Jewish choreographer featured at Melbourne Fringe

Melbourne choreographer Aimee Raitman will present her new contemporary dance work, Not a Jam, as part of the Dancehouse x Melbourne Fringe Festival curated program this month. The work was selected by Dancehouse and will be staged over four nights, from October 14-17, at a North Carlton venue.

Not a Jam draws on the history and technique of Contact Improvisation, a dance form that emerged in the United States in the 1970s.

Raitman acknowledges that contemporary dance can be difficult for audiences to understand. The piece explores what it means to perform Contact Improvisation in front of an audience and asks whether it is the responsibility of the audience or the artist to “make it make sense”.

“Not a Jam is special, as it presents live sound composition as a third partner in the dance. The audience’s presence is vital to the performance, adding a special density to the space, which the performers are responding to, live,” Raitman told The AJN.

Raitman said the piece also spoke to the relationships that build a community, the importance of honouring a community’s lineage and history, and how meaning is found through nurturing and investing in those relationships.

Raitman said she drew on the Jewish values of finding strength, hope and meaning in community, presenting them to an audience which may include people who have never met a Jewish person. She said it was important to support Jewish artists presenting their work to the broader community..

“We are really excited to have had the opportunity to work with some of the first-generation dancers who brought this dance form to Australia, having studied in the 80s and 90s in New York with the form’s founders. Working with these dancers who are now in their 60s has given us such a rich history and lineage to draw from when making this work,” she said.

Raitman received the VCA Choreographic Award in 2022 and graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2025.

Her work has previously been supported by numerous community and arts organisations. She has also performed at the National Gallery of Victoria and has choreographed for Federation Square.

Book tickets at

melbournefringe.com.au