Australia Dancing - Daphnis and Chloe (1980

Daphnis and Chloe (1980 - )

Gould, Ross: Graeme Murphy and Victoria Taylor in Murphy's 'Daphnis and Chloe', Sydney Dance Company, 1980

Created by Graeme Murphy for Sydney Dance Company, Daphnis and Chloe premiered at the Sydney Opera House on 22 May 1980. Danced to the score by Maurice Ravel and with designs by Kristian Fredrikson, the opening night cast featured Carl Morrow as Daphnis, Victoria Taylor as Chloe, Janet Vernon as Lykanion and Kim Walker as Cupid.

In creating Daphnis and Chloe Murphy turned for inspiration to the ancient Greek story by Longus as had Fokine in his version made for Diaghilev in 1912. In working from the Longus scenario, Murphy restored, however, some aspects of the story that Fokine had not used. He reinstated, for example, the scene where Daphnis bathes and is watched by Chloe, told by Longus as follows:

'Chloe watched him, surprised to find him beautiful, and having never thought him beautiful before she imagined that it was the water in the cave that had conferred beauty upon him ... and from that time Chloe had no other thought in her mind but to see Daphnis bathing ... Very soon she had no thought and no remembrance of anything except Daphnis, and never spoke of anything but him.'

By restoring the scene where Daphnis bathes, Murphy changed what seemed in the Fokine version to be a relatively innocuous story about lost love regained into one that addressed the idea of sexual awakening, restoring in fact the crucial element of the Longus story.

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Find more about Daphnis and Chloe in:

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