PICA partnered with STRUT Dance to present Restore, a dynamic double bill of new and recent dance works that highlighted innovation and cross-regional collaboration. In 2025, Restore featured Bell, a new choreographic commission from Adelina Larsson Mendoza, and the West Australian premiere of CUDDLE by Harrison Ritchie-Jones.
In CUDDLE, two of Melbourne’s rising contemporary dance artists, Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Michaela Tancheff, engaged in a difficult and dynamic duel filled with surreal sonic and visual surprises. Weaving contemporary dance with elements from martial arts, figure skating, rodeo barnyard dance, and a host of more abstract inspirations, CUDDLE ebbed and flowed from the joyful and absurd to the inventive and technically brilliant.
Bell was a new solo performance and the latest instalment in Min Folkdans, an ongoing archival research project and choreographic collection by Adelina Larsson Mendoza. Drawing from Larsson Mendoza’s Swedish-Mexican family history, Min Folkdans unfolded as a personal, political, and historical meditation on the folk dances that had shaped her imagination.
For audiences, the program offered the opportunity to experience dance works that shared formal and conceptual threads, creating a dialogue between diverse artistic visions. For the artists, Restore facilitated deeper personal and creative connections across the region, fostering a spirit of exchange and collaboration.
In its second iteration, Restore responded to the growing demand for sustainability in choreographic practices. The initiative emphasised the importance of light production design, supporting independent dance practices with a model that enabled greater mobility of works. Restore aimed to create sustainable pathways for dance to thrive, evolve, and reach a broader audience.
Restore was presented by STRUT Dance, in association with PICA, and was assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body; the State of Western Australia through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries; and STRUT Movers, our generous and supportive donors.
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