Kay Armstrong
Kay graduated from West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1988. Since moving to Sydney in 1989 Kay has worked professionally as a dancer and actor in theatre, film, television, theatre-in-education, corporate theatre and street theatre.
She has been seen in T.V commercials, feature film and theatre
From 1991- 1996 Kay formed her own duo dance theatre company, Halex Vargus, and with the support of both state and federal funding, toured the company and her work nationally and overseas.
Kay began exploring making and performing solo work in 1997 and has to date produced three full-length solo productions and numerous short solo works. These pieces have been performed in festivals both nationally and overseas.
She had a long-standing relationship with One Extra Dance Company performing with them originally in 1990 then returning in 2000 as an affiliated artist. Kay joined One Extra in several projects as a performer and three solo productions as choreographer / performer.
In 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Robert Helpmann Scholarship. The scholarship afforded her one-year of professional development, during this time she travelled overseas participating in workshops and choreographic laboratories in Italy, Brussels, Amsterdam. England and France.
In 2006 Kay re-joined Dean Walsh’s project BACK FROM FRONT, toured her solo work to Dancehouse as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, continued her choreographic investigations with a Critical Path research dance film project and was invited to partake in the Thierry de Mey dance film workshop hosted by Reeldance and Critical Path.
She also choreographed works for the BA Dance course at UNSW and Stella Maris College. She also joined a collaborative team of independent artists in the development of a new site-specific production for the Historic Houses Trust.
At the beginning of this 2007 Kay was appointed Artistic Director of pulse8, a youth dance company committed to providing a platform for emerging, talented young dancers and dance makers. Since becoming Artistic Director with pulse8 in 2007, Kay has produced four public seasons, two outdoor festival events, two education programs and mentored one emerging artist and nurtured and supported over forty young aspiring dancers
In October 2007 Kay performed a solo work in the inaugural Short and Sweet Dance Festival, taking out the Judges Choice Award for outstanding choreography / performance. She was appointed 2007 Artist Representative on the board of the peak dance research organization of NSW, Critical Path, and was also voted one of Australia’s most interesting artist’s by Dance Australia Magazine, as part of the 2007 Dance Australia Critic’s Survey.
In 2008 Kay was invited by DirtyFeet, an independent dance collective, to remount her work Full Cup Steady Hand which was performed in August as part of their sell-out season Under The Weather. She was also invited to sit on their board for 2008/ 2009.
In 2009 she moves on from pulse8 and launches her new independent youth dance company youMove.
The company will be supported in part by Western Sydney Dance Action under the umbrella of Riverside Theatre, Parramatta and will have its home in the new Connect Studios in the heart of Western Sydney.
Over the last seventeen years Kay has taught in both private and tertiary institutions including – UWS Nepean, UNSW, ACPE, Brent St Studios, Sydney Dance Company, Ausdance professional classes. Kay is a well-respected independent dance artist and is a committed and prolific member of the NSW dance community. She continues to champion the art form by becoming involved in the many facets of the dance community from creating, producing, mentoring, to teaching.
