Based in Melbourne, Australia, Naree ackenowledges the traditional ownres of the land in which she lives, the land of Wurundjeri Woi Warrang people of the East Kulin Nation, who have been dancing their dances, singing their songs, and telling their stories for thousands of generations. She pays respect to the elders past, present and emerging, and wishes to express gratitude for opportunities to contribute her stories to the rich artistic practices of this unceded land.

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Naree obtained a Bachelor degree in Landscape Architecture from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok in 1991. Moving to Melbourne in 1994, she graduated with a Bachelor of Dance from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) School of Dance in 1997.  ​​

Naree began studying classical ballet in Bangkok and Hong Kong.  Prior to arriving in Australia, she performed in a number of dance and ballet productions in Thailand and Hong Kong including as a soloist in Cinderella (The Company of Performing Artists, 1993, dir. Vararom Patchimsawat Macgregor) at Thailand Cultural Center, Bangkok.  Naree started choreographing contemporary dance in Melbourne after graduating from the VCA.  She then expanded her knowledge of movement to ideokinesis with Wally Cardona and Butoh with Yukio Waguri, Pilates instructor training course (Australian Pilates Method Association accredited) and more recently, Body-Mind Centering (BMC) with Alice Cummins.

In 2009 and 2011, she traveled to Kyoto, Japan, to study Noh with Master-actor Udaka Michishige with the support of the Australia Council Dance Board, the Victorian Government and Arts Network Asia (Singapore). Naree returned to Kyoto in 2015 through the VCA's Faculty Small Grant Scheme and 2019 with the support of the Norman Macgeorge Bequest.

In 2014, Naree completed a Post-graduate Diploma in Performance Creation, and, in 2018, a Master of Fine Arts (Research) at the Victorian College of the Arts. She completed her PhD candidature in 2023 at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Her practice-led doctoral research investigates time and intersubjectivity in the performance of solo dance improvisation, drawing upon key concepts from Noh Theatre, including jo-ha-kyū 序破急 and ma 間, in dynamic interactions with aspects of phenomenology and quantum time theory.

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

2020

Academic Assistance Bursary with Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne.

2019

The Norman Macgeorge Travelling Scholarship, Norman Macgeorge Bequest

2018 – 2021

The Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, provided by the Australian Commonwealth Government and the University of Melbourne

2014

The Victorian Government 2014 Creative Scholarship for Dance

1998

The First Choreographic Prize from the Great Escapes season for the debut choreography in The Third Space. 

AWARD NOMINATION

2015     

The 32nd Green Room Award nomination for Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography - Orbit

SEMINAR AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2025 

Intersubjective methodology for the interaction 

between traditional and contemporary practices, Asia-Pacific Artistic Research Network (APARN) 2025, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; July 1 – 3, 2025.

2020

Improvising Time, PhD Progress Review Seminar, Graduate Symposium, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, February 22, 2020.

2019

Jo-ha-kyū, Temporality and System of Relatedness in Noh Repertoire. 'Show and Tell' Seminar Presentation Series, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, October 31, 2019.

2015

Temporality in Choreography: The Perspective of a Solo Improvisation Practice, Symposium of Performative Presentation, World Dance Alliance Conference, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore, October 16, 2015.

CHOREOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES

Over the years, Naree has been developing a unique choreographic method in her solo-performance works using “internal imageries” – a combination of deep meditative passage of body awareness and embodiment of imageries – and incorporated with “external imageries” – all tangible and intangible elements in space to create audio/visual/sensorial imageries such as sound, lights, colors and time. This chorographic method is an ongoing development and indeed the integration of all training that Naree undertakes.

CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS

2021

Solo Dialogue

A dance-film major project as part of the outcomes of the research project "Improvising Time". Collaborators: Janette Hoe, Cobie Orger and Kris Cheney.

2017

17 Square Brackets

An outcome of the research project "Choreographing Time", presented at Studio 221, Dance Building VCA.

2014

Solo in Three Locations

Presented at Studio 221, Dance Building VCA.

2010 - 2014

Orbit

It is a result of studying Noh with master-actor Udaka Michishige at International Noh Institute in Kyoto, Japan.  The work has been developed through Solo Residency at Victoria University 2010 - 2011. Orbit was premiered at the Mechanics Institute - the Studio, East Brunswick, and was selected to be presented as part of the Launch Festival for Metanoia Theatre in February 2014. Collaborators: Philipa Rothfield - dramaturgical consultation, Shane Grant - lighting, Matt Crosby - front of house and reflector construction.

2006

Study for Portrait 2006-2106

Terrain: Multicultural Contemporary Dance Festival, Fitzroy Town Hall

Collaborators: Hoshika Oshimi and Tatsuyoshi Kawabata (design); sound: Naree Vachananda and Toshiya Tsunoda

Supported by the Australia Council, Arts Victoria, Victorian Multicultural Commission

2002 - 2005

Opposite My House Is a Funeral Parlour

fortyfivedwonstairs

Collaborators: Edward Kelly (sound composition), Yeap Heng Shen (multi-media), Matt Crosby (installation, dramaturgy), Hoshika Oshimi and Tatsuyoshi Kawabata (costume)

Supported by City of Melbourne and Victorian Multicultural Commission

2002

A Miniature Replica of a Much Larger Reality

Focus 4, fortyfivedownstairs

Collaborators: Anna Finlayson (visual arts), Edward Kelly (sound composition)

2000

Portrait Study 

Dance Week 2000, Fitzroy Gallery

Collaborator: Edward Kelly (sound composition) 

Supported by Ausdance Victoria

1999

Kathmandu: Circle of Bells

Great Escapes, Dancehouse

Collaborator: Howard Frost (choreography); music: Phillip Glass

1998

The Third Space

Great Escapes, Dancehouse

Collaborators: Patrick Cerini and Jacob Lehrer; music: Mychael Danna

Naree won the first choreographic prize with this work from the 1998 Great Escape season.

