As Sydney Dance Company's Artistic Directors for over three decades, choreographer Graeme Murphy and his creative associate, Janet Vernon, created a unique repertoire of dance works, including over thirty-five full evening productions and a diverse range of short works. The Heritage Collection acknowledges this culturally significant achievement and provides a window into these remarkable works...

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  • Graeme Murphy AO

    The Collection

    Full-evening performances and shorter works have been edited and digitally remastered/ restored from many video formats, in their entirety. To date, the following programs have been completed: Free Radicals; Grand; Shades of Gray; Mythologia; Tivoli; …

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  • Original Program Cover

    SYNERGY WITH SYNERGY

      A concerto for man, muscle and machine, Synergy with Synergy is an extraordinarily unique and exciting piece of dance. Inspired by the diversity and power of percussion, Graeme Murphy incorporates an exhilarating score from …

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  • air

    Air and Other Invisible Forces

     Air and Other Invisible Forces is essentially a non-narrative work. Graeme Murphy draws his inspiration from the music of Australian composer Michael Askill and Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. Air and Other Invisible Forces takes the …

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  • Mythologia Poster (photo ©Richard de Chazal)

    MYTHOLOGIA

    Commissioned for the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, Mythologia takes its inspiration from the heroes of Greek mythology. Inspired in particular by the Greek poet Pindar who named Heracles as the founder of the Olympic Games, …

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  • Torvill and Dean

    Torvill and Dean

    Torvill and Dean are English ice dancers and former British, European, Olympic, and World champions. At the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won gold and became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all …

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  • Iva Davies in Boxes

    BOXES

    In this first of two major collaborations with composer and performer Iva Davies (also Berlin in 1995) and the band Icehouse, Graeme Murphy produced a phenomenally successful dance/theatre/rock music extravaganza which quickly filled the Opera …

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  • ELLIPSE original poster

    ELLIPSE

    This work reunites three distinctive designers with whom Graeme Murphy has closely collaborated throughout the years, including the 1999 production Air and other invisible forces. They are Australian painter and designer Gerard Manion, fashion designer …

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  • TIVOLI Poster

    TIVOLI

    There was a time when the Tivoli Circuit reigned supreme. This was the home of variety theatre and vaudeville – where dancers, acrobats, comedians and ventriloquists trod the boards and where unclad beauties stood immobile. …

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  • Fornicon poster

    Fornicon

    This 1995 Review by Patricia Laughlin says it all… There has always been a strong element of sexuality in the work of Graeme Murphy. Fornicon continues the theme, taking it somewhat farther than he’s gone …

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  • Stefan Karlsson with Vicki Attard and Janet Vernon in 'Song of the Night' (photo Branco Gaica)

    SONG OF THE NIGHT

    Originaly created in 1987 for the Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague, Graeme Murphy’s Song of the Night is a non-narrative work based on the music of composer Karol Szymanowski  Symphony No 3, Song of …

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  • Linda Ridgway as 'Beauty' and Brett Morgan as 'The Beast' (photo Branco Gaica 1997)

    BEAUTY and THE BEAST

    Beauty and the Beast is an amalgam of serious dance narrative and cabaret theatre/ rock opera (for which the show was originally created in 1993).  Inspired by the hypnotic interpretation of the tale as depicted …

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  • Daphnis and Chloé (Vicky Attard as Chloé & David Prudham as Daphnis - Photo Branco Gaica)

    DAPHNIS and CHLOÉ

    Originally premiered in 1980 and restaged in 1983 and 1989. Graeme Murphy AO often spoke of how he based his telling of the story of Daphnis and Chloé on the novella by Longus, essentially giving …

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  • KING Roger poster

    King Roger

    Graeme Murphy already had demonstrated a notable rapport with the music of Karol Szymanowski, established first with Shining (1986) and later with Song of the Night (1987).  When he decided to adapt the composer’s opera …

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  • Free Radicals program frontcover

    FREE RADICALS

    Free Radicals was conceived as an experimental fusion of dance and percussion. Choreographer Graeme Murphy and composer Michael Askill created the music and movement simultaneously in the studio. The result is a witty interplay that …

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  • THE DIRECTOR'S CUT POSTER

    The Director’s CUT

    The Director’s Cut features three dance works, two choreographed by Graeme Murphy and one by Narelle Benjamin. Graeme Murphy’s CUT was the main Act at 40 min and all were filmed at the Sydney Opera …

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  • Salome - Program's cover with Bradley Chatfield, Josef Brown & Tracey Carrodus (photo ©Lois Greenfield)

    SALOME

    Graeme Murphy’s internationally acclaimed Salome is a breathtaking interpretation of the fascinating biblical tale of Salome and her dance of the Seven Veils. Graeme’s sinuous choreography and sly wit coupled with the evocative rhythms of …

