David is an immersive theatre maker and game designer based in Naarm (Melbourne). He has made numerous immersive and interactive works from small one on one installations to large multi floored extravaganzas. David created Come Close & Listen as an immersive experience company with a passion for merging game design and theatrical practices together.

He has performed and worked across Australia in various companies including The Dig Collective, One Step at a Time Like This, Teatro de los Sentidos and Malthouse Theatre’s immersive show Hour of the Wolf. David has performed in Melbourne International Festival, Fringe Festival and recently was awarded a spot in Federation Square’s Experience Lab Showcase 2023, demonstrating immersive works and experience design.

Josiah is a theatre maker, theatre improviser, and anthropologist, who has been participating in LARPs since 2016. Currently, alongside his work as ensemble members of the Melbourne Playback Theatre Company and The Soothplayers, he is involved in the production of interactive and playful experiences as a performer, deviser and designer. Josiah is fascinated by the way ensembles of artists work together to tell stories bigger than themselves.

In his life as an anthropologist and games researcher, Josiah is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne, researching playful communities and immersive spaces. His work looks at the production and performance of interactive and immersive live games, most notably LARP events. 

Combining these two lives: theatre and LARP research, along with his deep care for Melbourne (and indeed Australia’s) LARPing communities, Josiah designs and facilitates our workshops, coordinates our communications to the player base, and fosters our community of role players to collaborate as an ensemble of generous improvisers.

Jess Lu is a non-binary Malay-Chinese/Australian creative, educated at the Victorian College of the Arts. They’ve featured across film, television and theatre in Australia, the UK, the US and beyond. Jess seeks the weird, wonderful and fantastical. They love nature, and cold water swimming.

Jess is keenly interested in consuming and making queer, intersectional art for all communities. They’re invested in the future of the arts in Australia, and have been immersed in as many aspects as possible, including producing for independent theatre for Midsumma and Melbourne Fringe Festival, and as co-founder of Award Winning Naarm based live-action roleplay podcast The Dirty Twenty Podcast.

Having played TTRPGs for the past four years, moving into the world of LARP only felt natural. It has been enlightening and exciting to combine their theatre knowledge with roleplay gaming, and they hope DoR II casts a wider net for the LARP-ing community; creating a space that anyone from anywhere can be a kid again.

Tim is a freelance creative living and working on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country. He primarily works as a Creative Producer for Multi-Arts Festivals/Immersive Art Projects, as well as a performer and video editor.

His work producing festivals has seen him work in partnership with a range of independent Arts Orgs, Not-for-profits, Councils and State Government bodies. His methodology is deeply rooted in collaboration, creatively driven processes, community engagement and experimenting with multi-disciplinary and immersive forms. As a performer he’s toured nationally and internationally; seasons have included Hong Kong, South Korea, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, The Philippines, Germany, Holland, Scotland and extensively through China. 

Tim is a freak for table top role playing games, and in recent years this obsession has extended to the world of LARPing. Tim is ecstatic to be able to fuse his knowledge of Festival Production with roleplay and performance through such an immersive framework. He’s hoping that the player community leave the Dance of Ribbons feeling creatively empowered, genuinely connected, and with their momentous in-character moments properly celebrated.

Siena is a creator with a love for botanical illustrations, intricate storytelling, fractals and code. 

After working as a Cybersecurity Engineer, she began exploring her creativity through Immersive Theatre; attending workshops and performing in previous Come Close & Listen works, including Tarot, an immersive experience which allowed participants to navigate a surreal patchwork of dreamlike landscapes. She worked on the first Dance of Ribbons as the website developer, story writer and set designer.

With a passion for problem solving and logistics, she’s interested in the intersection between systems based project management and creative/poetic ideation; blending operational efficiency and imaginative worlds into seamless immersive experiences for audiences.

Siena has a Bachelor of Computer Science from Swinburne University where she majored in Cybersecurity, while utilising her electives to explore programming, games design and philosophy.