OTHER PERFORMANCE WORKS

2024       

Performing in a creative development of Salmon. A co-devised performance work, this piece was a culmination of Monday training group in Suzuki Method of Actor Training provided by The Thursday Group Melbourne. Facilitator: Tessa Marie Luminati; Performers: Damon Branecki, Alexandra Clouston, Matthew Crosby, Diego Fajardo, David Blom, Vania Octaviani, Naree Vachananda and Spira Stoja. St Mary Anglican Church Small Hall, North Melbourne, November 2024.

2023     

NOW PIECES #6: An experiment in proximity, vantage, atmosphere and embodiment. Curated by Gretel Taylor. Performers: Peter Fraser, Zoe Bastin, Naree Vachananda, Joshinder Chaggar, Gretel Taylor, Janette Hoe, Alec Katsourakis; Dancehouse, Melbourne, September 2023.

2021       

NOW PIECES #2: An exploration on the lineage of improvisation in contemporary dance practice in Melbourne through forms and methods of improvisation in other creative fields and cultural practices. Curated by About Now; Performers: Peter Fraser, Olivia Millard, Jason Marchant, Shaun McLeod, Jonathan Sinatra, Naree Vachananda, Ashlee Barton, Phoebe Robinson, Katie Lee. Dancehouse, Melbourne, April 2021.

2000

Meat Party

Melbourne International Arts Festival, Playbox, Malthouse Theatre

Director: Michael Kantor, playwright: Doung Le Guy, choreographer: Tony Yap

TOURING

2006

After the premier season at fortyfivedownstairs, in August 2006 Opposite My House Is a Funeral Parlour toured to Fremantle WA, Lismore and Sydney as part of Kultour 2006program supported by the Australia Council and the Victorian Multicultural Commission. While in WA, Naree gave a master class focused on her “internal imageries” technique for local dancers at King Street Arts Center in Perth. 

WORKSHOP

2006:

•“Internal imageries”, King Street Arts Center (producer Kultour and Kulcha), Perth. 

•Introduction to ideokinesis, Dance Across the Domain (producer Ausdance Victoria), Deakin University, Melbourne. 

RESIDENCIES

2009

Naree traveled to Japan to study Noh with master-actor Udaka Michishige at International Noh Institute in Kyoto and collaborating with a Tokyo contemporary dance company, C.I.co. + CIFJ, with dancers Shoko Kashima and Chico Katsube.  The residency has been kindly assisted by the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Network Asia. 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE – Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne

2010 - 2011

Solo Residency at Victoria University (VU) Footscray-Nicholson campus.  Naree received a travel grant from VU International to study with Udaka-sensei in January 2011.  At the end of the study, she performed a Noh repertoire Shojo and as the leader of the chorus in Tamura at Otsu Traditional Performing Arts Center, Otsu, Japan.

2023       

Sessional tutor and lecturer – undergraduate. Subject: Thinking Through Dancing DNCE10032 (Semester 2); Supervisor: Prof Carol Brown.

External examiner – Master of Dance. Subject: Research Project DNCE90019. Subject co-ordinator: Dr Derrick Brown-Appenzeller.

2022       

Sessional tutor – undergraduate. Subjects: Dance Lab 3 DNCE20034 (Semester 1) and Thinking Through Dancing DNCE10032 (Semester 2); Supervisor: Prof Carol Brown.

2021       

Sessional tutor – undergraduate. Subjects: Dance Lab 3 DNCE20034 (Semester 1), Body Knowledges: Dance Science DNCE10029 and Dance Lab 4 DNCE20036 (Semester 2); Supervisor: Prof Carol Brown. 

2020       

Sessional tutor – Subjects: Dance Technique 2 DNCE10022 and 4 DNCE20018 (Semester 2); Supervisor: Prof Carol Brown. Assistant Subject Co-ordinator – Subject: Dance Technique Extension 1DNCE10023; Supervisor: Prof Carol Brown.

2021 – present 

Assistant editor, Choreographic Practices Journal (online), Intellect Publication, UK.

2020     

Academic Assistantship, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music UoM:

• ·   Assisting in organising Kier Choreographic Award Conversation Series 2020, entitled What Is In-Between, in partnership with Dancehouse, March 2 – 6, 2020; participating in the discussion panel #5 ‘(In)visible Times’ which was recorded as part of a podcast series.

• ·   Organising Artist Talks Series for VCA Dance Community via Zoom Sept – Oct 2020, featuring choreographers Lucy Guerin, Shelly Lasica, and facilitating the conversation with Butoh artist Yumi Umiumare.

2000 – present 

Teaching studio pilates, currently Das Studio Pilates, Fitzroy.

PILATES TEACHING

2013 - present:

Pilates instructor at Das Studio Pilates, Fitzroy.

2007 - 2017:  

Pilates instructor at Pike Pilates, now known as Align for Life Pilates, Richmond.

2001 - 2014: 

Pilates instructor at Integrated Bodywork, East Brunswick.