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  • grand_pix

    GRAND

    Grand is both a celebration and fusion of dance and piano. Close to Murphy’s heart, Grand is dedicated to the life of his mother Betty. Murphy has been greatly influenced by music for piano and …

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  • Shades of Gray (photo/video collage ©Philippe Charluet)

    SHADES OF GRAY

    Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Graeme Murphy’s Shades of Gray sees the infamous Dorian Gray transported into the world of dance. Receiving its premiere on 25 May 2004 at the Sydney …

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  • EVER after EVER poster photo

    EVER after EVER

    Graeme and Janet’s farewell tribute was the culmination of a 30 year journey that created Australia’s leading contemporary dance company. Ever After Ever included the world premiere of Short Stories, choreographed to Carl Vine’s Anne Landa Preludes. Graeme’s …

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  • Original BERLIN poster

    BERLIN

    Graeme Murphy’s BERLIN  is an exploration using the city of Berlin as a symbol of decline and resurrection. Seductively theatrical, BERLIN explores the heart and mind of what it is to be human. A hauntingly …

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  • HUA MULAN poster

    HUA MULAN

    Graeme Murphy’s Hua Mulan was based on China’s legendary tale of a young soldier, the soldier’s family and the twists of fate and circumstances that gave birth to a surprising love story.  In the legend, …

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  • Nearly Beloved - The Poster

    NEARLY BELOVED

    “Playing with time and memory has always been a favourite pastime of mine. In Nearly Beloved, the present arrives some twenty years late to find the past still patiently waiting. What might have been becomes …

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  • Kate Dunn in Piano Sonata (©Branco Gaica photo)

    Piano Sonata

    This 25 min non-narrative contemporary work was devised with dynamic, scenic lighting effects and an intense piano composition by Carl Vine. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 1992, restaged in 1994. See also Carl Vine interview

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  • viridian

    VIRIDIAN

    Created in 1979, VIRIDIAN premiered in New York in 1981 with DIALOGUES and DAPHNIS AND CHLOÉ, and was restaged at the Sydney Opera House in 1992. VIRIDIAN takes its name from an evocative score by Australian composer …

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  • Graeme Murphy - Heroe's photo for Body of Work

    BODY OF WORK – a Retrospective

    Body of Work – a Retrospective was both a gala performance at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 6 May 2000 but a slightly different show was also performed nationally throughout Australia in the same …

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  • Dancers in VAST

    VAST

    In 1988, Graeme Murphy was commissioned by the Australian Bicentennial Authority to create Vast, the National Bicentennial Dance Event. Involving seventy dancers from four dance companies – Australian Dance Theatre, West Australian Ballet, the Queensland …

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  • Poppy - the original poster

    POPPY – the life and art of Jean Cocteau

    Poppy premiered on 12 April 1978 at Sydney’s Theatre Royal and was Graeme Murphy’s first full-length work for Sydney Dance Company (it was later restaged in 1987 and 1991). Performed to a score by Carl …

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  • Kraanerg Cover

    KRAANERG

    Performed and filmed at the Sydney Opera House in 1988, Kraanerg is about 80 minutes of ceaseless invention on stage from Graeme Murphy, with an intense and entrancing music score by Iannis Xenakis conducted by …

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  • Some Rooms - Janet Vernon & Ross Philip in the bathroom (photo @Branco Gaica)

    SOME ROOMS

    CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE In Some Rooms choreographer Graeme Murphy has chosen four rooms to reflect different aspects of the human outlook. “The character of The Voyager is on a journey of discovery,” explained Murphy before the …

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  • Shéhérazade - Graeme Murphy & Janet Vernon (photo ©Branco Gaica)

    Shéhérazade

    Ravel’s images are more of desire and erotic anguish than the hedonistic passions conjured by the title “Shéhérazade“. This intensely private composer has created an exquisite sensuality out of melancholy – where longing itself threatens …

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  • Janet Vernon & Kelvin Coe in Homelands (©Branco Gaica photo)

    Homelands

    Choreographer’s Note:  A woman, at last in harmony with the harsh Australian environment, recalls her youth in gentler surrounds and the tortured longing she felt before finally recognizing and accepting the strange beauty of her …

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  • Rumours II – Jennifer Barry as the Transistor Girl (photo ©Branco Gaica)

    RUMOURS – a trilogy

    Graeme Murphy devised Rumours in 1978 (restaged 1979-81) as a three part ode to the city of Sydney.  Each part of this trilogy is related to the other by the source of its inspiration – …

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  • Programs

    “Between the years 1976 and 2007, countless people have contributed in diverse and wonderful ways to a body of work choreographed for Sydney Dance Company. These works reflected the times and defined a new period in dance. More recently, a group of caring friends have through their generosity made this Heritage program possible. To you all I am eternally grateful – perhaps posterity will be too”
    Graeme Murphy AO

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