creative direction with a range of interdisciplinary skills.
She recently completed her affiliation with Critical Path Choreographic Centre as Associate Artist (2017-2019) and with the artist-run studio ReadyMade Works as co-director.
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Her work In the Rite II: Solo was awarded the 2020 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance.
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Regional Arts WA recently awarded Adelina the Regional Artist Fellowship 2021 for the development of her new work Min Folkdans.
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Adelina was commissioned by Annette Carmichael Projects to choreograph in the Distributed 15 project - a new multi-artform work that explores way of distributing knowledge, action and shared responsibility for people and the natural world.
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For the 2023 Perth Festival, Adelina was Associate Director on Punkaliyarra Sister-in-Law Dreaming Story. Yindjibarndi and Ngarluma Elders, Senior and young women from Ieramugadu Roebourne speak of women's strength and care in times of disruption
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Also for the 2023 Perth Festival she worked with Laura Boynes as Movement Consultant for Equations of a Falling Body
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BIO
AFFILIATIONS
Critical Path Choreographic Centre for Research - Associate Artist
As one of Critical Paths initiatives to build leadership capacity within the dance sector, independent choreographer Adelina Larsson Mendoza - with experience of supporting other artists and initiating sector development projects - was invited to be Associate Artist for 2017-2019.
Adelina has contributed to the curations of CP's programs like Interchange Festival - Political Body (2017) a weekend of international and intercultural exchange with choreographers working across and between cultures. Political Body deal with the body as the place of agency – creating works that discuss marginalised communities, socio-political landscapes, climate change and body politics. Presenting artists: Rosalind Crisp (France/Aus), Rhiannon Newton (Sydney) and Bhenji Ra (Sydney).
She also guest edited CP's quarterly e-journal Critical Dialogues Issue 10 - No Body featuring contributions by choreographers Geumhyung Jeong (South Korea), Vania Gala (UK/Angola), Nadja Hjorton (SWE), Lz Dunn (AUS) and Sarah Hoboult (AUS). The issue incorporates practitioner reflections, academic excerpts and interviews presenting a rich collective montage of writing that draws parallels between timely feminist, queer, disability and artistic concerns.
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Adelina's main research as curator has been looking into new models of curating collaborative labs for professional artists. She is experimenting with alternative platforms, methodologies and vocabularies alongside invited artists Rebecca Conroy, Rhiannon Newton, Amelia McQueen, Anthony Coxeter and CP's director, Claire Hicks.
The most recent lab produced by Adelina was the Choreographic Lab - Hacking the Anthropocene which was a partnership between Strange Attractor, Critical Path, presented by the Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences) and Sydney Festival.
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Strange Attractor is concerned with bringing together artist practitioner critical thinking leaders’ from experimental practice and interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary forms in process based practice and critical discourse. This innovative interdisciplinary practice and approach is key to extending and expanding the world and work of our artists and demonstrates the reasons that Adelina was selected by CP as Associate Artist.
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ReadyMade Works - Co-Director (Caretaker)
ReadyMade Works is the artist-led home for independent dance in Sydney—run by artists, for artists. A multi-purpose studio venue dedicated to providing affordable rehearsal space for Sydney's performing artists, we provide subsidised studio hire and host a comprehensive program of regular classes, workshops, artist residencies and performances.
Adelina was the Co-Director of ReadyMade 2018-2019 alongside Rhiannon Newton and curated and produced residencies, events, workshops, developed partnerships with institutions, organisations and community and designed their new website and digital material.
Adelina works nationally on Big hART projects, contributing to creative direction of our outputs with a range of interdisciplinary skills. Using her background in dance, curation and education, Adelina works in community delivering mentoring and creative skill building through choreography, associate direction and confidence building. Adelina began working with Big hART Yijala Yala Project in 2014 as a choreographer for Hipbone Sticking Out, and has since been expanding her skill base to contribute to the artistic direction of the company.