Michelle Ryan has enjoyed a career that has spanned over 25 years in the arts as a director, choreographer, collaborator and performer. Michelle worked with Meryl Tankard for ten years both nationally and internationally, was a founding artist of Splintergroup and worked at Dancenorth for five years in various capacities. She also performed in Out of Context for Pina by Alain Plattel and in the award-winning Intimacy by Torque Show.

Michelle was appointed Artistic Director of Restless Dance Theatre in 2013 and has created In the Balance, Touched and Intimate Space. The works have been presented in the Adelaide Festival, Bleach* in Festival 2018 Commonwealth Games Arts and Culture Festival and in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. She has also choreographed pieces for the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony and the Adelaide Film Festival. Awards include the 2017 Ruby Award for Arts Innovation and Enterprise, an Adelaide Critics Award for Best Professional Group and nominations for Helpmann Awards and Ruby Awards in 2017 and 2018.

Michelle was the subject of a documentary, Michelle’s Story for ABC TV directed by Meryl Tankard and was inducted into the South Australian Woman’s Honour Roll in 2015.