CAST

Winston Morrison

BEACON

Producer, Composer, Choreographer

Known as a leader for tap dance in Australia, Winston Morrison is the founder of Melbourne Tap Dance (tap performance and education) and now the annual Australian Tap Dance Festival.

Winston is tap columnist for Dance-Train magazine, writes and presents instructionals for Dance-Infoma magazine, and is the Australian community representative of the Internataional Tap Association. He is sponsored by Capezio, performed solo at the New York City Tap Festival, the Montreal Tap Festival, and has guest taught at New York's Broadway Dance Centre and Jason Coleman's Ministry of Dance.

With a musical ear and eye for aesthetics and musical ear, Winston’s tap style is rhythmically rich, visually dynamic and soulful. His own style and approach is influenced by the old time greats and contemporary tap leaders including Grant Swift, Ted Levy, Dianne "Lady Di" Walker, Barbara Duffy, Ayodele Casel, Omar Edwards, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Dr. Bunny Briggs, Ivery Wheeler, Jared Grimes, Jason Samuels Smith, Chloe Arnold and Michelle Dorrance. His study of the tap legends and passion for taking people to the next level (empowering through knowledge he has picked up from teachers and years of his own discoveries) is what makes him one of the best people to learn from.

Also a pianist, he has a deep understanding of music which he brings to the dance. Winston has the unique ability to make tap dancers look and sound impressive.

Winston is currently choreographing, composing and performing in "Beacon - the musical", which aims to bring tap to a wider audience. In the past Winston has appeared on television and radio specifically to represent tap on shows like ABC’s Studio 3, Australia’s Got Talent, 1700 show, Eastside FM, performed at festivals including the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, St Kilda Festival, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Spiegeltent, "Australia's Got Tap!", "Rhythm in Motion" (Australian Tap Dance Festivals), Clayton Street Festival, Sydney Road Music Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Los Angeles Tap Festival, New York City Tap Festival, shows including Sammi D - a Jazz Tap musical by Shonah Honeyhill Sonko, Parisian Rendezvous, Immersed Dance Industry Night, Underground Summer, Titanic Theatre Restaurant, A Chorus Line, My One & Only, fashion shows and appeared in Commonwealth Bank's "You Can Tap" campaign.

Kricket Forster

SPARK

Playwright, Lyricist, Choreographer

Kricket has been dancing since the age of 5, studying tap, jazz, ballet, and musical theatre extensively in Queensland. She spent many years competing at national and international levels with some very high achievements including 3rd in the Showcase National Comp ‘Dancer of the Year’ 2002, Runner Up in USA National Dance Tournament ‘International Queen of Dance’ 2003 and 3rd in the Capezio® Dance-Off at the Australian Tap Dance Festival 2012.

Kricket was accepted into the Drama Bachelor of Arts course at QUT in Brisbane where she studied acting. At the same time, she also taught for well established dance schools for two years where she realised that her true passion lay in teaching and choreography. This prompted her to take up teaching full time, which she has been doing ever since.

Kricket had the honour of performing and working with Brisbane based dance group Raw Dance Company. She has also been blessed to not only have benefitted from the mentorship of, but called upon to assist in the teaching of choreography with former So You Think You Can Dance choreographer, Adam Williams. Kricket is currently teaching at several dance schools around Melbourne and performing with Melbourne Tap Dance since 2012 at events including Immersed Dance Industry Night, Short n Sweet Dance Festival and St Kilda Festival. Kricket has recently had her voice heard in the dance industry through a publication of her article 'Don't Just Dance - Perform!' in Dancetrain & Dancehub Magazines.

Kricket has always had a love for the written word and for dramatic arts, which is what lead her to write her first musical script, BEACON . She is overjoyed to have the opportunity to share her vision with audiences in Melbourne.

David Clisby

Director

DAVID CLISBY has been in the entertainment industry for 40 years; highlights include working as movement director in Australia and Europe for award winning ensemble theatre company Triad Stage Alliance and playing title roles in over 600 performances in major European touring productions of Macbeth and Hamlet.

David has acted in, directed and produced numerous other plays and musicals and worked as an actor in countless TV commercials, films and TV shows David has conducted acting classes for children, adults and professional actors and has often directed or written a show for his students. In 2009 he directed a critically acclaimed production of “Romeo and Juliet” for M&M Productions’. Between 1996 and 2006 David also worked in every major venue in Melbourne, in some capacity, on the technical side of many Opera, Ballet and major musical productions which came to Melbourne.

I often describe myself as “an adventurer looking for treasure” and in the next offering from MELBOURNE TAP DANCE called BEACON THE MUSICAL I have certainly found it. These guys are going to light up the dance floor!

