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Samantha Chester is an award-winning movement director, movement specialist for the actor, educator and theatre-maker from Sydney.

As a Movement Director and consultant, she has worked with STC, Belvoir, Griffin Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Monkey BAA, NIDA, Black Swan Theatre Company, The Last Great Hunt as well as many independent and commercial productions including work for Perth Festival and Sydney Festival. In 2022 she was the Movement Director for Amadeus with Michael Sheen at the Opera House.

She is a nationally and internationally recognised movement teacher for the actor with over 22 years of an embodied practise — tried and tested — which has been an evolution of many qualities, ideas, and understanding in the body. Her intention is to liberate the actor and performer through the courage to be seen.

“I can’t speak about Sammy without being deeply personal. The depth and breadth she has encouraged me to explore within myself — not just as an artist, but as a human being — are immeasurable. She has an extraordinary ability to uncover the purest essence in her students, and with great rigour and even greater love, she helps to expand that essence profoundly. In every role I take on, I draw upon the invaluable tools she has imparted, along with the clarity and discipline she instilled in me.”

— Sam Corlett, WAAPA Graduate 2018

Since 2015, Samantha has been a Senior Lecturer in Movement at WAAPA.
Currently she is the A/C Course Coordinator for the Acting BA program. In her time at WAAPA she has directed and devised seven works and worked on over 30 theatre shows, she was also invited to work at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as Movement Director for The Jungle Book. Prior to WAAPA she was the Head of Movement and Associate Director at the Actors Centre Australia from 2008–2015. In 2025 she will begin working for award winning arts organisation, Shark Island Institute, Kangaroo Valley as the co-executive director https://sharkisland.com.au/kangaroo-valley/

In the last 10 years she has made three independent theatre works including The Astronaut and HIRO: the man who sailed his house for The Blue Room Theatre, both to critical acclaim. In 2011/12 Samantha was part of Cultivate/Culminate, the inaugural dance theatre development program through Force Majeure, Samantha’s work was then developed into Safety in Numbers at Riverside Theatre in 2014.

She has trained with The SITI Company in NY and more recently in the Six Viewpoints with the late Mary Overlie. In 2013 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship researching devising processes in Spain, Belgium and the UK. She was the Associate Artist for Critical Path 2005 and co-founder of award winning creative space Queen Street Studio (Now Brand X). She is the founder of independent dance space ReadyMade Works now in its tenth year https://www.readymadeworks.com.au and a certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, taught and mentored by senior teacher Caroline Coggins.

Samantha has a BA in Dance from UWS Nepean, a Postgraduate in Arts Management from UTS and a Postgraduate in Movement Studies from NIDA where she trained with the great Keith Bain and Julia Cotton. She is also trained in intimacy coordination and in 2023 her process of choreography as consent in Actor Training was published in Australasian Drama Studies Journal alongside Dr Renée Newman.

If you are interested in Samantha consulting, directing or teaching for you, please:

Samantha Chester’s CV