Bott and her architect husband – and their young son – had no firm idea about how long they were likely to stay in Tasmania, unsure of whether it would be a short stint or a longer one.

But there was something about Tasmania that quickly captured their attention – and their hearts.

And almost seven years later the family remains committed to the state, with Bott preparing to launch a new dance company inspired by Tasmania’s unique lifestyle and landscape.

Great Southern Dance is a new Tasmanian-based contemporary dance company, which Bott – the co-founder and artistic director – promises will “present dance performance in new ways for new times” while also integrating choreography with Tasmanian architecture and landscape.

Her small but mighty team of professional dancers did a few small-scale public performances last year while the company was still being established, but 2022 marks the official launch of Great Southern Dance, with the company’s first full-scale production to be performed at the Theatre Royal’s Studio Theatre in early April.

Bott says that show – Human Ba La La – puts “an open-hearted, full-bodied spin on themes of arrival and place” with “one eye on our past and the other on the here and now”.

The show harnesses the visual and narrative power of film, sound, set and lighting, with live dancers on stage accompanied by a series of pre-recorded dance films – filmed in nature and at various Tasmanian historic sites.

These films will be projected onto screens, highlighting the beauty of Tasmania’s local landscapes while also offering a “contemporary reimagining of our history’’.

“Via the films we will bring natural and built terrain into the theatre, harnessing visual and narrative power to live dance and juxtaposing Tasmanian history with contemporary life,’’ Bott says, while also describing the show as “a vivid and breathtaking ride”.

She says the design sensibilities of architect Paul Wakelam ensure the Human Ba La La set powerfully combines the films with live performance.

The films were made during 2020 and 2021 at locations including Port Arthur Historic Site, Coal Mines Historic Site and South Hobart’s Cascades Female Factory.

Tasmanian filmmaker and lighting designer Nicholas Higgins has been working on the project since inception, while composer and poly-instrumentalist Dean Stevenson, also a Tasmanian, has created an original score for the project. And local dramaturg Christine Best works closely with Bott and the dancers on narrative elements.

Four professional dancers – Alya Manzart, Gabrielle Martin, Trà Mi Dinh and Robert Alejandro Tinning – will perform live in the shows as well as in the pre-recorded footage. An additional dancer, Olivia McPherson, features in some of the films along with 11-year-old dancer, Woolf Wakelam.

Bott felt compelled to incorporate the landscape in her work after forming her own attachment to Tasmania – and the state’s stunning landscape – since moving here in 2015.

She and her husband both grew up in Western Australia and were looking for a new adventure when the opportunity to move to Tasmania arose.

But Bott says she never imagined the life-changing nature of that decision or just how much Tasmania would captivate her.

“It completely sucked us in,’’ she confesses of Tasmania.

“And now this is where we would like to stay.

“I know everyone talks about the beauty of Tasmania, but it’s such a rugged beauty, it’s an uncompromising beauty.’’

Bott initially lived in Launceston but moved to Hobart three and a half years ago. She currently lives in West Hobart, in the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington, which she considers an “important keystone” of the city and its identity.

Bott and her husband have also purchased land on the Tasman Peninsula, at Doo Town, and she says Tasmania is a perfect fit for her family.

“When the offer came to work with Tasdance we decided we would jump at it and see where things took us,’’ Bott recalls.

“When I felt I’d done what I wanted to do at Tasdance we moved down to Hobart and have picked up life here and we love it … and then our adult daughter Dante moved here two years ago after living interstate for several years … we’re definitely here to stay.

“There are so many things that really excite me about Tasmania.’’

Bott has worked in professional contemporary dance for more than 30 years, as a company dancer, independent artist, commissioned choreographer, artistic director and a chief executive officer.

She has 20 years of experience at the helm of six not-for-profit dance organisations, including four in Western Australia and two in Tasmania, and her dance works have travelled in Australia and overseas.

Bott has also received six Helpmann Award nominations, an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education and a Churchill Fellowship, among other accolades.

Setting up her own dance company in Tasmania seemed like a logical next step for Bott, however, there have been a few hiccups along the way.

Great Southern Dance was incorporated in 2019 – Bott is one of four founders including Glenn Bromfield, Esther Ross and Paul Wakelam – and Bott began creatively developing the company’s first project.

But then Covid hit in early 2020 and theatres were closed as Tasmania went into lockdown.

“We hadn’t been able to launch in the way I’d hoped,’’ Bott confesses.

“Covid definitely set us back, I think we would have been able to launch a year sooner. And we definitely would have done more live performing right through 2020, but we didn’t start performing until April last year.’’

However, she says the silver lining was that she had more time to work behind the scenes, developing creative ideas and applying for grants.

