The Coppelia Project
Sponsors


The Coppelia Project has been assisted by the Australia Council for the Arts, The Western Australian Department of Culture and the Arts, The West Australian Ballet, and  many generous contributors to its Idiegogo crowd-funding campaign. Hamelin Bay is the Project wine sposor. The key artistic and technical Personel involved in the Project are listed below.

The official names of the four Coppelia Project Robot Ballerina Dolls, as given by the "Co-Inventor" sponsors (see below) are:
"Bella Isadora"
"Giselle Juliet"
"Lilas Juliana Areias"
"Catherine Jane"

Contributors to the Indiegoggo Crowd Funding Campaign include:
Co-Inventors
Penelope Eagle 
Anonymous Contributor
Juliana Areias
Jane Drake-Brockman

Pirouette Patrons
Catherine Haines
Simon Haines
William Haines
Paul Holmes a'Court
Shirley O'Keeffe
Anonymous Contributor
 
Barre Sponsors
Kat Black
Frank Lane

Class Supporters
Claire Skipworth
Claire Hogan
Tamryn Barker

Pointe Principals
Andra Kins
Oliver Kellow
Ben Joel
Diana Drake-Brockman
Jane Drake-Brockman
Stuart Green
Dani Wright
Caroline McCarthy
L Wedderburn
Jenna Downing
Sherry Stephenson
Anonymous Contributor

Kinetic Contributors
Serena Altea
Katia M Forrester







  West Australian Ballet

Personel 

The Coppelia Project is the original work of Geoffrey Drake-Brockman. I’m a full-time professional artist, working primarily with robotics, but also using lasers, and other materials and technologies. I have a technical background (BSc in computer science) and have spent many years in the commercial world as a programmer and as an IT Manager running large-scale IT projects. I’ve also been to Art School and done a Master of Arts degree. I recently gave a TEDx talk about my art practice you can watch here.

Also on the Coppelia Project team we have:

  • Jayne Smeulders - Principal Dancer. Jayne is Prima Ballerina of the West Australian Ballet. Jayne has trained and performed ballet her whole life – essentially her first steps were “en pointe”. The Coppelia Project dolls are based on a full body cast of Jayne. She will participate as dance consultant, and robot trainer. Jayne trained in Germany at Hamburg Staatsoper GmbH Balletschule and performed with Netherlands Dance Theatre II in Amsterdam. Jayne was the 2009 WA Citizen of the Year for services to arts, culture and entertainment.
  • David Veerman - Embedded Systems Design Engineer. Former avionics engineer, robot enthusiast, self-taught electronics and realtime software genius. David is responsible for custom-developed electronics, firmware, and motion control software systems for the Coppelia robots.
  • Ruvan Muthu-Krishna - Mechanical & Software Development. 5th-year mechatronics engineer student who assists with hardware and software aspects of the Project. Ruvan volunteers his time to The Coppelia Project, sighting it as a great application of his studies and example of animatronic art.
  • Chrissie Parrot - Choreographer. Chrissie is a prolific, multi award-winning choreographer. She has worked work for companies including WA Ballet, Synfionetta de Lorraine France, Tanz Forum Cologne and Theatre Vorpommern in Stralsund. Chrissie is fascinated by the Coppelia story and has choreographed her version of Coppélia for WA Ballet.