Wayfinder, Dancenorth; Mutiara, Marrugeku. Sydney Festival, January 19 and 20, 2024

Most of Australia’s well-established contemporary dance companies are based in the country’s capital cities for obvious reasons. That’s where audiences and resources are closest to hand. Adelaide is home to Australian Dance Theatre and Restless Dance Theatre, Brisbane is where you find Australasian Dance Collective, Co3 caters to the Perth audience and so on. Dancenorth…

Michelle’s Story, a film by Meryl Tankard

In 2011 the Brisbane Festival program included the celebrated Belgian company Les Ballets C de la B with Out of Context – for Pina, a tribute to the towering choreographer who died in 2009. Australian dancer Michelle Ryan was invited by artistic director Alain Platel to appear as a guest artist and although she had…

The sweetest choice

CARRIAGEWORKS is Sydney’s other great secular cathedral. This vast late-19th century industrial space, originally built as railway workshops to make train carriages for the growing city, is less than a decade old as a centre for contemporary arts and doesn’t have the instant-recognition factor of the Sydney Opera House, but it, too, is awe-inspiring in…