Adelina Larsson Mendoza
Image: Monsoon Residency - Kobalt Works/ Critical Path, Bundanon Trust (2015)
Photo: Matt Cornell
Adelina Larsson Mendoza - Choreographer / Performer
Adelina is an award-winning Swedish/Mexican choreographer, curator, producer and teacher.
She has choreographed, performed and directed for performing arts companies presenting at Melbourne Festival, Perth Festival, Sydney Opera House, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Museum of WA Boola Bardip, Fremantle Art Centre, State Theatre Centre WA and ACT.
Adelina is founder of Strange Attractor Lab, a nationally-scoped artist residency program that provides infrastructure for artists to share practice and engage with institutions like CSIRO, Powerhouse Museum (Sydney), Sydney Environment Institute and Critical Path Choreographic Centre that invites the general public into critical discourse.
Adelina is the recipient of Australian Dance Award (2019), WA Regional Artist Fellowship (2021) and Fremantle Art Center’s highly competitive 3-month residency 'Groundwork' (2023) and in 2024 the world-renowned director Robert Wilson selected Adelina to create an original work for The Watermill Center Summer Benefit Gala in New York, and perform alongside the iconic choreographer Lucinda Childs' 'Radial Courses' (1976).
In parallel with her own work, Adelina has equally excelled as an activator and producer for arts in broader community contexts. Since 2013 Adelina has worked with Australia's leading arts and social change company Big hART as Associate Director, Associate Producer and Choreographer contributing to the creative direction of the company’s national programs, creating a range of original cross-disciplinary works for major festivals.
With experience initiating sector development projects, Adelina was invited by Critical Path Choreographic Centre as their Associate Artist 2017-2019 to drive international and cultural exchange programs and invite artists that create works that discuss marginalised communities, socio-political landscapes, climate change and body politics, connecting them to regional and interstate networks.
Between 2020-2024 Adelina was part of the Edith Cowan University staff cohort with Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts as Lecturer and Unit Coordinator in the Bachelor of Arts (Dance) Program. During her tenure she contributed to the design and delivery of the new BA Dance Course.
BIO
AFFILIATIONS
Critical Path Choreographic Centre for Research - Associate Artist
As one of Critical Paths initiatives to build leadership capacity within the dance sector, independent choreographer Adelina Larsson Mendoza - with experience of supporting other artists and initiating sector development projects - was invited to be Associate Artist for 2017-2019.
Adelina has contributed to the curations of CP's programs like Interchange Festival - Political Body (2017) a weekend of international and intercultural exchange with choreographers working across and between cultures. Political Body deal with the body as the place of agency – creating works that discuss marginalised communities, socio-political landscapes, climate change and body politics. Presenting artists: Rosalind Crisp (France/Aus), Rhiannon Newton (Sydney) and Bhenji Ra (Sydney).
She also guest edited CP's quarterly e-journal Critical Dialogues Issue 10 - No Body featuring contributions by choreographers Geumhyung Jeong (South Korea), Vania Gala (UK/Angola), Nadja Hjorton (SWE), Lz Dunn (AUS) and Sarah Hoboult (AUS). The issue incorporates practitioner reflections, academic excerpts and interviews presenting a rich collective montage of writing that draws parallels between timely feminist, queer, disability and artistic concerns.
Adelina's main research as curator has been looking into new models of curating collaborative labs for professional artists. She is experimenting with alternative platforms, methodologies and vocabularies alongside invited artists Rebecca Conroy, Rhiannon Newton, Amelia McQueen, Anthony Coxeter and CP's director, Claire Hicks.
The most recent lab produced by Adelina was the Choreographic Lab - Hacking the Anthropocene which was a partnership between Strange Attractor, Critical Path, presented by the Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences) and Sydney Festival.
Strange Attractor is concerned with bringing together artist practitioner critical thinking leaders’ from experimental practice and interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary forms in process based practice and critical discourse. This innovative interdisciplinary practice and approach is key to extending and expanding the world and work of our artists and demonstrates the reasons that Adelina was selected by CP as Associate Artist.
ReadyMade Works - Co-Director
ReadyMade Works is the artist-led home for independent dance in Sydney—run by artists, for artists. A multi-purpose studio venue dedicated to providing affordable rehearsal space for Sydney's performing artists, we provide subsidised studio hire and host a comprehensive program of regular classes, workshops, artist residencies and performances.
Adelina was the Co-Director of ReadyMade 2018-2019 alongside Rhiannon Newton and curated and produced residencies, events, workshops, developed partnerships with institutions, organisations and community and designed their new website and digital material.
Adelina works nationally on Big hART projects, contributing to creative direction of BighART's outputs with a range of interdisciplinary skills. Using her background in dance, curation and education, Adelina works in community delivering mentoring and creative skill building through choreography, associate direction and confidence building. Adelina began working with Big hART Yijala Yala Project in Ieramugadu Roebourne (Pilbara) 2014 as a choreographer for Hipbone Sticking Out, and has since choreographed SKATE for The Cutaway, Barangaroo Sydney (2019) , co-directed Punkaliyarra - Sister in Law Dreaming Story presented at Perth Festival 2023 and Sydney Opera in All about Women program 2025, and Jarda Bura, Gurri Bura, Jarda Ngarli, Gurri Ngarli commissioned by the Boola Bardip WA Museum.