Meryl Tankard

Meryl Tankard

Meryl Tankard was born in 1955 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.^[1] She was the youngest of three sisters, was born to Clifford Matthew (known as Mick) and Margaret Mary (known as Margot). Mick was a sergeant fitter in the RAAF's Motor Transport section, although had served in the AIF during World War II. The family moved to various bases during her early years. She had her first dance lessons in Melbourne, Victoria, studying ballet for 10 years with Bruce and Bernice Morrow, who included improvisations at the end of each class.^[2]

In 1965 the family moved to

She moved back to Melbourne with her mother in 1973, and entered the Australian Ballet School there.^[1][3] In 1974 she was awarded an Australian Ballet Society scholarship in 1974.^[2]

Tankard's professional career began as a dancer with the Australian Ballet at the end of 1975.^[1][2] She also choreographed her first work, Birds behind Bars, for a choreographic workshop program, Dance Horizons, in 1977.^[3][2]

Tankard's early successes as a performer came when she was invited to work in Germany with

She then spent several years between Australia and Europe. In Europe, as a freelance choreographer, she had works commissioned in France, the Netherlands, and Germany.[1] She also worked with theatre companies such as the Nimrod and Sydney Theatre Company, as well as with the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.^[2]

She was a guest performer with Bausch's company as well as performing in Lindsay Kemp's company.^[3] In Australia in 1984 she made Echo Point,^{[citation needed]} and in 1986 performed in Robyn Archer's television production of The Pack of Women for ABC Television and played co-lead in the ABC TV series Dancing Daze, produced by Jan Chapman^[3] and partly directed by Jane Campion.^[4]

In 1988 she created and performed solo her full-length Two Feet, which marked a major turning point in the creative collaboration she had established with photographer and visual artist and life partner Regis Lansac,^[5][6][1][3]

In 1989 Tankard was asked to become artistic director of a small company in Canberra, which became the Meryl Tankard Company.^[1][3][2] Works in Canberra included Banshee (1989), VX18504 (1989), Nuti (1990), Kikimora (1990), Court of Flora (1990), Chants de Mariage I and II (1991–1992), and Songs with Mara (1992).^[3][7] VX18504 took its title from her father's army service number, with the dance showing the isolation of war and the differences in how men and women process their emotions.^[2] Her company toured internationally to Japan, China, Indonesia, and Italy, as well as touring interstate twice to Tasmania, once to Brisbane, and for festival performances in Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne.^[8] During this time, Tankard also revived Echo Point and Two Feet,^[7] collaborated with the theatre director Pierre Bokor on Circo (1991),^[7] and created choreography for Opera Australia's Death in Venice (1989).^[7]

In 1992 she was made Canberra Citizen of the Year, "for her dedication to the arts community in Canberra and lifting the profile both nationally and internationally". This was shortly before she moved to

In 1993 she was commissioned by ABC Television to create a seven-minute dance, "Sloth", as part of Seven Deadly Sins, a series of short films by seven contemporary Australian choreographers.^{[7][12][13][14]} During her time in Adelaide she also choreographed The Deep End (1996) for The Australian Ballet a second work for Opera Australia, Orphee et Euridyce,^[7][11] The Blue Angel for Horipro in Tokyo.^[11]

Tankard left Adelaide in 1998 or 1999, after a very public disagreement with the ADT board, and again started working as a freelance choreographer.

Since 2000 Tankard has worked freelance.[4] For the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Tankard created Deep Sea Dreaming, to widespread acclaim.^[11] In the same year, she choreographed The Beautiful Game for Andrew Lloyd Webber, which played in the West End of London.^[7] In 2001, Tiffany & Co. in New York commissioned the work Living Oceans,^[4] to coincide with Pearls, an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History^[17] in New York and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. This dance later developed into Pearl, for the Sydney Opera House 30th birthday celebrations.^[4]

