Dance & Music in Australia
Open the arts pages of any Australian capital city newspaper and you will find evidence of a society with a lively appreciation for dance and classical and contemporary music. Thanks
to spirited and knowledgeable audiences that turn out in force, Australians have a diverse diet of both music and dance.
Sydney's Great Leap
Sydney Dance Company has received worldwide accolades. Typical of the acclaim is a description by New York Post critic Clive Barnes, who called the company 'the premier dance company
in Australia, a nation with one of the liveliest dance cultures in the world".
Founded in the early 1970s by dancer Suzanne Musitz, Sydney Dance Company came to prominence after a 26-year-old Australian choreographer, Graeme Murphy, was appointed artistic
director in 1976, alongside dancer Janet Verson as associate director. The company that the two fostered has changed the face of Australian dance.
Sydney Dance Company tours regularly in Australia and has performed all over the world - a total of 100 cities in 22 countries at last count. It has presented 26 full-length productions,
many of them using commissioned scores by Australian composers.
In 2000, Sydney's Olympic year, the company was especially busy, presenting a non-stop cavalcade of special events spearheaded by a major retrospective, an Olympic Arts Festival
commission entitled Mythologia and a nine-city US tour of Salome, and Air and Other Invisible Forces.
The Sydney Dance Company's crew is currently working on a range of new short works.
The Australian Ballet
 The Australian Ballet is Australia's national classical dance company and is rated by overseas critics as one of the world's best.
Since its first performance of Swan Lake at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney in 1962, the Australian Ballet has developed into a major force on the international dance scene attracting
wider audiences every year.
The Australian Ballet's diverse repertoire is built on the tradition of classical ballet and the best of contemporary ballet, both locally commissioned and from around the world.
The great constant of the company has been its balance of repertoire.
It currently has three resident choreographers - Stephen Baynes, Adrian Burnett and Stanton Welch whose works are presented alongside contemporary ballets created by such major international
choreographers as Jirí Kylián, George Balanchine and Twyla
Tharp.
Under the new artistic direction of David McAllister, the Australian Ballet seeks to enrich and stimulate the widest audiences. This is through performances that convey the tradition
of classical ballet and the vitality, creativity and beauty of Australia and its culture. McAllister has been a member of the Australian Ballet for 18 years.
The company has collaborated
with some of the best dancers in the world. The most recent were prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem and French star Laurent Hilaire who performed Manon with the Australian Ballet
at the 2001 Melbourne Festival.
The company tours extensively both nationally and internationally.
Tamworth Country Music
 A celebration of the Australian identity is how the Tamworth Country Music Festival can best be described.
Gone are the days when all country music sounded alike. These days 'Country' is mainstream and offers one of the broadest and most exciting musical styles around.
Visitors can enjoy some 2,500 events representing the many genres of country music. Choices range from contemporary to bush ballads along with bluegrass, bootscooting, busking, bush
poetry, new talent, acoustic, country rock, gospel comedy and even a touch of Cajun.
There's everything from the glamour of the Toyota Country Music Concert to sitting on a fold-up chair in the middle of beautiful Peel Street Boulevard and listening to festival buskers.
You can buy a ticket to enjoy the star of your choice or do it all for nothing by attending a different free show just
about every hour of the day.
From day one there's plenty of action with the Opening Concert and Ceremony in Bicentennial Park. Following this are concerts in the Town Hall, major clubs and hotels, performed
by leading country music artists. Major events include the awarding of the Golden Guitars and the Cavalcade of Stars.
The festival was launched by a small group of Tamworthians and is now attended by 40,000 plus visitors every year. Some are long time fans, an increasing crowd of others are brand
new to the experience.
Whether you're one of the faithful or one wishing to discover this magic event, Tamworth looks forward to welcoming you.
Celtic Strains
This two day festival is a vivid celebration of Celtic culture in song, dance, folklore, history and revelry, held each May in the New South Wales
town of Glen Innes.
Homebake
Sydney's independent music festival brings the megastars of Australian rock and the throb of guitars, drums and electronic synthesisers to the normally sedate
lawns of the Domain each December.
Australian Sings The Blues
Held in the southern New South Wales city of Goulburn, the Australian Blues Music Festival brings together the best of Australian blues players for a
long-weekend celebration each February.
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