Zebastian Hunter creates cohesive, consistent and coherent productions. His vision is to construct poetic and emotionally poignant shows that interweave circus, dance, theatre, music and visual design elements flawlessly.
Conveying the dramaturgical content and fundamental concepts of his works is at the core of his creation process.
Zebastian creates artistic works across a diverse range of scales that feature sophisticated and professional choreographic ensemble, and solo circus performances. He is known for creative versatility to suit the needs of his clients, and to fulfill a variety of roles within the arts. He consistently achieves highly polished productions across a range of styles and artistic mediums.
Zebastian Hunter began his career as an elite circus artist appearing in numerous performances all over the world in circus companies, festivals, cabarets, on TV, in Gala events, the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games and from 2009-2015 he performed as a featured soloist in Cirque Du Soleil's Alegria and Quidam.
Committed to study Zebastian has trained at the Fruit Fly Circus, the National Circus School of Montreal (ENC), UNISA - Master of Arts and Cultural Management, and Master of Fine Arts (Directing) at NIDA.
In 2016 he joined NICA as the Head of Performance Studies, where he has directed The Odyssey, Fresh Recruits, Slumber Party, Precipice, Eurydike & Orpheus (NICA- Circus Direction/NIDA), Le Sacré (NICA/Australian Ballet School), Empty Bodies (NICA/Provocaré) and Dispersion. Independent directing credits include Hawker’s Brewery Circus, Chadstone Centre Christmas Show, Empty Bodies (NICA/Provocaré) and Perpetual Frustration Machine.
Zebastian assumes many other roles within the arts including: circus director (Barnum musical), dramaturg (One Fell Swoop), movement safety advisor ( Still Point Turning - Sydney Theatre Company), assistant circus director for the Ambani Wedding (Anystage Productions), panel curator (The Circus Arts Hub) and casting consultant (Cirque Du Soleil).
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"My goal is to create Circus with Purpose, hybrid productions that integrate the dramaturgical foundations of Theatre and the passionate visual imagery of the Circus. I draw from the strengths of both, the primitive power of one and the psychological layering of the other, to create a meaningful forum for Circus Theatre.
Theatre is the bravery to confront our collective fears while Circus is the dream to uplift us, to defy physics, and to deny what we believe is the extent of human potential."
“Drawing loose inspiration from social forces that unite and divide humanity, the show features superb direction from Zebastian Hunter and Meredith Kitchen, which embeds an impressive variety of feats within scenes suffused by the theatricality, expressiveness and feeling of elite dance theatre.”
“Oozing between dream-like sequences, the piece seems to bubble up from the modern subconscious into a dark hybrid of circus, dance-theatre and text. Director Zebastian Hunter is left to wrestle an unstable mixture of aesthetic forms into something cogent, and his great strengths as a director are visual and choreographic.”
“Hunter was able to pack each number with more than the eye could behold.”
The circus is brilliantly integrated into the musical theatre form and vividly imagined and directed by Zebastian Hunter.“
