Contributors

Our contributors—the talented people who research and write about dance—their work champions innovation, creativity and diversity in dance.

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Tetsutoshi Tabata View Full Bio

Tetsutoshi Tabata is a visual installation artist deeply involved with dance performance and projected scenography. In 1994 he co-founded 66b/cell, a collective using real time and pre-recorded computer graphics and animation to create different textures, lighting and kinetic effects. He is currently developing an original multiple projection imaging system.

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Meryl Tankard View Full Bio

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.

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David Throsby View Full Bio

A distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics at Macquarie University, David is internationally known for his work as an economist with specialist interests in the economics of the arts and culture. His research interests include the role of culture in economic development, the economic situation of individual artists, the economics of the performing arts, the creative industries, the economics of heritage and the relationship between cultural and economic policy.

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Kristin Tovson View Full Bio

Kristin Tovson graduated with a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University. As a dancer, she has performed primarily in New York and Boston working with Sara Sweet Rabidoux/hoi polloi. She is the recipient of a 2009-10 Fulbright grant to collaborate with Berlin-based artist Thomas Lehmen, researching choreographic forms and improvisational tools and making a new piece while living in Berlin for the year. She continues to be inspired by her work with dance in a variety of community arts contexts and hopes to continue documenting the importance of community-based work.

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Hilary Trotter View Full Bio

Hilary was dance critic for the Canberra Times from 1972–90. In 1977 she was a founding member of the Australian Association for Dance Education (now the Australian Dance Council – Ausdance Inc.), and was its national president from 1981–84. Hilary was the joint national coordinator of Ausdance from 1985 until 1991, co-managing many projects including partnerships with the Media Arts & Entertainment Alliance (MEAA) to produce the Dancers’ Transition Report (1989), and the National Arts Industry Training Council to produce the first Safe Dance Report (1990). As the writer and editor of many Ausdance publications, Hilary invented the now internationally-recognised term ‘Safe Dance’, with implications for dance practice world wide.

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Valrene Tweedie View Full Bio

Valrene Tweedie's early stage experiences were with the First Australian Ballet and the Polish Australian Ballet. At the age of 14 she auditioned for Colonel de Basil in Sydney and joined his Original Ballet Russe in 1940. She left Australia with the Original Ballet Russe in 1940 and danced extensively in North and South America with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Ballet Theatre. After her return to Australia she became third artistic director of the National Theatre Ballet (1953) staging several ballets from the de Basil repertoire and also choreographing her own works. After the demise of the National Theatre Ballet (1955) Tweedie went on to choreograph for Tivoli revues and the Elizabethan Opera Ballet Company, work in educational ballet programs for the National Theatre Movement. Tweedie began full-time teaching in 1956 and founded Ballet Australia to encourage the creation of new Australian choreography. Tweedie was the recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1991, and an Australian Dance Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998.

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