The Street Dance Exchange is a fresh collaboration between The Substation (Western Melbourne) and PYT Fairfield (Western Sydney). Supported by Creative Australia’s Creative Futures Fund, this exchange brings together Efren Pamilacan, Eliam Royalness, Feras Shaheen, Gusta Mara, Jamaica Moana and Troi-Saraih Ilsley with producing partner Intimate Spectacle. The Street Dance Exchange builds a foundation for a major new work, sharing the collective and individual experiences from the lead artists and their communities.
LEAD ARTISTS
Efren Pamilacan
Eliam Royalness
Feras Shaheen
Gusta Mara
Jamaica Moana
Troi-Saraih Ilsley
GUEST ARTISTS
Trace Trinh
Jamane Virdo
Artemiz
Jahra Wasasala
Ooshcon
COLLABORATORS
Guy Faletolu
Elekis Teirney
Kuya Neil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Gabi Quinsacara
DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
18-22 June 2025
20 October-7 November 2025
17 April-1 May 2026
THE ARTISTS
Efren Pamilacan
Efren Pamilacan is a dance artist and independent producer of Filipino ancestry, a settler on the unceded lands of the Kulin nations. His work crosses cultural and social spheres intersecting between hip-hop culture, underground dance forms and the contemporary arts sector; and aims to create space for new dance communities to thrive. As a dancer and dance maker, Efren is a member of the Jigsaw Sneakers collective and founder of City Sessions street dance battle. As a cultural leader, Efren supports independent artists and collectives as the artistic director of Cypher Culture – a cultural arts organisation empowering street dance and its communities.
Instagram @ef__
Eliam Royalness
Eliam Royalness is a choreographer & performer based in Sydney’s south-west and has been creating dance works since his teenage years. With the influence of his Polynesian heritage and his raw training in various street dance styles, Eliam has a strong sense of purpose and direction with the work he creates and presents. Combined with his calm character quality and respectful yet diverse take on performance, Eliam has a unique viewpoint
on dance.
Facebook.com/eliamroyalnessdance
Youtube.com/eliamroyalness
Instagram @eliamroyalness
Feras Shaheen
Feras Shaheen is a Palestinian artist, curator and community organiser currently based in Nipaluna. Feras is also the co-president of TPAN (Tasmanian Palestine Advocacy Network). He is curious in letting his conceptual interests lead him across a variety of mediums. Working with choreography, installation work, film, performance, design, and street dance to communicate his ideas, the core of Feras’ practice is to connect and engage audiences. He seeks to bring activism into his art practice, with outcomes that are accessible and community centred. Holding a Bachelor of Design from Western Sydney University (2014), Feras often subverts traditional relationships between mediums to challenge audiences’ perspectives, specifically to disrupt colonial discourses and reduce western reliance on neutrality and apathy.
Born to Palestinian parents (Gaza/Al Lid), and moving to Western Sydney at age 11, Feras engages with his practice as a way to reflect and examine how he views the world, addressing local and global issues. Winner of The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer (TEC) in 2021, Feras has performed and exhibited at Carriageworks, Venice Biennale, Pari, Kampnagel, AGNSW, and Théâtre de la Ville. Recent works include ‘Art Festival’, ‘Humanising’, ‘Al Pheniq’, ‘Sharing Histories’ and ‘Dance Dance Intifada’.
Website ferasshaheen.com.au
Instagram @fezshaheen
Gusta Mara
Gusta Mara an Angamudthi and Atembiya man from the tip of Cape York Queensland and also a Goba, Argun, Wagadagam and Kaurareg man from the Inner and Western islands of the Torres Strait.
An Indigenous artist and creator, proud and committed to representing my culture on an eclectic range of projects and educational
programs.
I’ve worked across diverse projects, varying in scale and artform and work collaboratively with Directors and Choreographers to deliver their vision, whilst being committed to excellence.
Instagram @gusta.mara
Jamaica Moana
Jamaica Moana is a non-binary Māori (Ngāpuhi/Tainui) and Samoan artist, rapper, and creative director based in Sydney, Australia, known for blending ancestral culture with rap, R&B, and soul. They are also a prominent leader and commentator in the Australian ballroom community, where they co-founded The West Ball to create a safe space for queer, trans, and BIPOC creatives.
Instagram @jamaicamoana
Troi-Saraih Ilsley
Troi-Saraih Ilsley is a proud Wamba Wamba, Gunditjmara and Dja Dja Wurrung multifaceted artist. With a rich background in Traditional Dance and Krump, she blends cultural heritage with modern expression. She’s a member of the Red Ochre Dancers, an all-female Aboriginal Traditional-contemporary dance group. Additionally, Troi-Saraih is involved with Mind Over Mutant, a collective that organises community street dance events in Naarm. Originally from Djandak, she currently resides in Naarm.
Instagram @troisaraih
Top left: Feras Shaheen, Nuala Furtado (The Substation), Harley Stumm (Intimate Spectacle), Eliam Royalness
Bottom left: Efren Pamilacan, Gabriela Green Olea (PYT Fairfield), Gusta Mara, Jacqueline Hornjik (PYT Fairfield), Jamaica Moana, Troi-Saraih Ilsley
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
PYT FAIRFIELD
Championing the next generation of artists, PYT Fairfield creates brave and transformative performance that reflects the rich cultural diversity of Western Sydney. As the region’s only professional youth-focused theatre company, PYT supports emerging artists to develop original work that challenges convention, centres underrepresented voices, and redefines the future of Australian performance on local and global stages.
THE SUBSTATION
Amplifying artworks that transcend form, The Substation’s multi-artform spaces are illuminated with the most urgent contemporary arts to inspire us to refigure problematic histories, imagine possible futures, and forge new connections. The Substation is the nation’s leader in multi-arts and experimental practice. We connect our continent’s most diverse communities in Naarm/Melbourne’s west to the world through a program of international, national and local presentation, development and engagement opportunities.
Image credit: Feras Shaheen
