About

Associate Professor Cheryl Stock (PhD) AM - Biography

Cheryl has enjoyed a long career as a dancer, choreographer, director, educator, researcher and advocate, and in 2014 was honoured for her service in these areas with an Order of Australia. From 2016-2018 she was Inaugural Head of Cultural Leadership and Director of Graduate Studies at NIDA. Currently she serves on the boards of Sydney-based physical theatre company Legs on the Wall and the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies in Melbourne. Cheryl remains passionate about, and committed to, supporting artists and cultural workers, serving as a mentor and in an advisory capacity to the arts sector. In her creative practice, her focus continues to be on multi-site promenade performance, centred on the body as site and in site. Running parallel to these roles is Cheryl’s ongoing work in academic publishing, lecturing, examinations and reviews, as well as guest speaker at forums and seminars. 

For the first 15 years of her career Cheryl was a full-time dancer and choreographer / director in dance and theatre, culminating in her becoming Dance North’s founding Artistic Director and resident choreographer (1985-1996), touring regionally and nationally to almost sixty centres and internationally to six countries. As a repertoire company Cheryl commissioned Australian choreographers, composers and leading visual artists to create and collaborate on productions. 

Cheryl’s cultural exchange programs with Dancenorth began a close engagement with Asia spanning over 20 years, where she directed twenty cultural exchange programs, with twelve in Vietnam, introducing contemporary dance and collaborating with dance and theatre artists in Hanoi. She was awarded two gold medals from the Vietnamese government for her services to culture and to the women’s movement.

Cheryl has choreographed/directed over 50 dance and theatre works in Australia and overseas. From 2006, with an increasing interest in site-specific performance, her creative practice shifted to that of director and creative producer, working on largescale multi-site promenade works in collaboration with Australian and overseas artists (Accented Body 2006 Brisbane Festival; Naik Naik 2013 Melaka, Malaysia; Twilight 2015 Townsville). 

Cheryl’s academic career began, on completing her doctoral thesis on intercultural performance in Vietnam, with her appointment as Head of Dance at Queensland University of Technology (2000-2006). For the following 8 years Cheryl worked in the Creative Industries Faculty in research and research training, including positions as Director of Post Graduate Studies and Coordinator of the Doctorate of Creative Industries. Many of her diverse publications can be viewed in full text at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Stock,_Cheryl.html 

As Secretary General of World Dance Alliance (2009-2017) Cheryl coordinated and convened two Global Summits; 2008 in Brisbane and 2014 in Angers, France. Cheryl has served as National President of the Australian Dance Council (Ausdance), Chair of the Dance Board and Emerging Choreographers Fund and member of the Theatre Board for the Australia Council, as well as a member of the Queensland Arts Advisory Committee. Cheryl was a recipient of an Australian Artists Creative Fellowship (1994-1997) and in 2003 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Dance Awards.

Full CV - PDF

Educational Qualifications

Employment History

Selected Major Awards 

Selected Professional Leadership / Committee Roles

Creative works (selected)