the MUSIC AND ARTS
EXTRAVAGANZA
holiday camp
The House Music and Arts Extravaganza was a five-day residential camp in Berrigan over the school holidays in April 2023.
This camp offered workshops across multiple music and performance disciplines, including songwriting, drama, costume design and animation.
The week concluded with a camp performance on Friday 21st April, activating the Tuppal Shearing Sheds for the community come together and enjoy an extravagant showcase.
CREATIVE TEAM
Danielle O'Keefe
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Founder and CEO of The House that Dan Built, Danielle is an interdisciplinary contemporary artist whose site-responsive work with young female singers is being recognised and awarded internationally. Danielle has worked in the Arts for over 20 years, beginning her practice as a performer and vocalist. A trained conductor, Danielle finished her studies in 2003 in London, retuning to Sydney to conduct the Australian Youth Choir (AYC) and held that post until 2012 when she left to adventure the great Australian Outback as the Artistic Director of Outback Theatre for Young People.
Helen Dickie
DRAMA TEACHER
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Everyone knows Helen!
Jayden Selvakumaraswamy
SONGWRITING
Jayden is the Artistic Associate at The House. She is an ensemble leader and core artist of the company. She has trained as a classical ballet dancer for ten years, and also has been vocally trained since she was eight. She was a vocalist in Sydney Chamber Opera’s world premier of The Howling Girls in 2018 & 2019 for Tokyo Festival. She performed in the chorus of Angelica Mesiti’s work ASSEMBLY for the Venice Biennale 2019.
Lilli McKenzie
COSTUME DESIGN
Lilli McKenzie is a fashion designer based in Melbourne. Lilli works for HoMie, a social enterprise streetwear brand, where she designs and creates up-cycled fashion using faulty garments and dead-stock. She also has her own fashion practice in which she hand-weaves garments using t-shirt offcuts.
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Ben Stonnill
ACTING
Ben grew up regionally in Jerilderie and moved to Wollongong in 2016 to pursue a career as an actor and performance maker. He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2018 with a Bachelor of Performance where he specialised in voice and movement. During this time, Ben performed original works and well-known plays. Ben's acting credits include performances at the Australian Theatre for Young People, Arts Lab Festival, Merrigong Theatre Company and Kings Cross Theatre.
Now living regionally and mentored by Helen Dickie, Ben has worked on children's productions in Barooga, Tocumwal, Jerilderie and Berrigan.
Isla Mowbray
ANIMATION
Isla is an emerging Sydney-based artist living on Cadigal land with a passion for telling meaningful stories that reflect the joys and hardships of adolescence. She has been deeply committed to storytelling through the practice of theatre. She was the 2021 Vice-president at Sydney University Drama Society, establishing the inaugural SUDS Film Festival as well as overseeing the functioning of the society.
Justine Moyle
DOCUMENTARY
Justine is the inaugural recipient of the She Doc Fellowship Award, recognising emerging female Directors. In Justine’s case she travelled to LA to work with critically acclaimed director, Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel, The Lion’s Mouth, Waste Land, Countdown to Zero.) Her first documentary feature, TALL Poppy: A Skater’s Story premiered in June 2021. A project almost 10 years in the making, the film is a nuanced coming of age story of Poppy Starr Olsen told against the backdrop of the multimillion dollar sport of skateboarding as it emerges on to the Olympic stage. The film had a 2 week theatre run across Australian theatres and was broadcast on the ABC during the Tokyo Olympics.
Soren Goulding
WRITING
Soren is an artist in Sydney who does music and writing things sometimes, and also recently university comedy. Sometimes they are quite good at drawing too, but that one really depends on the day. They have been involved with the House That Dan Built since 2016, and in 2021 they were the House apprentice. Lately though they’ve mostly been working on drawing little cartoons and making zines.
Freya Moore
ASSISTANT
Graduating from NIDA in 2021, Freya Moore is a Sydney based actor and performer with experience in stage, screen and musical theatre. Over the years, Freya has performed in venues including the Sydney Opera House, Joan Sutherland Theatre and the NIDA Theatres, and has competed in Eisteddfods for both drama and voice. Outside of teaching, she continues to train and perform professionally.
Suzanne Hauser
DEVELOPMENT
Suzanne Hauser is a theatre maker, storyteller, dramaturg and teacher, passionate about the development and production of work by and for young people. Suzanne is the development manager at The House specialising in grant writing for the organisation. She develops her work with young people, always staying faithful and respectful to their stories, their concerns and their fascinations.
Zara Lindeman
MUSICIAN
Zara is a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist with a passion for country music. She has a Diploma of Music Industry (Performance) and has been teaching classroom and one-on-one music in the South West Region of NSW. Zara is a recent graduate of the CMAA Academy of Country Music. She performs around the Riverina as a solo artist and as the lead-singer of a band. In late 2022, Zara released her debut single.
Chris Bodey
MUSICIAN
Chris is a lifetime guitarist having begun at age 6. Also plays a bit of piano, a lot of ukulele and teaches all of the above as well classroom music on uke and bucket drums. His passion is to encourage the playing, learning and enjoyment of music to all levels and to all ages of students.
Chris has been a full time musician for the past 35 years and worked as a performer, recording sessions player and teacher throughout southern NSW. Chris is also the programmer for the Deni Ute Muster and Play on the Plains Festivals.
Shelagh Logg
MUSICIAN
Shelagh is a self-proclaimed music junkie with a background in choir leading and community radio. She is a singer and songwriter with an impressive vocal range and a passion for harmonies and vocal arrangements. Her particular areas of interest, besides pretty much anything with a beat, are laid back jazz and blues classics, ballads and anything else that makes her prick up her ears.
Scarlett Gibson-Williams
ASSISTANT
Scarlett Gibson-Williams is a member of the Ensemble at The House That Dan Built. They are a performer, singer, and songwriter. Scarlett has been trained in classical and contemporary voice, and plays the violin and guitar. They trained in ballet (8 years) and contemporary dance (4 years).
ADMINISTRATION TEAM
Kate Butler
REGIONAL OFFICER
Kate Butler is a singer, ukulele player, photographer and film blogger who can be counted on to say yes to just about any creative challenge and doesn’t have to be asked twice when some interpretive dancing is needed. Living on a farm near Deniliquin for 25 Years has taught her the joys of small communities, big skies and open spaces. She is passionate about raising the voices of women and girls and helping them take up space in the world, including her three daughters who help her ‘keep it real’. A recent quiet triumph was her youngest daughter ‘discovering’ that the music Kate loved in the 80s is actually quite cool. For a real job, she works in quality and governance in the non-profit community sector and as often as possible sings in the band Ruby Saltbush.
Annelise Everingham
EMERGING REGIONAL PRODUCER
Annelise Everingham is a regional-based member of The House, training as an emerging producer for The House Extravaganza camp this year. Through her passion for media, she has developed an appreciation of the arts and has gained experience in managing projects as a member of the Youth Leadership Team for the END FM.
The House Music & Arts Extravaganza is part of the Holiday Break program supported by the Office for Regional Youth in partnership with Create NSW.
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