In 2002 she and Regis Lansac together created Merryland, a work for

In 2005, Tankard did the choreography for the feature film The Book of Revelation, by Ana Kokkinos.^[4] In 2007, she created Kaidan for the Sydney Festival, based on a Japanese folk legend, with Australia's Taikoz drumming ensemble.^[2]

In 2008, Tankard created her first work for the Sydney Dance Company, Inuk 2.^[11]

Her 2009 work, The Oracle, a re-imagining of Stravinsky's 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring as a solo piece for Australian dancer Paul White, toured internationally to great acclaim.^[1][2]

In 2018, she remounted Furioso for the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium.^[4]

In March 2019 she staged a production of her 1988 creation, Two Feet, for the Adelaide Festival, with Natalia Osipova in the lead role.^{[5][18][1][4]} Also for the 2019 festival, she also created Zizanie for Restless Dance Theatre, which received rave reviews. Regis Lansac did the videography.^[19][20][21]

In 2021, Tankard choreographed Claudel for the Sydney Opera House,^[1] presented by Tinderbox Productions. The ballet was written and directed by playwright Wendy Beckett, and is based on the life of sculptor Camille Claudel, and her complex relationship with Auguste Rodin.^[22]

In November 2022, as part of ICON, An Extraordinary Event, a tribute to Pina Bausch at WAAPA, Tankard's Chants de Mariage 2 was performed for the first time in Perth, using the original 1991 costumes. Reviewer Rita Clarke wrote: "Tankard's choreography, music and design is stunning, with a visual beauty that leaves you lost for words".^[23] In January 2023, she choreographed Kairos for FORM Dance Projects at Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival. This work, a world premiere, was composed by Elena Kats-Chernin, who also played piano live, while video design and photography was by Regis Lansac.^[24]

In 2010, after a year's full-time study, Tankard earned a Graduate Diploma in Directing (Fiction & Non-Fiction) from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School,^[25][4] and directed two short films, Moth and Mad.^[4] Moth, a fiction film based on stories of young women incarcerated in reform schools in the 1960s and 1970s, was filmed around the world in film festivals.^[4] Mad is a documentary film about the writer and poet Sandy Jeffs, who suffers from schizophrenia. Her poems were made into songs, to music composed by Elena Kat-Chernin. The film won Best Music Award at the 2010 Bondi Short Film Festival, and was screened at WOW Film Festival in Sydney.^[4]

In 2015 she directed and co-produced (with

As of 2024[update] she is working on a screenplay for a feature film.^[4]

Tankard was the subject of a film herself – a 55-minute documentary called The Black Swan, directed by Michelle Mahrer and produced by Don Featherstone, released in 1995.^[11][33][34]

Wild Swans and The Deep End were filmed and screened on ABC Television,^[11] and Tankard was the subject of a documentary on the making of Wild Swans.^[4]

Awards and honours received by Tankard and her works include:

• 2019: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)^[35][4]
• 2016: Recipient of the
  Jim Bettison & Helen James Award^[36][4]
• 2010: Outstanding Choreography Award at the Australian Dance Awards, for The Oracle^[1][2]
• 2004:
  Australia Council Creative Fellowship, to develop projects with composer Elena Kats-Chernin^[2]
• 2001: Centenary Medal^[37]
• 2002: Lifetime Achievement award Australian Dance Awards^[11][2]
• 2000:
  Helpmann Award for Costume Design for Deep Sea dreaming for Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2000, jointly with designer Dan Potra^[2]
• 2000: Nomination for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, for Beautiful Game^[4]
• 1998: Mobil Pegasus Award for Best Production Inuk Summer Festival Hamburg
• 1995:
  Australian Opera^[4]
• 1994: Betty Pounder Award for Original Choreography at the Green Room Awards (Victoria) for Nuti
• 1994: Green Room Awards for Dance Direction, Design, Management for Nuti and Kikimora
• 1993: Green Room Award for Female Dancer in leading role Two Feet
• 1993:
  Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Individual Achievement^[11][2]
• 1992: Canberra Citizen of the Year[2]
• 1983:
  Berlin Film Festival Sydney an der Wupper^[3]