“Our primary intention is to integrate dance, architecture, history, and landscape to create development opportunities for the arts, for professional artists and to present dance for our community,’’ she says of her company.

“It’s a highly collaborative effort by a unique team of artists – with a heritage architect, filmmaker, dancers and others working alongside me with sustained commitment, across time.

“And, importantly, we respectfully acknowledge that we are creating and performing on unceded Aboriginal land.’’

Bott says it’s exciting to see audiences returning to theatres and feels it’s a good time to launch a dance company that is presenting dance “in new ways for new times”.

“I’m excited about the return to the theatre, the return to live performance,’’ she enthuses.

“But we’ve also been busy making a lot of beautiful films.

“A lot of dance is consumed on screens now, even before Covid. Screen dance is really different to live dance and both are really important in our contemporary works. So to be presenting dance for film and for the stage … that’s what I’m super excited about.’’

She describes the 75-minute show as being a “bit of a rollercoaster” for audiences.

“We’ll really go on a journey with the audience and explore different human emotional states and we’re going to explore that through some contemporary themes,’’ Bott says.

Bott grew up in Perth, Western Australia, the eldest of 10 children.

Her mum worked as a school teacher, her dad as a GP. And some of her earliest memories relate to “flinging myself around our lounge room, improvising to my parents’ records’’.

Her mother took her to dance lessons when she was seven years old and by the time she was nine she was “well and truly hooked’’ and “had begun to see dance as an integral and defining part of who I was’’.

Bott enjoyed styles like ballet and jazz but found the greatest joy in making up her own dances, which eventually led her to study at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and follow a career path in contemporary dance.

“It’s a pretty life-defining experience,’’ Bott says, of growing up in such a large family.

“I kind of had my own dance company at home to boss around at an early age … we would be dancing around the loungeroom, making up songs and dancing to our parents’ records.

“It was a very creative and dynamic and constantly evolving environment. When you have that many personalities [in the one household] you’ve got to shout to be heard.

“My mum was constantly considering what kind of dance we might want to do what kind of instrument we might want to play and really actively fostered that.’’

Unsurprisingly many of her siblings now work in the arts, in a range of professions from dance through to graphic design.

“I really love contemporary dance as a professional art form,’’ Bott says.

“Dancers are so incredibly driven and are all so unique. They’re so connected to their bodies, it’s such an elite level of physical expression. The dancers in our ensemble are all university trained, they all headed internationally to continue elements of their training. And I’m just excited to bring that to Tasmanian audiences.’’

She says all the company’s dancers have strong connections to Tasmania.

Contemporary dance artist and yoga teacher Gabrielle Martin lives in Hobart and has trained interstate and overseas while also working on local projects for Junction Arts Festival, Mona Foma, Stompin Youth Dance Company and Tasdance.

Meanwhile Bott worked with dancers Alya Manzart and Robert Alejandro Tinning during her time at Tasdance and is thrilled to have them as part of her Great Southern Dance line-up as well as Trà Mi Dinh and Olivia McPherson.

“I feel confident they all understand the Tasmanian setting and are connected to the island,’’ Bott says.

“These things really count.’’

The company’s 11-year-old dancer, Woolf Wakelam, is Bott’s son.

He dances for Drill Performance, a youth dance company in Hobart, and she says adding a young dancer to Human Ba La La and Great Southern Dance was important as it helps to frame what adults do and also pose questions about humanity and “what children are seeing and what are we leaving to them’’.

Meanwhile her husband, Paul Wakelam, is set designer and co-director of Human Ba La La, in addition to his work as an architect.

In 2020 Wakelam was shortlisted for an Australian Dance Award for Services to Dance recognising the contribution of his design to the dance sector more broadly.

He and Bott have worked together on various projects for the past 28 years.

“Paul and I have worked together on more than 30 productions and events since 1994,’’ she says.

“Woolf has his own perspective, he’s a songwriter and he plays guitar and ukulele, he’s a highly creative creature.’’

Daughter Dante, 27, is a visual artist.

Bott says despite the slow start to the company due to Covid, rehearsals are now well underway at the Studio Theatre and she is excited to soon be presenting her passion project to live audiences.

“It’s a company in progress,’’ she says of the work happening behind the scenes.

“It takes a lot of money, energy, time and passion to bring a project like this to fruition.

“When the dancers, designers and tech staff are all in the room it’s wonderful. We’re all in the space together, doing what we do best. And we’re loving being part of reactivating Hobart theatres.

“The pandemic definitely slowed things down a little bit. But we got there in the end which makes it so very, very sweet.’’•

Human Ba La La, presented by Great Southern Dance (greatsoutherndance.com.au), will be performed at the Theatre Royal’s Studio Theatre in Hobart from April 1-9, with evening and matinee shows. Tickets from $45 adults, $30 concession. theatreroyal.com.au