Press
The Shepherds (2026)
“★★★★★ - The Shepherds is the best dance work I’ve seen in this year’s Rising Festival. Its current season is far too short – but this is a work that must tour – far and wide."
- Andrew Fuhrmann, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
A Figure of Speech (2025)
“Alisdair Macindoe’s A Figure of Speech uses projected text to great effect, not simply breaking the fourth wall but taking us inside the blocking and thematic arc of the choreography. ”
- PAUL RANSOM OF DANCE INFORMA
“A world of micro movements that make whole universes appear and disappear in the blink of an eye.”
- JUDGES PICK - DANCE, MELBOURNE FRINGE 2025 - (두물머리 Dumulmeori (where two rivers meet)
“He (Alisdair Macindoe) demonstrates what human thought might look like. Moving quickly from one sensation to the next, these movements are, of course, instructions. With the black curtains now parted, projected on the wall, they are a series of timed, poetic prompts, written in both English and Korean. ”
- GRACIA HABY, FJORD REVIEW
PLAGIARY (2024)
“Plagiary certainly activated the cerebellum, in ways that felt novel and surprising even for a contemporary dance performance.”
- LEILA LOIS, DANCE AUSTRALIA
“★★★★☆”
- ASHLEIGH HASTINGS, TIME OUT
“A must-see for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and the arts. It’s a clever and thought-provoking exploration of how AI can expand the boundaries of creative expression while also highlighting the irreplaceable nature of human artistry.”
- BRENDAN DAYNES, DANCE LIFE AUSTRALIA
“(a) frenetic, self-referential, self-consciously wanky and very uncanny valley. It's also delightfully nonsensical.”
- HANNAH REICH, THE STAGE SHOW, ABC
“In the opening night show, “Mother of Modern Dance” Martha Graham appeared on screen and her spirit proceeded to take over the interviewee’s body to choreograph ‘Martha Graham’s Prism (Plagiary)’. Graham’s influence on contemporary dance was clear in the dancers’ movements, with Prism commenting on the blurred distinction between mere influence and plagiarism.”
- SAVANNAH INDIGO, ARTS HUB
"OK, Bye!" (2024)
"In one unforgettable scene, the dancers crawl across the stage, silhouetted against a stark background, their robot lords riding high in the saddle – slaves now and forever to the burden of the rhythm."
- Andrew Fuhrmann, THE AGE
There is, of course, a second equally captivating duet within the funeral march giving shape to the sound of “OK, bye!” and that is between the acoustic instruments played by robots built by Macindoe and mamunya, whose (recorded) harp playing sparkles like moonlight’s silver trail.
- Gracia Haby, Fjord Review
"The score is very effective and includes a gentle harp score (composed and played in recording by Macindoe’s mother xanya mamunya), a tattoo of drum sounds and escalations and decrescendos of sound. This work is playful and engaging."
- Susan Bendall, Dance Australia
"Along with the dancers’ white overalls, the music summoned thoughts of an alien world in which thoroughly enjoyable enigmatic dance was on offer."
- Deborah Jones, Limelight
DULL BOY (2024)
“The work begins slowly, movement underpinned by a mesmerising soundscape (also by Macindoe), building together in intensity and speed, showing Macindoe’s ability to effectively fuse music with dance. Evoking the industrialisation of interaction, the movement is often gestural – mime-like patting, pulling, and tossing sometimes performed almost in unison, building in urgency, but overall remaining grounded.”
– DENISE RICHARDSON , Dance Australia
“Dull Boy was anything but dull, drawing the audience in and leaving them wanting more.”
- Sarah Skubala, The Scoop
PROGRESS REPORT (2021)
"Performed superbly by Macindoe on this occasion, and on alternate nights by Cazna Brass, Progress Report is riveting dance theatre that uses humour and whimsy to raise serious issues about our complicated relationship to waste. With its pared back staging, this is a work that could easily tour: indeed, it should be shown for as long as Styrofoam is with us."