Dan is a multi-disciplined graphic designer based in Naarm (Melbourne). He works on projects for both digital and print purposes in a commercial capacity as well as explorative personal development under the pseudonym ‘diddi was here’.

Working across a variety of large and small advertising and marketing agencies for over 6 years and as a freelance designer for 4 years, he has established a strong understanding of enduring design systems that reflect dynamic brands in evolving contexts.

For a Dance of Ribbons, Dan is heavily inspired by 1-bit fantasy games and retro Dungeons and Dragons illustrations. He hopes the DoR brand aesthetic evokes a sense of nostalgia, adventure, immersion and camaraderie for our player base. You may also recognise Dan as Alfonso the Innkeeper, where he runs our taverns both in and out of character.

Eli is a poet and creative with a love for stories that embrace identity and the human condition. They are drawn to tales of cosmic consequence that focus on what it means to be human, the fear of losing yourself, and love at the end of the world.

After getting a taste of aesthetic design last year, they have returned full force to bring Dance of Ribbons to life once again. They are most excited for creating immersive set designs that make the world feel lived in while revealing information from the periphery. The festival could not exist without its inhabitants, and Eli welcomes players to grow the world with their own designs, creativity and personal magic.

Jett is a Naarm based actor, theatremaker, crafter, stage combat enthusiast, lover of swords – and the Dance of Ribbon’s Prop Master.

Jett loves the hands-on and tactile nature of crafting, and over the past few years has dipped her toes into all kinds of craft with a particular love for crochet. She has spent many hours making pirate outfits, sweaters, weapons, and all kinds of costumes just for the love of it, but she finds a special kind of fulfilment in putting these skills towards bringing a world to life for others to inhabit. 

With a background in theatre and live performance, including a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre from the VCA, Jett adores seeing the kind of responsive, real, and generous dramatic play that happens in LARPing. She creates props, costumes, and sets that allow for this play to occur intuitively, building worlds and atmospheres that aid the players in their quests for immersion.

Jett is beyond excited to return to the Dance Of Ribbons in 2024. She gives you full permission to get her props as grubby as you want.

Em is an illustrator, costume maker and game designer. Their style leans into the whimsical and dark romance of fantasy, she wants to reflect at least a little bit of this feeling in all her work.

They would like to make the world of the Dance of Ribbons as mystical and welcoming as possible to both new and experienced larpers.

Em is responsible for the design of our Canton/Clan crests, as well as working with the aesthetics team for the art direction of our physical spaces and the costuming of our Witnesses.

She’s super excited about seeing all the players in their costumes interacting and inhabiting the world we’re building.

Georgia Symons is a Narrm/Melbourne-based theatre-maker and game designer. Through her arts practice, she is interested in imagining and rehearsing alternate realities, as a necessary precursor to better futures.

Georgia often collaborates with ground breaking companies like One Step at a Time Like This, Punctum Inc, fragment31, and Arts House. Her live performances showcased at Fed Square, Malthouse Theatre, La Mama, and Theatreworks, establishing her as a compelling force in contemporary performance art. Over the last few years, she has also managed, produced, and curated quintessential events in the Melbourne festival calendar, including the Emerging Writers Festival, Freeplay Independent Games Festival, and Melbourne Knowledge Week.

As a game designer, Georgia co-wrote the groundbreaking video game “Wayward Strand”, which was released to international critical acclaim in 2022. She has also designed live and interactive game experiences such as escape rooms for Escape Room Melbourne and PlayReactive, and custom commissioned games for a range of local and interstate festivals.

As an associate artist with the UK’s Agency of Coney, as well as through a range of independent endeavours, Georgia’s creative reach extends globally. She has also published a range of short stories and dramatic works, with publications including Overland journal, Litro magazine, and Currency Press.

She holds a Master in Writing for Performance from VCA (2014).

