- Elizabeth Dalman, AM
It was a real pleasure to see that Elizabeth Cameron Dalman had been awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) in the King’s Birthday Honours announced early in June. Dalman’s dance career has been quite astonishing and has included the establishment of Australian Dance Theatre in 1965, a company that she directed for 10 years and that continues to the present day; the creation of a vast number of contemporary dance works; working and performing with dance artists across the world including in Australia; and the establishment of the Mirramu Creative Arts Centre at Bungendore close to Canberra, along with the Mirramu Dance Company (co-founded with Vivienne Rogis).
Dalman has been the recipient of numerous awards including an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) in 1995; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Dance Awards in 1997; a creative Arts Fellowship from ArtsACT in 2004; induction into the Australian Dance Awards Hall of Fame in 2015; and the award of Canberra CityNews Artist of the Year also in 2015.
Academically Dalman is the recipient of a Masters of Creative Arts degree from the University of Wollongong earned in 1994 and a Doctorate in Dance from the University of Western Sydney achieved in 2012.
The above is a very brief account of an amazing career. She has just recently published a book, Nature Moves, which gives more information. And for more about Dalman on this site see this tag.
- Anandavalli
I had the pleasure in June of recording an oral history interview for the National Library of Australia with renowned Sydney-based dancer, teacher and choreographer, Anadavalli (pictured on the left). Once processed for inclusion in the NLA’s collection, the interview will be readily available to those interested in what has been, and continues to be an exceptional theatrical career.
- Valery Panov (1938-2025)
Valery Panov, a dancer whose professional career started with the Kirov Ballet but who left Russia in 1974, has died in Ashdod, Israel, at the age of 87. Obituaries are available online through a number of sources.
Panov’s career has been written about extensively in books and a variety of other sources but rarely, if ever, do authors mention that he and Galina Panov danced a major season of ten weeks in Australia and New Zealand with Ballet Victoria, the company established by Laurel Martyn.
Unsurprisingly, Edward Pask, in his book Ballet in Australia. The Second Act 1940-1980 does not ignore the visit by the Panovs and gives an account of the productions in which they danced and some reviews of their dancing. While Petrouchka was always the major item on the program, both in Australia and New Zealand, other works presented included a work by Panov himself, Adagio celebre, Jonathan Taylor’s Star’s End, Les Sylphides and Harlequinade.
Over May, June and July of 1976, the Panovs and Ballet Victoria performed in Australia in Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne before moving on to New Zealand where they were seen in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch. Ballet Victoria did not, it seems, last as a company for much longer after July. In fact the company was dissolved in October 1976. Pask suggests that it was due to a major financial loss as a result of the Panov tour. The Panov season clearly deserves a thorough re-examination.
- Dance Showcase, Adelaide College of the Arts
it was a thrill to see first year tertiary dance students at the Adelaide College of the Arts performing their first work-in-progress event. The showcase was a thirty-minute-long production, full of choreographic surprises and very well performed by all. ‘It was great to see professional contemporary dance,’ said a young person sitting next to me. The students are being taught by Sarah-Jayne Howard (back row in a red top in the image below), who joined the dancers for the attached group photo taken at the end of the showcase.
- Press for June 2025
– ‘Carmen – so different, so beautiful and so well danced.’ Review of Carmen. The Australian Ballet. CBR City News, 21 June 2025. Online at this link.
Michelle Potter, 30 June 2025
Featured image: Elizabeth Dalman in Symbiosis, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra. Australian Dance Party, 2021. Photo © Michelle Potter. (To see a review of Dalman’s performance in Symbiosis activate this link)
It is interesting to read about Elizabeth Dalman and the well-deserved recognition for her outstanding career. On a visit to Taiwan in 2017, principally to see performances by Cloudgate Dance Theatre, I was intrigued to find in Taipei a Dance Research Institute (no such thing exists in my country). It was affirming to hear from the staff there what a strong supportive role Elizabeth Dalman had offered to their enterprise over a number of years. Her generosity of spirit is bigger than just one country.
Thanks for this comment Jennifer. Yes, Elizabeth has very strong connections with dance in Taiwan. The extent to which she is, and always has been, involved in dance – across decades and around the world – is astonishing really. She has had some setbacks at times but has always just pushed on. A great role model.