Ruben George

NICKEL

Ruben is a mysterious and talented person. His deep understanding of life, creativity and the human disfunction sees him getting involved with many beautiful and inspiring new creative ventures.

He is very happy to be a part of the 2014 production of Beacon and believes that the show will be an inspiration to many people.

Ella Lehaf

LOCK

Ella has a background in film and music industries and more recently event management. Ella has been producing the annual Australian Tap Dance Festival since 2012, is the event manager for Melbourne Tap Dance Crew and has recently launched her own self-care blog Happy Self.

Ella started tap dancing in her teens and currently trains under Winston Morrison who is at the forefront of tap dance in Australia. Through her recent travels she has undertaken masterclassses with contemporary leaders of tap dance including Derick K Grant, Ayodele Casel, Thomas Wadelton, Sarah Reich, Travis Knights and tap dancing masters Arthur Duncan and Ethel Bruneau. She is inspired by tap legends such as Gregory Hines, Harold Nicholas and Donald O’Connor.Ella enjoys passing on famous tap routines like the Copasetic’s Chair Dance, B.S Chorus, the Shim Sham, and has performed with Melbourne Tap Dance at corporate and public events throughout Victoria.

A highlight of her career was performing Harold Cromer's Opus 1 with the Australian Tap Dance Festival Faculty in 2013. She is excited to be part of creating the new tap dance musical, Beacon and bringing it to the stage.

Jordan Ortt

RIVET / THE SCAVENGER

Jordan has had a fruitful dance career as a part of the dance cast on several Carnival Cruise Line ships sailing from a number of different cities in the USA spanning over 4 years. Upon his return to Australia, he became a member of Melbourne Tap Dance Crew. He has since performed with them at events such as the Australian Tap Dance Festival show 'Rhythm in Motion and St Kilda Festival.

Jordan studied tap, jazz, ballet and musical theatre in Queensland throughout his childhood. Playing leading roles in Bundaberg Players Inc productions he honed his acting skills and he also found his way into the top 80 of So You Think You Can Dance's 2nd Australian Season.

Jordan is excited to have his tap shoes back on in order to bring the character of RIVET to life for this production of BEACON THE MUSICAL.

Amelia Homes

TINKER

Amelia joined Melbourne Tap Dance in 2012, and has sinced performed with them at Wangaratta Jazz Festival, St Kilda Fest and Melbourne Dance Industry nights bringing tap to the stage. Amelia is a graduate of APO Arts Academy (Dance World), achieving her Advanced Diploma of Dance and Certificate in Musical Theatre, during her training Amelia was awarded a number of scholarships and the Distinction Award. Growing up in Adelaide she trained at the Barbara Jayne Dance Centre and was part of the interstate training program of the Australian Ballet School.

Amelia has performed in three Magnormos productions including HELLO, DOLLY! (JERRY HERMAN TRIPTYCH), OZMADE MUSICALS 2011 (FLINDERS STREET – A SWING DANCE MUSICAL) and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE (A SONDHEIM TRIPTYCH), as well as various children production’s LOONEY TUNES LIVE! CLASSROOM CAPERS (Marilla productions), SESAME STREET- ELMO’S WORLD TOUR (Life Like Touring) and HAIRY MACLARY (Andrew Kay & Associates.)

Rachel King

CHAIN

Rachel began dancing as a child at Michelle Rae School of Dance, and developed a strong passion for tap at the age of fifteen while tapping in a school musical.Rachel studied dance full-time for one year at Danceworld Studios before commencing her studies in French and Spanish at Monash University in 2009. She is currently completing her Masters in Translation.

In 2011, Rachel joined Melbourne Tap Dance, learning performance repertoire and teaching classes. She has since performed with the troupe at St. Kilda Festival, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Australian Tap Dance Festival, Red Bennies Cabaret Club, Immersed Dance Industry Night, Underground Summer at Revolt Art Space and the Australia Day Performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Abigail Grace

BLADE

Abigail commenced dancing at the age of three and has trained in a range of dance styles. Her passion for musical theatre led her to complete a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Music Theatre) at the University of Ballarat’s Arts Academy in 2011.

Abigail’s credits include Hairspray (Tracy Turnblad), RENT (Maureen Johnson), Oklahoma! (Dance Captain/Ensemble), Seussical the Musical (Gertrude McFuzz), Singing in the Rain (Ensemble) and Pirates of Penzance (Sergeant of Police). Abigail also had the opportunity to co-write a cabaret called Red Mist which was performed at The Butterfly Club as part of The Other Side of Ego Cabarets. She was also Gabbie the Gargler in the Open Universities Australia commercial.