Ainslie Allan
Ainslie Allan (they/them) – fka. Daisy Sanders – is a Boorloo dance, experimental and community artist (WAAPA BA Arts Dance 2013, Honours 2017). Their practice is grounded in enduring collaborations with interdisciplinary artists and intentionally building positive, radically real creative ecologies. Protracted experience of chronic illness led Ainslie to develop a rest-focused movement method and deeply considered approach to artistic leadership that is sustainable, accessible and caring. Ainslie’s choreographic work is based in improvisation (body/voice/writing), re-imagines audience paradigms and prioritises collective experience and energetic exchange. They are passionate about integrating somatic intelligence with socio-political awareness and believe wholeheartedly that dance and deep listening enables transformative art and change in our world.
Ainslie was University of Otago’s 2023 Caroline Plummer Fellow (Aotearoa), company artist with Sensorium Theatre (2016–2023), pvi collective (2024) and the 2025 Artistic Director of Stompin Youth Dance. Their original works include CALL (STRUT and PICA 2026), A Resting Mess (2016–current), Night Dancing (2020-current), Womb for World Weeping (STRUT Dance Situ8:CITY 2022) and Room to Rest (Arts Centre Melbourne’s inaugural Alter State Festival, 2021). Ainslie’s artistic values and practice have been shaped by powerful working relationships with Teac Damsa (Ireland), Geoff Sobelle (USA), Ros Crisp (Vic), Pilar Mata Dupont (Netherlands/WA), Jo Pollitt, Joshua Pether, Steamworks Arts and Tone List (all WA) among others. Ainslie is currently dancing with new layers in their creative approach via poetry, live vocalisation / loop pedal and lived-experience grapplings with gender fluidity and disability.