Frazer is an actor, writer and professional nerd living and working in Wurundjeri country. He is the co-creator and host of award-winning podcast “The Dirty Twenty Podcast” and has written, directed and produced two audio-plays for an international festival hosted by The Theatre of Others. 

He is known to seasoned Dancers as “Gawain the Woaden” and is very excited to be returning both as a writer and NPC for Year Two of the Dance.

He holds a Diploma in Acting from WAAPA (2017) and a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Acting) from the VCA (2021).

Paulina is a neurodiverse & queer creative based in Naarm (Melbourne). She is a writer, game maker, artist, and designer with a love of whimsy, musicals, and historical sword fighting. She has been involved in the TTRPG and LARP scene for over a decade, and enjoys drama, costumes, and the immersion of roleplaying someone completely different.

Paulina has worked in everything from business, NGO’s, to government policy. Paulina is a founder and the Creative Director of the Melbourne based games collective, DragonBear Studios, which recently released the indie video game Innchanted.

In the first Dance of Ribbons, Paulina played the “Villainous” Francian NPC, Lord Maximilla, who probably retired from stress, and who vowed to never return to those haunted lands.

Tay is a writer who specialises in short fiction, world-building, and podcasting. She loves to experiment with genre crossover and finds great joy in mashing horror into anywhere it can fit.

Writing can often be a very secluded practice and Tay has found great joy in working collaboratively on Dance of Ribbons. It has been such a journey to see this project grow from idea to execution. Working with the story team to develop characters, quests, and story beats has been a wonderful learning experience for her own practice.

You may have seen Tay at last year’s Dance of Ribbons, completing side quests of her own (distributing emergency toilet paper, snacks, and managing check-in). She can’t wait to see known faces and new ones at the upcoming workshops and hopes to join the dance proper for year II.

Iris is a writer and theatremaker based on Gadigal land. She’s a world-builder, driven to create immersive experiences that give an audience agency to create, play, and connect with each other and the world around them. She’s deeply inspired by magical realism and folk-tales, and she has loved seeing the culture and stories players have created for themselves at the Dance.

Iris holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre from Victorian College of the Arts.

James is a gamer and storyteller, fascinated by the ongoing phenomenon of communal mythmaking.

Practising as a writer director across film, television, audio, and theatre, he is forever delving into immersive worlds (whilst making a few of his own).

James’ award-winning films have screened at Burbank International Film Festival, the Cannes Short Film Corner, the FOXTEL Comedy Channel, and Palm Springs International Film Festival. His credits include Wentworth, Glitch (Netflix), Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, as well as his debut feature film, Slant, which releases this year.

Working from Edinburgh, Scotland, James consults the Story Team on Macro Story beats and works as a sounding board for all the exciting narrative threads in development.

Will is a designer for interactive mediums with a love for interesting rulesets, unique interactivity and games of all varieties. He takes great pride in designing rules and mechanics that allow interaction to reinforce the message of the story and the bounds of its world.

They’re looking forward to seeing how you utilise, bend, twist and abuse the rules of The Dance of Ribbons to tell your stories.

Will holds a Bachelors of Games and Interactivity and a Bachelors of Computer Science.

Gispa is a gender non-conforming Tanzanian-Australian actor and theatremaker, born and raised in Naarm. A lover of games and all interactive mediums, they find great joy in the generosity and collaborative nature of face to face role-playing games in particular. 

Gispa has performed extensively across stage and screen, most recently in Akaraka (The Substation), and is currently studying ethical hacking and cybersecurity. A “once professional” competitive Halo player and current Dungeon Master, they are excited to blend their understanding of game mechanics and rules with their creative experience and can’t wait to see how you play with the toys the Dance of Ribbons team have made to tell your stories.

Steph is a freelance stage manager based in Naarm, Melbourne, currently studying Masters of Arts and Cultural Management at the University of Melbourne. Steph has a keen interest in cultivating safe and inclusive spaces in live performance, managing artists and is working towards transitioning into roles that allow them to use their experience to guide emerging artists through their first professional projects.