Ms Alisa Duff

Alisa Duff is an Indigenous Visiting Research Fellow.  Born on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, far north Queensland; she traces her descent from Moa Island in the Torres Strait, the Wuthathi people of North Queensland and the MacDuff clan of Scotland. 

A graduate of NAISDA Dance College, Alisa has worked as a professional classical and contemporary dancer in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.  She has twenty years experience in the cultural sector nationally and abroad in a variety of roles and functions. 

As a producer Alisa has developed and delivered projects such as the Australian Indigenous inclusion to the Danish Royal Wedding in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2004 and the Torres Strait showcase featuring Aria-award winner Uncle Seaman Dan to the World Expo in Aichi, Japan in 2005 amongst other work.  In 2010, she developed the public program of artists’ talks, performances and workshops for the opening of Stage One, new Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander galleries at the National Gallery of Australia.  

In 2009, Alisa was chosen by the British Council Australia as one of three future Indigenous creative leaders in the Arts for the Accelerate - Australia Indigenous creative leadership program.  She spent five weeks in the United Kingdom on a tailored program which included a secondment to the Cultural Olympics for the London 2012 Olympic Games.  In 2010, she was short-listed for the inaugural Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Fellowship by the National Gallery of Australia.

Research focus:

Alisa is currently completing a Master of Arts (Research) through the Queensland University of Technology where she holds the Indigenous Postgraduate Research Award.

Alisa’s research area focuses on Dance and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples.  She brings practitioner’s knowledge and experiences in Indigenous and western Dance techniques and disciplines to her thesis The Politics of Dancing (working title).

As a researcher, Alisa is interested in how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance and performance is valued within a mainstream arts paradigm.  Using empirical research methods she interrogates the development of funding, policy and marketing, and their relation to the continuation and evolution of cultural dance practices.