Media Release Archive
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
NICA announces national auditions for 2014 circus degree
Media Release 01 Aug 2013
$12.9 million funding agreement to secure NICA’s long term future
Media Release 26 Jul 2013
Swinburne responds to questions by NICA students
Media Release 11 Jul 2013
An Open Letter to the NICA Community by Swinburne VC, Prof Linda Kristjanson
Media Release 04 Jul 2013
Swinburne and NICA welcome Commonwealth support for circus arts
Media Release 14 Mar 2013
Leap of Faith: Circus in Motion
Media Release 19 Feb 2013
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2012
2011
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2009
NICA Presents Please Hold: Third Year Ensemble Show
The National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) presents
PLEASE HOLD
Directed by Kate Champion
Wed 29 November – Sat 9 December
Australia’s next generation of circus talents will be on show when the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) presents PLEASE HOLD – from 29 November to 9 December. PLEASE HOLD examines the social mediums that bind and isolate – from the invasive qualities of social media, to the rigid expectations of social etiquette – looking deeper into how community rules are created and challenged; and what happens when we don’t measure up to expectations.
PLEASE HOLD will showcase NICA’s final year circus artists – all incredible elite performers – with high-level circus skills: from competitive hand balancing and intricately coordinated tumbling, to extreme flexibility and highly tuned acrobatics. Performers will traverse a maze of ropes, straps and poles testing their stamina and agility to the limit. Through humour and insightful observations, PLEASE HOLD will dig into the impulse that drives these young adults to shun a 'normal' life and push their discipline and focus to its limit in pursuit of something out of the ordinary, something rare and exceptional.
Elite NICA performers include Nelson Smyles, who recently accepted a contract to perform hoop diving in Cirque du Soleil’s production Luzia next year; Isaac Lawry an adagio and hand balancing expert who’s trained at renowned Shaolin Kung Fu in China; multi-talented Jessie McKibbin winner of the Victorian Apprentice of the Year for her career in abseil painting, now specialising in roue Cyr, dance trapeze and fire manipulation; and Katie Martin, who fell in love with Chinese pole acrobatics at the age of eight (after seeing Cirque Du Soleil’s show Saltimbanco), and is currently completing her PADI Dive Master Ticket, aspiring to become a scuba diver in water-based circus shows.
PLEASE HOLD is directed by the incomparable Kate Champion, who’s worked as a director, choreographer, teacher and performer for over 30 years – with art organisations including Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company, NIDA, The English National Opera, Australian Theatre for Young People, Dance North, Vitalstatistix, The Australian Dance Theatre, DV8 Physical Theatre (London), and many more. In 2011 Kate directed Not In A Million Years which won a 2012 Helpmann Award for Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production – and in 2004 she choreographed the world premiere production of DIRTY DANCING which is currently being performed in London’s West End, Europe and North America.
Media Release 20 Oct 2017

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PLEASE HOLD is directed by the incomparable Kate Champion, who’s worked as a director, choreographer, teacher and performer for over 30...
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Media Release 20 Oct 2017
An ensemble circus performance
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Media Release 18 Aug 2017
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