Internationally acclaimed for the emotional punch packed into her inventive choreography, Meryl Tankard is one of Australia's finest contemporary artists. Tankard continues to work around the world, with recent projects ranging from sell-out seasons of The Oracle in Switzerland (Steps Festival ), Bolero in France with the Lyon Opera Ballet, and her latest work Cinderella in Germany with the Leipzig Ballet. After her recent graduation from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Film Directing her first short film MOTH was most recently screened in Cannes, Prague, Sydney, St Kilda ( Aust's 100 best short films) and is currently touring Australia with WOW Film Festival. Meryl is now working on a feature film script and will be presenting a work in progress of MAD, a music theatre work based on madness, in September this year at the Brisbane Festival

Having leapt to fame in Europe with Pina Bausch, Tankard returned to Australia to create a dance theatre aesthetic all her own. Her time at Australian Dance Theatre is noteworthy for the succession of hit productions she created on a dynamic, versatile company, touring extensively to high acclaim. Tankard's signature work, Furioso, packs the emotional and sensual punch which epitomises her work in a nuanced, sometimes poetic, sometimes fierce production of dense choreographic invention.

Tankard has created work for some of the world's finest companies and her large scale commissions, such as the opening ceremony for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 bear testimony to her imaginative range. Work in film and opera accompanies her choreographic research and ongoing engagement with contemporary dance theatre on the world stage.

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