- Maggie T www.danceaustralia.com.au
"...a perfectly executed work that interrogated, at its heart, humans’ love of consumption and the ugly side to our consumerist addiction... ★★★★☆"
- Jessi Lewis www.artshub.com.au
"Progress Report is a most unusual call to arms. It accepts the inevitability & irreversibility of the damage we’ve done to the environment. Of the mess we’ve made. Of the mess we’re in."
- Chris Boyd, X (formally TWITTER)
REFERENCE MATERIAL (2021)
“...maintaining its biting wit while subtly increasing its acerbic quality. The effect is both thrilling and sublime... Reference Material is a vibrant and innovative dance performance that takes an extremely novel approach to staging and delivery.”
- Patricia Di Risio, Stage Whispers
“Macindoe brings an outstanding array of choreographic artistry to the piece.”
- Jessica Poulter, Dance Writer Australia
“Over the next fifty minutes, we are taken on a journey. A highlighting of how much dance is also acting, memorization, and gymnastics. There are scenes that remind us of the eighties television workout tapes, and others that present dance as integral to spiritual tradition. It isn’t a history, but history is recognised... The dancers for “Reference Material” are the best in the country... They respond to each other and the world around them with such confidence and timing that you begin to accept that even things that may have been accidents were actually entirely intentional.”
- Thomas Gregory, Theatre Travels
FORGERY (2021)
“This is improvisation on steroids It utilises not only imagination, but also disinhibition, curiosity and trust, in conjunction with fine motor control and spatial awareness.” ... ”Forgery certainly has nailed a brilliant concept with maximum intrigue appeal for audiences, tapping into the zeitgeist.” ,
- Limelight, Olivia Stewart
“To be given the rare opportunity to see chance choreography not just done, but done well, is thrilling in and of itself, but the work also brings with it an integral depth in its lead towards contemplations around creative agency and consideration of what is meant by choreography.”
- Blue Curtains, Meredith Walker“This show is unique, unusual and overall incredibly well curated.” - Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, Saskia Sassen “It is a very successful melding of art and coding.”
- Scenestr, Luisa Ryan
A PRE-EMPTIVE REQUIEM FOR MOTHER NATURE (2015)
“With his latest piece, A Pre-emptive Requiem for Mother Nature, Alisdair Macindoe cements his description as one of Australia’s most exiting young choreographers. The work will make you reflect on your own connection with nature and will leave you wanting more.”
- Amy Bent, INFORMA
Macindoe & Dancenorth
“The versatile Macindoe’s A Pre-Emptive Requiem for Mother Nature was a visually striking opening work. Performed in its entirety behind a scrim, this enquiry into the “magic of the organic world” at times delivers exquisite imagery, cleverly conceived.”
- Denise Richardson, DANCE AUSTRALIA“Each scene is built around a clear structure and executed with precision, creating images reminiscent of billowing clouds interrupted by stop motion and forests of seaweed synchronously pulled by invisible tides.”
-Chloe Smethurst, Sydney Morning Herald
meeting (2015)
"As an audience we’ve been internally tightened and our gears wound watching these feats without breathing or shuffling in the rich and sparse landscape Hamilton and Macindoe have created. Meeting is a quietly rich encounter between man, machine, motion and sound that rewards your attention with mesmeric human feats and meditative sonic patterns"
- Ian Abbott www.writingaboutdance.com, Battersea Arts Centre, 2016
2017 New York BESSIE AWARD
Outstanding Musical Composition/Sound Design: Alisdair Macindoe for Meeting by Antony Hamilton at La MaMa with Performance Space 122, COIL 2017.“For creating a complex percussive score using 64 tiny robots armed with tapping pencils. For adding the virtuosic rhythms of two dancers slapping hands and reciting numbers to create a unique soundscape that was both relentless and strangely satisfying. “
BROMANCE (2010)
"★★★★★ - A most exciting piece from two brilliant members of the new wave of contemporary choreographers."
- Lynne Lancaster ARTS HUB
"I was very taken by this work: perhaps what most appealed to me was its legibility, which never became merely simplistic.”
— Alison Croggon THEATRE NOTES
"It’s a virtuosic, highly contemplated work with much to admire"
— Stephanie Glickman AUSTRALIAN STAGE