IT should come as no surprise that Perth dance choreographer Bianca Martin is also a law graduate.
A viewing of her performances reveals a strong sense of social justice, as is evident in her upcoming remount of her earlier career piece, Packed Like Sardines in a Football Stadium.
Something of a socio-cultural commentary, it looks at the issues of sport, art, pornography, gender and “being Australian”.
“I like to get audiences to try and question their own version of Australian culture,” she said.
“This piece came from the ideas that I was looking at during the time I devised it, in 2007, with us being a very sporting-obsessed culture.
“It's reflecting on Australian culture and putting that back to the Australian public.”
Martin is preparing to present the reworked production in STRUTathon - a celebration of independent WA dance culture showing as part of the Fringe World Festival - buoyed by the news she has just been awarded a STRUT Mid-Career Fellowship, as part of the organisation's Future Moves initiative.
The one-year program will enable the young artist - who graduated from WAAPA in 2002 and still dances occasionally - to develop her choreography.
The first third of 2012 will be spent working with renowned local choreographer Sue Peacock before heading to Slovenia for a stint with French and Austrian-based political theatre group Superamas.
She will then return to WA to apply her European-honed skills to a fresh, new creation with a local team of dancers.
While optimistic about the current state of professional dance in Perth - describing it as “vibrant” - Martin longs to see a change in societal perception of the performing arts.
“There is still a huge amount of talent here that is still fighting to get the respect they deserve,” she said.
“The arts need to be pulled into the economic boom, and we need to view the arts as being absolutely integral to an advanced, progressive society.”
STRUTathon is showing at PICA, Northbridge, on January 28, from noon to 10pm.
Emilia Vranjes