In 1993 Meryl Tankard took over the role of artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre in South Australia and renamed it the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre. In 1989 Tankard had become artistic director of the Canberra based Human Veins Theatre and renamed it the Meryl Tankard Company. She left Canberra in late 1992.
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Adelaide-based Australian Dance Theatre
was founded in 1965 by Elizabeth Cameron
Dalman. In Dalman's words, the company
was created to 'open the horizons for
provocative contemporary and cutting
edge dance' and Dalman aimed to provide
opportunities for Australian artists
to collaborate in the production of new
work. An important influence on the company's
creativity in these early years was Eleo
Pomare, with whom Dalman had worked in
New York. Dalman was removed from the
company in 1975 and Australian Dance
Theatre went into recess for eighteen
months. The company commenced operations
again in 1977 under the directorship
of Jonathan Taylor, who had danced extensively
with the English company Ballet Rambert,
and who was brought from England specifically
to direct the reformed company. Taylor
introduced the work of British choreographers
including Norman Morrice and Christopher
Bruce as well as choreographing for the
company himself. In 1986 Australian Dance
Theatre was once more looking to move
in a new direction and Anthony Steel
from the Adelaide Festival and ADT dancer
Lenny Westerdijk jointly directed the
company while a new artistic director
was sought. During 1986 the repertoire
of the company was expanded with works
from Ross Coleman, Julia Cotton, Nigel
Kellaway and Helen Herbertson.
In 1987 a new director, Leigh Warren,
was appointed. The company again took
a different direction and became a focus
for Warren's own choreography. Warren
directed the company until 1992. In 1993
another change saw Meryl Tankard take
up the position of director and the company
also underwent a name change to Meryl
Tankard Australian Dance Theatre. Tankard
reworked a number of pieces she had made
while directing the Meryl Tankard Company
in Canberra between 1989 and 1992. She
also created a series of new works that
included
Furioso (1993),
Aurora (1994),
Possessed (1995),
Rasa (1996),
Seulle (1997) and
Inuk (1997). Under Tankard
the company toured extensively in Europe
and America.
Following a series of acrimonius disputes,
Tankard's contract as director came to
an end in 1999. In the same year Garry
Stewart was appointed to the position
of artistic director and the company
assumed its original name, Australian
Dance Theatre. Under Stewart the company
style has changed radically. His dancers
train in a number of distinct, physically
challenging disciplines. In addition
to classical ballet and contemporary
dance techniques they are coached in
gymnastics, breakdance and the martial
arts. The result is a fusion of forms
generating fast, aggressive, risky dance.
Stewart has also committed the company
to the presentation of alternative work
in alternative spaces.
Stewart's first work as artistic director
was
Housedance performed on
the sails of the Sydney Opera House for
the Millennium Broadcast in 2000. Since
then Australian Dance Theatre has been
seen nationally and internationally in
a variety of venues in works that tie
movement to soundscapes and video effects.
Stewart's first full length work for
the company was
Birdbrain, a choreographic
deconstruction of
Swan Lake that premiered
at the 2000 Adelaide Festival. His deconstruction
of
Giselle, entitled
G, premiered at the 2008
Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts and then
toured Europe.
Australian Dance Theatre was the recipient
of the Australian Dance Award for outstanding
performance by a company in 2002 for
The Age of Unbeauty, in
2004 for
HELD and in 2006 for
Devolution, these works
all choreographed by Stewart. The company
repertoire under Stewart is listed on
its website, available as a link at the
top of this page
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