In a world of uncertainty, we dig deeper—literally. SUB takes you underground, where movement and sound collide with the raw forces of nature.

SUB – A Groundbreaking Contemporary Dance Experience

Touring Nationally with Artback NT: Alice Springs/ Mparntwe, Cairns/ Gimuy, Coffs Harbour/ Garlambirla, Darwin/ Garramilla

Artback NT, GUTS Dance, and Ashleigh Musk are proud to present SUB, a bold and experimental contemporary dance performance that plunges audiences into the very heart of the earth. Premiering at the Araluen Arts Centre, Mparntwe, on May 23, 2025, SUB offers an intense, multi-sensory journey beneath the surface, where the human body interacts with the raw forces of nature and industry.

SUB explores humanity’s complex relationship with the earth in a time of ecological crisis. As our surface world bears the weight of environmental and societal challenges, we descend into soil and stone—seeking shelter and survival. This performance combines body, sound, objects, and lighting to create a visceral world where pressure builds, the earth shifts, and its inhabitants navigate an underground realm full of both terror and beauty.

Choreographed by Ashleigh Musk, SUB reveals the stark contrasts of life beneath the earth’s surface—wet versus dry, hot versus cold, soft versus strong. Joined by dancers Frankie Snowden, Madeleine Krenek, and Jennie Large, Musk takes audiences on a journey of endurance, resilience, and quiet defiance. Together, they encounter precious materials and breathe new life into discarded objects, learning to care for one another and the environment they inhabit.

Performance warning
Recommended for ages 14+
Please note that this production contains extremely loud noises, including a potentially distressing siren sound during one specific section.
Audiences are provided with earplugs.
Contains some sexual references and smoke and haze effects.

This tour has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and proudly supported by the Northern Territory Government, Arts NT.

Follow the artist

GUTS DANCE:

Mparntwe based GUTS Dance is a hub for high calibre artistic engagement and the only platform for contemporary dance within a 1500km radius. Founded in 2018 by dance artists Frankie Snowdon and Madeleine Krenek, GUTS is recognised as a centre for artistic growth and excellence, championing courage, community and collaboration as tools to create genuinely transformative art. At GUTS we build resilience and recognition & grow dance practices within a regional and remote context while maintaining dialogue and collaborating with other metropolitan and regional practitioners. We believe fi ercely in the decentralisation of our artistic economies and elevation of art created throughout this country.

Concept & choreography: Ashleigh Musk, in collaboration with the entire team.

Performers: Madeleine Krenek, Frankie Snowdon, Jenni Large and Ashleigh Musk.

Sound Design and Performance: Anna Whitaker

Lighting & Spatial Design: Jen Hector

Dramaturgy & Concept Development: Pierce Eldridge & Léuli Eshrāghi

Costume Design: Elliat Rich

Costume Manufacturer: Lizzie Verstappen

Choreographic Intern: Toni Lord

Ashleigh Musk

Ashleigh Musk (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, dramaturg and community arts facilitator based in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in so-called Australia. Her practice engages in sensitive interactions with place and landscape, unearthing physicalities which re-imagine the body in relation to the ecological crises of our time. She generates art which invites audiences to acknowledge a co-existence with the more-than-human world. Radical care is expressed through experiments in time, participation and experimental use of objects, each work acquiring and growing into a unique sensorial ecosystem.

Madeleine Krenek

Madeleine Krenek (she/her) – Originally from New Zealand, Madeleine Krenek is an Mparntwe based dance artist who works broadly across dance in performance, choreography, teaching and community engagement. She is the co-founder and director of GUTS Dance, an Mparntwe based organisation and platform for contemporary dance investigation, creation, training, and performance. Prior to GUTS, Madeleine worked for a variety of companies and independent choreographers in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Madeleine believes that dance is for EVERY body and is an important driver of human connection and experience. She is passionate about and dedicated to supporting and celebrating the discovery of the body’s endless potential.

Frankie Snowdon

Frankie Snowdon (she/her) – is a founder and Co-Director of GUTS Dance, based in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. Born and raised in her desert home, her work as a dance artist spans performance, choreography, teaching, community based projects, program creation and facilitation and sector advocacy. Frankie has worked extensively throughout Australia and abroad, mainly on Independent projects and platforms that champion experimental and diverse artistic expression. Frankie has a passion for dance education and opportunities for young people, creating locally based programs for marginalised young people. She believes fi ercely in bravery, risk, community and collaboration as tools for the development of great art and empowered societies, the importance of regionally based practice, and advocacy and representation in the arts and beyond.

Jenni Large

Jenni Large (she/her) – is based in Kanamaluka/Launceston and works as a dancer, teacher and award-winning choreographer across so-called Australia. Driven by the personal, political and transformative forces of embodiment, Jenni’s dancing practice incorporates objects and apparatus, endeavouring to meld experimental with entertaining.Jenni has performed extensively throughout Australia and internationally with artists and companies including; Tasdance, Dancenorth, Legs On The Wall, GUTS Dance, SA Opera/Leigh Warren and Ashleigh Musk. She has presented her choreographic work at festivals and venues including; Mona Foma, Ten Days On The Island, Ohm Festival Brisbane Powerhouse, Dancehouse and Carriage Works both as an independent artist and through commissions from Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Collective and the Keir Choreographic Award. Jenni’s recent independent choreographic works ‘Body Body Commodity’ Mona Foma 2022 and ‘Wet Hard Long’ Dancehouse 2024 both received 5 star Arts Hub reviews. Last year, Jenni was honoured to receive a Chloe Munro Fellowship and participate in Asia Link’s Singapore Arts Now exchange as a creative associate with Tasdance.

Anna Whitaker 

Anna Whitaker (she/her) – is a multi award-winning Meanjin/Brisbane based sound designer and composer with a palate for experimental, acousmatic works and surround sound composition. She graduated from Queensland Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music Technology, and since has designed and composed for productions including MONA FOMA, Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Company, The Farm, Tasdance, Stompin’, Aha Ensemble, La Boite Theatre Company, Brisbane Festival, Bleach* Festival, HOTA Gold Coast, Festival 2018, Vulcana Circus and Playlab. Anna received the 2020/2021 and 2019 Matilda Award for Best Sound Design for her work on Michael Smith’s ‘Cowboy’ and The Farm’s ‘Throttle’ respectively.

Jenny Hector 

Jenny Hector (she/her) – Jenny’s designs are driven by strong collaborations and the spaces they fi nd themselves in. Her work with GUTS Dance includes Desert Hothouse, The Perception Experiment and The Lost Dance Party. She is the recipient of two Green Room awards and the 2016 Technical Achievement Award. She has been nominated for lighting for Wilks, Dee and Cornelius’s RUNT, Fraught Outfi t’s Exodus II, Prue Lang’s Stellar, Sandra Parker’s Out of Light, while Jo Lloyd’s Overture and Jodee Mundy’s Imagined Touch received Green Room Awards for Best Production, both of which Jenny realised the lighting and set designs.

Elliat Rich

Elliat Rich (she/her) – For Elliat, the design process is a creative translation between materials and culture, alive to a broader context of power and social value. Lead by curiosity, enriched through wonder and always calling on the possibilities of the imagination. Elliat is based in Alice Springs, Central Australia. She works across a broad-spectrum of design for a diverse client base, remotely, locally and nationally. Her practice covers cross-cultural resources, exhibition design, public art and furniture, product development, one-off exhibition and editioned objects. All projects align with an ethical imperative to increase equality between people and across species, now and into the future.

Pierce Eldridge

Pierce Eldridge (she/her) – is a curator, dramaturg and writer based in London, originally from Meanjin (Brisbane) of so-called Australia. She has been involved in various projects for Camden Art Centre, El Warcha, Studio Scilicet with artist Sougwen Chung, Studio Wayne McGregor, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Darwin Festival, Bleach Festival, NextDoor ARI, Modern Times, Worms Magazine, MAP Magazine, Fortifi ed Journal, Gillian Jason Gallery, Antiuniversity Now, and Pop Up North Queensland Festival. They are a Distinction graduate of MA Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London.