Hello Beautiful!
Hang on, I mean,
Hello I’m beautiful, I’m Max.
Max McAuley is a dancer and artist who has been a principal performer for Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre since its inception in 2010. Max has participated in various dance workshops led by Phillip Channels including the Catalyst Dance Masterclass Series in Sydney in 2011, 2015 and 2016; Beyond Technique Residency held at Bundanon Trust on the NSW south coast in 2012 and the Corner Dance Lab in Federal in 2014. Since 2018, Max has been involved in the making of Of Boys and Men, project led by Paul Gazzola from Open Space Contemporary Arts (OSCA) based in Adelaide. This project is entering its final stages of development before being pitched for touring.
Max has had leading roles in all Sprung!!’s major works with whom he has toured in Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle and Grafton. He has undertaken a leadership/mentoring role with the junior dancers. He has facilitated dance workshops at Mullumbimby High School and has led online Dance Parties for Sprung!! as well as leading community workshops in Hip Hop.
As a member of Sprung!! Max has been a finalist in the Australian Dance Awards Outstanding Community Dance category in 2017 and 2018. In 2018 he and another principal dancer performed at the awards ceremony. In 2017, Max was the subject of a short film by Karenza Ebejer which was aired on ABC iView and screened at Byron Bay Flickerfest.
As an Ensemble member of Sprung!!, in late 2021 Max had the opportunity to work with a mentor to explore a genre of dance that particularly interested him. He was fortunate to spend several weeks working with local artist Zoe Appleblossom to create a Japanese inspired piece working with fans, parasols and kimonos. The techniques he learned were then integrated into a development of his Drag character Maxine from the 2019 Sprung!! production French Café for the remount of the show in 2022.
In 2021, Max was approached by Australia’s Got Talent to apply for a live audition and was accepted. The season was cancelled due to Covid, but he featured in the televised live auditions in October 2022.
For the past 10 months, Max has been working privately with a local Bollywood Artist Zerina Millard with whom he created a piece for some flash mob performances that he performed in collaboration with The Bollywood Sisters at Woodford in December 2022/January 2023. He has continued to work with Zerina and was invited to perform two pieces (Bollywood and Drag) at The Golden Pineapple Awards in Newcastle at the end of June 2023.
He is also working with Gold Coast Artist Che Pritchard to create a One Man Show that will showcase the many sides of Max and his talent for performance across a number of performance and dance genres including Contemporary, Disco, Hip Hop, Drag and Comedy.
Max has also spent the last 10 years working as a ceramic artist with a mentor in Wilson’s Creek. Max is a regular participant in the North Coast Mud Trail where he displays and sells his beautiful, unique pieces.
Max’s latest artistic passion is for photography. He has been working with a support worker and professional photographer for the past few months creating a portfolio of photographic works that he hopes to use to inform his dance performances in the future.
Max has big aspirations to take his work to a broad audience and celebrate his passion for Dance, Performance, Diversity and Life.