Born in Perth, Richard began dancing at 11. He danced with STEPS Youth Dance Company for eight years, after which he continued in the capacities of board member, choreographer, and recipient of the STEPS Youth Dance Scholarship. After studying two years of a Bachelor of Law/Arts (Politics and International Studies), Richard started a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). During his time at WAAPA, he completed a semester on exchange at the Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan, where he studied Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Chinese Opera. He learned and performed works by Nacho Duato, Sue Healy, Kim McCarthy and Gary Stewart, as well as dancing for independent choreographers Alice Lee Holland and Claudia Alessi. Upon graduating in 2008, Richard received the inaugural Hawaiian Award for Dance, for the most outstanding graduating student.
He writes for DanceTRAIN magazine, and has been a member of the WA Department of Culture and the Arts Young People and the Arts Peer Assessment Panel since 2005. In 2007, Richard was the joint recipient of the Ausdance WA award for outstanding achievement in choreography for the STEPS work Dash.
Richard joined Sydney Dance Company in January 2009 where he continues to do what he loves: using the body and all it can do to explore and communicate the human condition. Richard made his Company debut in Rafael Bonachela’s we unfold at Sydney Theatre in March. Since that time he has performed in Rafael’s 360° for seasons in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Christchurch International Arts Festival; in Aszure Barton’s work Sid’s Waltzing Masquerade; and at the New Breed season at the Spring Dance Festival at the Sydney Opera House, appearing in Craig Bary’s Pictures of a One Night Stand and Connor Dowling’s Dreamt I was a Real Boy. Most recently, Richard has worked with Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnstrom during the creation of his work Mercury. December will see Richard taking part in the development of a new duo work with his contemporary Natalie Allen, working under choreographers Paea Leach and Melanie Lane.
