Australia Dancing - Dalman, Elizabeth Cameron (1934

Dalman, Elizabeth Cameron (1934 - )

Gould, Ross: Elizabeth Cameron Dalman in a solo work, Canberra Dance Theatre, 1991

Adelaide-born Elizabeth Cameron Dalman began her dance training with Nora Stewart with whom she studied both classical ballet and Margaret Morris modern dance technique. After part-time study in Arts at the Adelaide University, she left Australia in 1957 and continued her dance studies in London, Europe and New York. During that time she worked with Eleo Pomare, Murray Louis, James Truitte, Kurt Joos and Alwin Nikolais. In the the late 1950s and early 1960s she danced and taught in Holland. This period in Holland included appearances in the musical My Fair Lady, with the Ballet der Lage Landen, the Scapino Dance Academy and, between 1962 and 1963, with the Eleo Pomare Modern Dance Company. Subsequently Dalman appeared with the Pomare company in New York and in concerts for new choreographers in New York in 1966 and 1968.

Dalman returned to Australia in 1963 and established her own school of dance in Adelaide, which she directed until 1975. Then, in 1965, with Kevin Roberts as production manager, she founded Australian Dance Theatre. Dalman was the company's artistic artistic director from 1965 until 1975 and as its main choreographer she created over 30 works frequently using commissioned scores from Australian composers and designs by Australian artists. Works choreographed by Dalman for Australian Dance Theatre include Hallucinations (1966), This Train (1966), Landscape (1967), Sundown (1967), Sun and Moon (1968), Homage to Boticelli (1969), Creation (1969), and Release of an Oath (1972). Dalman regularly undertook international tours with the company including in 1968 to Italy, Switzerland and Holland, in 1971 throughout South East Asia, India and Papua New Guinea, and to New Zealand in 1972. Dalman was dismissed from the position of direcor of Australian Dance Theatre in 1975 and spent the next ten years in Europe, mainly in Italy, where she founded a dance school in Ventimiglia and a youth dance theatre.

In 1985 Dalman was rehearsal director for Anna Sokolow's Rooms, and The Troubled Sleeper, and for Doris Humphrey's Day on Earth with Danskern in Amsterdam. During 1985 she also performed in the Solo Festival in Goes, Holland.

On her return to Australia in 1986 she began a career as a mature artist both in performance and choreography and since then has created both solo and group shows. In 1990 she founded the Mirramu Creative Arts Centre at Lake George, Bungendore in New South Wales, from where she has created a number of site specific works. She is the chairperson for Weereewa – A Festival of Lake George and was an integral part of the mentoring program at the Australian Choreographic Centre where she worked with visiting artists.

Dalman has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an Australian Artists Creative Fellowship in 1994, an OAM in 1995, and the award for lifetime achivement at the inaugural Australian Dance Awards in 1997.

Bibliography:

Alan Brissenden, 'Evolutions One: Elizabeth Cameron Dalman in Conversation with Alan Brissenden', Heritage and heresy: Green Mill papers, 1997 (Canberra: Australian Dance Council, 1998), pp. 76-82; Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, 'Evolutions Two: Former Artistic Directors of Australian Dance Theatre', Heritage and heresy: Green Mill papers, 1997 (Canberra: Australian Dance Council, c1998), pp. 83-84; and Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, 'Healthy Ageing - A Dancer's Story', Dance Forum (Winter 1999), pp. 16-17.

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