Danielle Cresp Biography

Born into a creative family in the early 1970s in Melbourne, Australia, Danielle was always encouraged to be curious and playful so it’s not surprising she became a research-based improvisation artist. Danielle performed as an independent, improvisation artist from 2001 to 2020. Her passion for improvisation performance and practise took her to trainings and performance events in Europe, America and across Australia.
From 1991 to 2021 Danielle taught dance and improvisation to people of all ages.

In 2010 her focus as a teaching-artist changed to physical theatre improvisation, more specifically Action Theater teaching and directing, where she zoomed in on physically embodied presence, with each artist she worked with, to be the primary aim in every moment of performance practise.

Danielle was the Creative Director at Action Theater Australia from 2013 to 2023, a creative arts business with it’s focus on teaching, coaching and directing artist in the methodologies of physical theatre improvisation.

Danielle has spent from 2000 to 2018 traveling extensively through Europe & America furthering her specialities in improvisation, clowning and physical theatre. In 2011, in the heat of the New Mexican desert, she completed her Action Theater teacher training with the creator of Action Theater, Ruth Zaporah. From 2011 to 2021 Danielle taught over a hundred SOLD OUT Action Theater workshops across Australia and in the UK. Danielle was also the Creative Director at Action Theater Australia from 2013 to 2023. During that time she was the ONLY Action Theater Practitioner teaching in Australia.

Danielle has worked as a Director and a Producer for local and international artists. She has also produced and facilitated workshops for other teaching-artists some of which include Ruth Zaporah, Cass Tunick, Giovanni Fusetti, Fraser Hooper, Andrew Morrish, Ira Sedenstein and Brenda Waite.

Danielle directorial work often included self-funded independent artists working on solo physical theatre shows. Some highlights which gained much acclaim, tour-ready awards, sold out seasons, best theatre and green room nominations include: Michelle Hall’s show “The Dirty Mother” (2020) at Perth Fringe World in The Blue Room Theatre and three shows with Andi Snelling “Happy-Go-Wrong” (2019) at Melbourne Fringe Festival, “Deja Vu: and other forms of knowing” (2016) and “#DearDiary” (2015).

Danielle trained as a dancer from an early age and by the time she was in her 20’s she was working and training at commercial dance schools in Melbourne. Around this time she attained an Associate Diploma in Dance Instruction and Management at Box Hill Institute. She went on to achieve first class honours in a Bachelor of Arts Performance Studies (Hons) at Victoria University of Technology in 1997.

During her university days Danielle also worked as a busker (The White Lady statue character), a singer, a character waiter, an actor in various films, a performer on stage and was part of many roving street theatre ensemble events.

In the same year of her Honours Degree Danielle toured to the UK with an ensemble of physical theatre artists from the Victorian College of the Arts. They performed a co-devised performance work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In 1998 Danielle worked as a research assistant for the text book "The Companion to Music and Dance in Australia" which involved extensive research in dance and physical theatre in Australia. The text was published by Currency Press.

In 1999 Danielle was inspired by the physical theatre company 'Born in a Taxi' to explore physical theatre improvisation and clowning as art forms unto themselves. For many years she trained extensively with highly acclaimed improvisation teaching-artists: Al Wunder, Andrew Morrish and Ruth Zaporah.  Other influential physical theatre, voice & clown teachers include Kate Kantor (Australia), Sten Rudstrom (Germany), Ira Sedenstein (Australia), John Bolton (New Zealand), Peter Trotman (Australia), Clare Bartholomew (Australia), Angela De Castro (Brazil), John Britton (UK), Trevor Patrick (Australia), Patti Styles (Canada), Margaret Cameron (Australia), Patch Adams (USA), Keith Johnstone (UK) and Susan Bamford-Caleo (Australia).

For much of her performing arts career Danielle was a self-funded improvisation artist who created and performed across Australia in solo, duet and ensemble work with various acclaimed artists, key memorable fellow collaborators include Bronwen Kamasz, Ian David and Kevin Jeynes.

In 2010, along with 4 other artists, Danielle co-created “The Collective Directive”, a roving physical theatre improvisation company. They performed in Melbourne at festivals and other events, most notably as an ensemble of neatly uniformed postal workers delivering surprise compliments to the responsive delight of unsuspecting members of the public.

Danielle has performed many, many, many times at Melbourne Fringe Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival. Other performing highlights have occurred at Adelaide Fringe Festival, Cafe Urgency at Substation in Newport, The Castlemaine Festival, The Little Con and Conundrum at Cecil Street Studio (Melbourne), Envelope (Melbourne site specific work), Explode (small block café, Melbourne), LaMama Explorations Seasons (Melbourne), The Australian Women’s Improv Festival (Hobart), Un-attache-d Improv Company (Melbourne), Up-The-Ante Improv Company (Melbourne), Precipice (Canberra), Improvisation Evening QUT (Brisbane).

In 2012 Danielle successfully completed a Diploma of Creative Industries in Performance (Solo Artists Residency Program) which was a one year higher education diploma designed to replicate an artist-in-residency scenario which combined on and off-campus studio and/or theatre practices along with collaborations with other artists. The residency encouraged and challenged her to affirm authenticity in her creative work and artistic life. She continues to do this in all her creative endeavours as a maker of art and a teacher/mentor to other artists.

From 2012 to 2021 Danielle worked extensively as a director, teacher, mentor and site specific improvisation artist and agrees with Banksy that “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”.

From 2021 to 2023 Danielle undertook an 18 month sabbatical away from the limelight of teaching & directing in which she spent time deepening her practise and focusing on her motto: “the more you notice, the more you have to play with”. At the completion of this sabbatical Danielle discovered she wanted to lead a simple life away from the arts so together with her partner she bought a small certified organic farm and moved to rural Victoria where she now resides.