Rea Dennis

Professor Rea Dennis (she/her) is a Professor of Art & Performance and Director of Graduate Research in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. She is based at the Melbourne Burwood Campus and serves as a leading researcher within performance studies, with particular expertise in embodied experience and performance practices.

Her educational background includes a Doctor of Philosophy from Griffith University. She has extensive international experience, having led theatre companies in Brazil, UK and Australia over her thirty-year career as a performance practitioner.

Professor Dennis's research focuses on the intersection of embodied experience and performance practices, socially engaged outdoor performance, sensory dramaturgy, and multimedia installation. She has been the successful recipient of multiple national and international research grants, including an ARC grant to work on in kind contribution and invisible (uncosted) labour within performing arts productions. Her work bridges academic scholarship with creative practice, encompassing both traditional publications and non-traditional research outputs as live performance, mediated and installed works.

Her professional recognition includes:

• ARC grant for research on invisible labour in performing arts
• Vice-Chancellor's Award for University for Academic Service in HDR
• Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

As Director of Graduate Research, Professor Dennis provides strategic leadership in the Graduate Research area. She is an award-winning scholar and performance maker who serves as an expert reviewer for the ARC and international grant bodies. She was the outgoing President and former board member of the Australasian Association of Drama Theatre and Performance Studies (2017-2023) and serves on the editorial board of Dance and Somatic Practices journal. Her international collaborations include being a Visiting Scholar at Fundação Gertulo Vargas in São Paulo Brazil in 2012 and a Visiting Fellow at C-Dare, Coventry University in 2019.

Professor Dennis is a sought-after expert in her field with proficiency in Portuguese, which supports her international research collaborations and peer review activities.