Performer / Creator / Teacher
Artist Biography
Jacob Watton by Kate Lund
Jacob Watton is a Queensland-based choreographer, performer, and teaching artist based in Magandjin (Brisbane). Jacob holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Dance Performance from the Queensland University of Technology and has built a dynamic career creating, performing, and educating across contemporary dance, children’s theatre, and cross-disciplinary performance.
Jacob’s choreographic work has been celebrated nationally and internationally. His dance-technology work 1:1 toured to the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria in 2017. In 2019, Jacob presented and JULIET and 9 to Forever at the Busan International Dance Festival in South Korea. In 2020, he premiered his solo technology-theatre work Alexa, Turn on the Lights at Curious Arts Festival in Toowoomba. The work went on to sell-out seasons at Wynnum Fringe, Artlands Conference, Fringe World (WA), Adelaide Fringe, Underground Festival (Gold Coast), and Redlands Performing Arts Centre — all made possible by a fruitful partnership between Jacob and Cluster Arts.
He co-created and performs The Great Beach Adventure, a children’s theatre work with Courtney Wagner, developed through Backbone Youth Arts. The show premiered at Backbone Festival and Skypoint (2023), then toured to Woodford Folk Festival (2023) and North Australian Festival of Art (2024), bringing vibrant, accessible theatre to audiences of all ages.
Jacob’s recent performance credits include the world premiere of Trent Dalton’s Love Stories, adapted for stage by Tim McGarry, directed by Sam Strong, and choreographed by Nerida Matthaei. Originally Presented by Brisbane Festival and QPAC at the Playhouse Theatre (2024), Love Stories has toured to the North Australian Festival of Art, Merrigong Theatre Company (2025), and Adelaide Festival Centre (2025), with further engagements in Darwin, Parramatta, Canberra, the Gold Coast, and New Zealand in late 2025. Jacob also appeared in The Next 14 Seconds, Phluxus2 Dance Collective’s major new dance-theatre work created with Nerida Matthaei and presented by QPAC.
He continues to tour regionally with RAVA Productions’ beloved adaptations of Charlotte’s Web and The Wind in the Willows, performing as Templeton and Water Rat, and leading education workshops alongside the tour. Most recently, Jacob co-devised RAVA’s latest production, Fractured Fairytales, which will tour regional Queensland in 2026. Jacob also facilitated and performed in Angela Chaplin’s multi-year community dance project If Only I Could, celebrating older Australians, which culminated in a season at QPAC.
As a dedicated educator, Jacob has been teaching across programs at Queensland College of Dance and Mad Dance House since 2017 and has served as a sessional lecturer at QUT. He also supports youth dancers as co-choreographer and facilitator for youth companies like RB Corp (Rorschach, 2024) and Merge Dance Theatre (ELEMENTS, 2024), sharing his passion for movement, theatricality, and collaborative practice.
The Great Beach Adventure
Two best friends get ready to go out on their big adventure to the beach! But what will they need? Swimmers so they can dive into the waves? Sunscreen to slip, slop and slap! They might even stumble across some pirates, so they'll need to pack their swords!
The Great Beach Adventure is a story about Imagination. Jacob. has never been to the Beach; Courtney has. Inspired by the way young people play, their trip to the beach happens in a living room, exploring all the adventures that the beach might bring without ever stepping foot on sand.
Alexa, Turn on the Lights
Step into the world of Alexa, Turn on the Lights, an innovative performance where human creativity and AI collide—technology that's sitting right next to you and is always listening.
A begrudging duet between performer and creator Jacob Watton and an Amazon Alexa smart home device.
With wit, empathy, and raw emotion, Watton examines the reliance on technology to bridge human connection. This intimate, interactive show features bespoke programming that allows Alexa to actively respond and shape each performance in real time, meaning that no two shows are alike.
SYNTHWAVE
SynthWave is a bespoke dance and technology app developed by brother duo, Ben and Jacob Watton. The app uses the sensors in your device to transform your bodies movement into music. This highly interactive app highlights the bodies use of pace, direction, relationship, and speed and its connection to technology to develop nuanced musical scores that are responsive to the body moving.
“The standout performance is Jacob Watton who hilariously opened with "my name is Jacob and I'm kind of a Toowoomba icon"… Just when you thought comedy was his main game, he wowed the crowd with his prowess in the contemporary dance world, showing incredible strength and strong lines”
— Rae Wilson, Reviewing: Small Town Stuff, The Queensland Times
“Jacob Watton commanded the stage as Ratty, the Judge and the Train Driver. His physical comedy and characterisation were brilliant and you couldn’t wait for him to reappear on stage for his next scene.“
— Madeleine Tiller, Reviewing: Wind in the Willows, Stage Whispers
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