Email this Article Printer-friendly RELATED ARTICLES: 15 Sep 2006 -- Sydney Dance Company Poised on Edge of Bankruptcy 20 Jul 2006 -- Sydney Dance Company's Directors, Fed Up With Money Troubles, Resign Suddenly 18 May 2005 -- With Sydney Dance Company's Financial Future Uncertain, Graeme Murphy Threatens to Step Down 15 Mar 2005 -- Sydney Dance Company Faces Financial Problems

By Vivien Schweitzer
18 Jan 2007

Sydney Dance Company will tour the U.S. from March 2-31 (its ninth visit), giving its final performances under artistic director Graeme Murphy and associate artistic director Janet Vernon, who recently resigned after nearly 30 years at the company's helm.

The nine-city tour features American premieres of works by Murphy and contemporary American choreographer Stephen Petronio.

Included on the tour will be Murphy's full-length work Grand, which won the 2005 Australian Dance Award for Best Choreography. The piece is structured as a series of vignettes set to music by Bach, Gershwin, Ligeti, Ravel, Henry Cowell, Rachmaninoff, Fats Waller and Debussy. Costumes are by Australian fashion designer Akira Isogawa; Gerard Manion's set incorporates the shell of a suspended grand piano and the onstage piano. The music will be played live by pianist Scott Davie.

Grand is scheduled for the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA (March 6); Yardley Hall in Overland Park, KS (March 10); Meany Hall in Seattle, WA (March 15–17); Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park, PA (March 22); Byham Theater, Pittsburgh, PA (March 24); Rose Lehrman Arts Center, Harrisburg, PA (March 27); and the Zellerbach Theatre, Philadelphia, PA (March 29–31).

Janet Vernon and Graeme Murphy, outgoing artistic directors of Sydney Dance Company.
photo by Jessica Hromas

Stephen Petronio's Underland is a "non-linear, non-narrative exploration of the dark, emotional work of Australian-born, contemporary composer Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds." The piece features designs by Australian video artist Mike Daly and American lighting designer Ken Tabachnick; costumes are by American fashion designer Tara Subkoff/Imitation of Christ.

Underland premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 2003; during the U.S. tour it will be seen at the Mondavi Center in Davis, CA (March 2 & 3) and at Keller Auditorium in Portland, OR (March 13).

Petronio has also created commissioned dances for Ballet Frankfurt, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, Maggio Danza of Florence, London's Ricochet Dance Company, the Hebbel Theater in Berlin and Lyon Opera Ballet, among others.

Graeme Murphy began his dance career as a performer with The Australian Ballet, for whom he also created his first ballet, Ecco le diavole, in 1971. He went on to dance with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the Ballets Félix Blaska in France. He has created about 70 new pieces for Sydney Dance Company as well as numerous works for other Australian and international companies. Also a director and choreographer of opera, Murphy has worked on productions for the Canadian Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Australia.

Sydney Dance Company has been headed by Murphy and Vernon since 1979. Both resigned from the 18-member company last July.

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