staff & creative Team
Cat SWEENEY
Founder & Director
Cat has been working in the community arts and youth sector for over 17 years in various roles from event management through to performance, and everything in between – giving her a vast skill set and extensive experience base in every aspect of the entertainment, and youth community arts industry. Cat’s vision and ‘Make It Happen’ attitude has seen her make the impossible possible by following her intuition and staying true to her values of culture and community. From coordinating major Hip Hop festivals at Fed Square, to being awarded a Young Social Pioneer for her youth work initiatives, to becoming the First Australian in history to compete in the International Dancehall Queen Competition in Montego Bay, Jamaica – Cat’s achievements are diverse and extensive. While completing her degree in Social Science (Youth Work), Cat initiated many youth community arts projects and worked for leading organisations such as Multicultural Arts Victoria, Cultural Infusion, Western Edge Youth Arts, and The Arts Centre on many projects that, over the years gave her constant motivation and inspiration to continue on her quest to enrich and change people’s lives through their engagement in the arts, music, dance, culture, and creative processes. Cat’s work has always been about creating an alternative space to the mainstream rat race to facilitate experiences for everyone – no matter what their background – to get back to the essence of what it means to be HUMAN.
Lerato Masiyane
Youth Officer & choreographer
Lerato aka Lee is a Zimbabwean born performer and dance teacher. Lerato migrated to New Zealand where she lived most of her life before moving to Melbourne, Australia, to complete her studies in youth work. Since completing her studies Lerato has continued to build her youth work skills and combine them with her passion for dance to inspire those around her. Including working with multiple communities and schools in Australia. Lerato specializes in Afro Dance and Dancehall which has allowed her to support and work with a range of artists in Australia and around the world. Lerato is now focused on building her skills as a choreographer and helping to build the Afro Dance community in Melbourne.
Lee became Australia’s Dancehall Queen in 2016 and travelled and trained in Jamaica in the same year, she has also performed for big name artists such as Baker Boy and Sampa the Great name a few.
In 2019 Lee was appointed as Jungle City’s first Youth Program Coordinator, facilitating various projects, including our Culture Queenz youth mentor program, and Jungle City Jam Youth Engagement project supported by the State Government’s Multicultural Community Participation program. In 2020 Lee formed her first independent dance program for young women of African descent called ‘Boldly’ as a means to support, nurture and empower young women of colour in Melbourne through dance.
CHUBY DICE
CULTURAL LEADER & choreographer
Chuby Dice is one of the top dancers in Jamaica and leader of Jamaican dancehall crew Black Dice. He featured on the big screen in films including ‘Intent 2’ and ‘King of the Dancehall’ directed by Nick Cannon, and music videos for top artists including Vybz Kartel, Busta Rymes, Stylo G, Elephant Man, Shawn Storm and Australian producer Monkey Marc to name a few. His team Black Dice have gained much street cred and global recognition over the past few years for bringing the fire back to Jamaican Dancehall street parties with their pyrotechnic displays, and creation of popular party steps such as ‘Swing It’, ‘Move a Foot’, and ‘Tek Piece a It’
Over the past few years living in Australia Chuby Dice has broadened his skill base as a dancer to include primary school education and youth work. He is the dance teacher at Fitzroy Community School and has worked in remote communities in South Australia utilizing his dance culture to uplift the lives of young people.
He is Jungle City’s Cultural Leader and adviser in all matters related to Jamaican and Dancehall culture, and is one of our lead choreographers, creating for our many student and professional dance teams.
Tina Demelo
Community outreach & choreographer
Born in Australia with East Timorese & Angolan heritage Tina is a freelance community dancer and choreographer. Tina trains, performs and dances in the styles of Dancehall, Hip Hop, Afro dances, West African, and Timorese traditional dance. Drawing from her ancestry line & modern dance influences Tina integrates & channels these movements and stories into her daily dance practices, making her a multiskilled creative force. Tina utilizes dance -the universal language to unite, connect and bring joy to others with her captivating, infectious and welcoming energy!! She is committed to empowering others through dance which has seen her work in the community arts sector for 10 years. As a registered nurse merging her passion for dance and community she has collaborated with various community organizations predominately with Indigenous Hip Hop Projects (IHHP), running workshops in over 100 remote communities throughout Australia to break down barriers, and promote positive social, physical & mental health well-being. Other diverse community organisations she has teamed with to design, implement and deliver successful creative art supportive programs include Timor Oan’S, Outer Urban Projects, Jungle City Projects, SIGNAL, Whittlesea community connections, Anti-Racism-Action-Band (A.R.A.B), Youth Activating Youth (Y.A.Y), & Footscray community arts. Tina De Melo was crowned Australian DanceHall Queen (DHQ) in 2015, & placed top 10 in the International Dancehall Queen Competition in 2015 in Jamaica (the home of dancehall). She has performed at many festivals throughout Australia including supporting artists such as Sampa the Great, and features in music videos with artists such as Baker Boy, Thelma Plum, Emma Donovan, Hermitude to name a few. With many years of experience, she has supported International dancehall artists Beenie Man, Elephant Man, DeMarco, Charley Black, Cecile, Kranium, Konshens on their Internnational tours. |
As well as performing and facilitating workshops Tina is committed to ongoing growth and appropriately educating herself in the dance styles she practices, thus attending various training in these styles weekly and internationally online.
Emma Clark
Emma is a Melbourne-based content producer and Jungle City student. From dancing in shops as a kid, to performing with bellydance sisters in Melbourne and studying Afro-Brazilian dance in Salvador, Emma has found a new home in dancehall and samba with Jungle City. Emma has created all of our student profiles, interviewing many of our diverse community members and bringing their stories to life for us to share on or website and through our social platforms.
You can contact Emma via her website linked below to see her portfolio and get in touch for your own content production needs.