Let’s dance Dunedin

During a year of stunning professional highs, this year’s Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance with the University of Otago is seeking to share his joy of dance with people in his hometown.

Later this year, Jeremy Beck will invite members of the Ōtepoti community to develop a dance work titled Project Momentum alongside himself and four other professional dancers, culminating in a public performance on Labour Weekend, Sunday 25 October.

“It’s a good recipe – it’s super rewarding for us dancers with experience to get this fresh energy, and the community participants love to come in and have these really grounding presences who are comfortable in the space. It’s that weird thing where one of the best things you can do to learn is dance with someone who is really good at it. You can learn so much,” Jeremy says.

Project Momentum builds on an earlier work, Commentary Of Dreaming, that Jeremy produced for the 2025 Dunedin Arts Festival. That work featured six of Aotearoa’s finest contemporary dancers alongside 15 non-dance-trained friends of Jeremy, performing on stage in Dunedin’s Regent Theatre.

“My friends loved it – it gave the work so much more meaning, watching them enjoy it. They still talk about it as a top life experience. That’s what I love about community work,” Jeremy says.

“You get the extremes at the shows – this person dancing from their enjoyment, with no technical baggage, and then someone with all the technical training. I love how gobsmacked people can be watching a professional dancer – they can be enthralled inspired, then give them space to do what they want as well.”

Two of the dancers will come from Footnote Dance Company, and two from Atamira Dance – both highly respected professional dance companies that Jeremy has previously danced with.

Senior Teaching Fellow in Dance, School of Performing Arts, Sofia Kalogeropoulou is a key host to the Fellow during their time at Otago and has been enjoying collaborating with Jeremy.

“I'm absolutely thrilled to have Jeremy as the Fellow this year. His energy is contagious and his creativity has no limits. He is 'restless' and constantly comes up with yet another project that will bring the dance community, professionals and non-dancers together. This really cuts to heart of the Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance and brings to the fore Caroline's vision of embracing diversity through dance,” Sofia says.

Dance Ōtepoti has contributed funding to make the October event part of their Spring Season, and Jeremy has received a Community Access Grant from Dunedin Venues to secure the Glenroy Auditorium for the final performance.

This is a great opportunity for Jeremy’s hometown audience to see – and for some to be part of – the work of this acclaimed dancer and choreographer, whose career has been soaring.

Now, he is back in Dunedin for a dance film, calling for 50 participants to rehearse over July and then participate in filming.

“Movement is the only language we have to define what community dance is and why people do it. In the film, I want to highlight Dunedin and who we are, because people forget about Dunedin, I think, especially dance-wise and I want the film to be celebrating what is here,” Jeremy says.

Jeremy will also give a dance performance, Sunday, Roaming, at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Sunday 26 July, 11:30am. This is a free public event that all are welcome to attend.

Jeremy recently completed the return season of Modern God, which he directed and choreographed with Footnote NZ Dance. Premiering in 2025 to critical acclaim, this return season saw 11 shows across Wellington, Hastings and Kerikeri and there are hopes to go international next year.

In Modern God, six influencers collide in a high-energy dance-theatre work exploring fame, consumerism, and our digital obsessions.

Jeremy is delighted, and a little surprised by the work’s popularity.

“I thought it was going to flop, because it was so different, but people really seem to love it.”

Straight from that tour, Jeremy joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet for their choreographic season Voyages. In a quick, collaborative process of two-and-a-half weeks, Jeremy was invited as a guest choreographer to make a short, 10-minute work, of three performances.

Next is the World of Wearable Art (WOW), the world’s biggest wearable art competition that culminates in a large stage show including elaborate choreographed performances. Jeremy has danced in six WOW events and was involved as a choreographer in a short-term cover role last year.

This year, he is a full choreographer for the season.

“Anything that’s got two legs on stage is in our domain.”

Jeremy says the Caroline Plummer Fellowship has hugely supported him to explore his practice, particularly community dance. He says Dunedin has a rich contemporary dance scene, strengthened by the Fellowship, that he is proud to be contributing to.

“I’m excited to shake things up and curate events that feel fresh, engaging and unexpected. Whether as participants moving in a workshop or as audience members engaging with performance, I would like people to feel a new sense of discovery and appreciation for dance.”

-Kōrero Antonia Wallace, Communications Advisor | Kaiarataki Pārokoroko