Meryl Tankard

Meryl Tankard is a director/choreographer with a celebrated career both nationally and internationally. She began as a dancer with the Australian Ballet and went on to join Pina Bausch’s Wuppertaler Tanztheater in Germany as a principal soloist. Since 1984 Meryl has created and produced her own dance theatre productions and directed two companies in Australia. Her work has toured to prestigious festivals and venues all over USA , Europe and Asia and she has been the recipient of many awards both here and overseas. As a freelance artist Meryl has created works for major European dance companies including the Lyon Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theatre. In 2000 she created Deep Sea Dreaming, which opened the Sydney Olympic Opening Ceremony and she has choreographed musicals for Disney on Broadway and London’s West End, as well as choreographing for opera and film. Several of her works have been co-produced by the Sydney Opera House and ABC TV has televised her work for the Australia Ballet and Opera Australia. A documentary on her life/work entitled Black Swan was produced by Don Featherstone. Meryl also has a Graduate Degree in film directing from AFTRS.