 Imagine
beaches awash with blue water, white sand and gleaming bodies. Imagine
shining cities with streets alive with the international wit of
a confluence of cultures. That is the irrepressible spirit of Australia.
It is also the heartbeat of its foremost contemporary dance company,
Sydney Dance Company, headed by Artistic Director Graeme Murphy
and Associate Artistic Director Janet Vernon.
When the company returns to the U.S. for a coast-to-coast, 10-city
tour beginning in February, it will bring the American premiere
of Murphy’s “Ellipse,” which was greeted with
ecstatic applause and rave reviews when it opened at the Sydney
Opera House in 2002.
Set to a collage of scores by contemporary Australian composer Matthew
Hindson, “Ellipse” is Murphy stripped to the bone. Australian
visual artist Gerard Manion’s set is a simple metal construction
that creates a parabola through which the dancers move and Damien
Cooper’s lighting flows. Testing the limits of the performers’
limitless energy and Murphy’s infinite imagination, “Ellipse”
is a suite of seven dances, united by their sensuality and varying
emotional resonances. The dance travels through feelings of lament,
joy, desire, rivalry, tenderness—all rivetingly expressed
by the company’s dancers. The costumes are by renowned Australian
fashion designer Akira Isogawa, who together with Manion and Cooper,
collaborated with Murphy on the choreographer’s 1999 “Air
and Other Invisible Forces.”
The company’s 2004 tour opens at the Annenberg Center for
the Arts in Philadelphia, where the company plays February 5–7.
The tour continues with a performance at The Concert Hall at SUNY,
Purchase College (February 13); Staller Center for the Arts at SUNY,
Stony Brook (February 14); The Joyce Theater in New York City (February
17–22); Gailliard Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, SC (February
24); Fox Theater, St. Louis, MO (February 27 & 28); Aspen District
Theater, Aspen, CO (March 2 & 3); Yardley Hall at Johnson County
Community College, Kansas City, KS (March 6); Jackson Hall at University
of California, Davis (March 9); and Memorial Auditorium at Stanford
University, Palo Alto, CA (March 12 & 13).
Headed by Graeme Murphy since 1976, Sydney Dance Company was created
in 1969 as The Dance Company (NSW). Since the repertoire and dancing
reflected the innovative energy of its home city, the name of the
company was changed to Sydney Dance Company in 1979. Under Murphy
and his artistic associate Janet Vernon, the company has become
one of the most original and innovative troupes on the international
dance scene with over 20 international tours to Asia, Europe and
North and South America. The company’s performing home base
is the spectacular Sydney Opera House, where the troupe has performed
semiannually since 1977.
Murphy has choreographed over 42 dances (24 of which are full length)
for Sydney Dance Company since he became its artistic director 27
years ago. Beginning his dance career as a performer with The Australian
Ballet, for whom he also created his first ballet “Ecco Le
Diavole” in 1971, Murphy later danced with the Sadler’s
Wells Royal Ballet and the Ballets Felix Blaska in France. In addition
to his work with Sydney Dance Company, Murphy has choreographed
five works for The Australian Ballet, including an original, complete
“Nutcracker” in 1992 and a hugely successful, new “Swan
Lake,” which won the 2003 Australian Dance Award for Best
Choreography. He has also created ballets for Nederlands Dans Theater,
the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company and
was commissioned to create a solo for Mikhail Baryshnikov for White
Oak Dance Project’s 1996 Australian tour. Other works include
2000’s “Mythologia” for the Sydney Olympics International
Arts Festival and “Tivoli,” a dance musical from 2001,
which was awarded four Australian Dance Awards.
A successful director and choreographer for opera, Murphy has directed
Brian Howard’s “Metamorphosis” and Giacomo Puccini’s
“Turandot,” in addition to Richard Strauss’s “Salome.”
In 1994 he created a new production of Hector Berlioz’s “Les
Troyens,” bringing the singers and dancers of Opera Australia
together with the Sydney Dance Company. In 1999, he choreographed
The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Samson and Dalila”
which was later aired nationally on PBS Great Performances. He has
also worked with former world champion ice skating duo Jayne Torvill
and Christopher Dean to create their world tour production and TV
program “Fire and Ice.”
Murphy is the recipient of his country’s most important honors
including an AM in 1982. He was honored at the Inaugural Sydney
Opera House Honors in 1993, named a National Living Treasure in
1998 and is the recipient of three honorary doctorates. In 2003,
he received the Centenary Medal from the Australian government for
service to the development of dance in Australia.
###
Sydney Dance Company’s 2004 tour to the United States has
been made possible with the invaluable support of the following
organizations: Australia Council for the Arts; Australian Consulate-General,
New York; Novell; Qantas Airways; City of Sydney; Wallenius Wilhelmsen;
and NSW Ministry for the Arts.
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