Australia Dancing - Stewart, Garry (1962

Stewart, Garry (1962 - )

Garry Stewart is artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre. He was appointed to that position in 1999 and followed Meryl Tankard who had directed the company, then called Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre, from 1993.

Stewart began his dance training in 1983 at the Sydney City Ballet Academy before studying at the Australian Ballet School between 1984 and 1985. As a performer he appeared with a number of companies including Australian Dance Theatre, the Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company, One Extra Dance Company. He also worked on many independent projects. In 1989 he performed the role of Luke in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Harold in Italy.

Stewart's interest in choreography began early in his dance career. In 1985 he choreographed Untitled for an Australian Ballet School production and in 1986 Zen Do Some Nothing for an Australian Dance Theatre choreographic workshop. Since then his major works have included Spectre in the Covert Memory for the inaugural season by Chunky Move in 1995, a solo piece called THWACK! made in 1996 on Bradley Chatfield for Sydney Dance Company, and works for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. In 1997 Stewart founded the dance company Thwack and created Plastic Space for it.

Since his appointment as artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre Stewart has continued to create new works, especially works that explore the role of new media in dance performance. His first project for this company was Housedance, commissioned for the International Millennium Broadcast and performed on the outside of the main sail of the Sydney Opera House on January 31, 1999. His first full-length work for the company was Birdbrain, a deconstruction of Swan Lake that the company has toured extensively. Other works he has created for Australian Dance Theatre include Plastic Space, Monstrosity, The Age of Unbeauty, Nothing, HELD, Devolution, and G.

Stewart's involvement in dance film has included choreographing Nascent with United Kingdom film maker Gina Czarnecki in 2004 and co-producing Vocabulary with Kat Worth and Restless Dance Company in 2005.

Other of Stewarts's diverse projects include co-producing and directing the 2006 dance gala UNIFIED for Unicef and choreographing 'The Sydney', a piece performed by 300,000 people on the opening night of the 2009 Sydney Festival. Other notable choreographic commissions include Infinity for Rambert Dance Company (2007), a remount of Currently Under Investigation for the Royal New Zealand Ballet (2009), The Centre and its Opposite for Birmingham Royal Ballet (2009), and Un-Black for the Ballet de l'Opera National du Rhin (2009).

Stewart has received a number of fellowships and scholarships including the biennial Sir Robert Helpmann fellowship, an Australia Council fellowship and two fellowships from the Australian Choreographic Centre. In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for his service to Australian society and dance and he was the recipient of Australian Dance Awards for outstanding choreographic achievement for The Age of Unbeauty in 2002 and for Honour Bound in 2008. Devolution won the 2006 Helpmann award for best new Australian work.

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Find more about Stewart, Garry in:

Collection - OzLife
Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia