AMELIA JEAN O'LEARY (she/they/yinarr)
Dance Artist | Storyteller | Director | Choreographer
Amelia Jean O’Leary is a proud queer First Nations Gamilaroi & Wadawurrung Yinarr dance artist and storyteller based in Sydney, Australia, whose work transforms movement into poetry, memory into performance, and personal histories into universal resonance.
O’Leary’s multidisciplinary practice is rooted in the spiritual and human experience, exploring complexity, resilience, and poetic expression through dance, choreography, dramaturgy, writing, film, sound design, and directing. Drawing from her cultural heritage and lived experience, she creates works that are deeply personal yet universally resonant—layered, coded, and guided by her connection to self, spirit, and community.
Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2021, O’Leary has rapidly emerged as a compelling voice in contemporary dance and performance. She debuted her first full-length solo, Yinarr, at Adelaide Fringe and Dancehouse in 2022, and performed in Collision by Jo Lloyd and Garabari by Joel Bray the same year.
In 2023, she presented A Certain Mumble with Darebin Arts Speakeasy as part of FRAME: A Biennial of Dance, and premiered STAUNCH ASF at Melbourne Fringe, winning Best Emerging Indigenous Artist and receiving a Green Room Award nomination.
Between 2024 and 2025, O’Leary expanded her practice nationally and internationally, including attending Matriarchs Uprising in Vancouver, developing CODED through Performance Space’s Queer Development Program, touring with The Australian Ballet’s Education and Outreach Team, and presenting major works such as CODED: A Night of Queer Storytelling, SAD EYES, and her debut theatre piece Peggy Sue.
Most recently, she premiered NGAMBAA at Melbourne Fringe (October 2025) and released her dance film Dhinawan: Before She Cut Her Wings, solidifying her reputation as a fearless, visionary, and boundary-pushing artist. She also curated and parented Dharriwaa Yulugi: A Night of First Nations Dance, where she began developing her new work Generation WTF. O’Leary continues to redefine contemporary dance and storytelling, creating work that is urgent, luminous, and unapologetically First Nations and queer. She is a bold, unmissable force in Australian and international performance.
Stay connected: @ameliaa.jeann