Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy Choreographer

Clip 3: ‘A lot of magic’

Taken from the documentary Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy Choreographer (1989)

Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG

Curator’s clip description

Assistant artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company Janet Vernon remembers meeting Tasmanian dancer Graeme Murphy when he first joined the Australian Ballet School as a young man. We see Janet and Graham working together in rehearsal. The then director of the Australian Ballet School, Dame Margaret Scott, remembers a short dancer with a lot of talent.

Curator’s notes

The clip features Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon revealing the importance of the collaboration between them in producing so many outstanding ballets.

Damien Parer, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows footage of the acclaimed dancer and choreographer Graeme Murphy with Janet Vernon, who is his wife and dancing partner. Two short light-hearted choreographed scenes set to classical music are included. These are followed by an interview in which Murphy and Vernon describe their meeting and early collaboration. Dame Margaret Scott, the founding director of the Australian Ballet School gives her perspective on the young Murphy. The clip concludes with footage of Murphy and Vernon in rehearsal at their home.

Educational value points

Graeme Murphy (1950–) grew up in Tasmania. At 14 he was the youngest person ever accepted into the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. He joined the Australian Ballet in 1968 and then danced in Europe in the early 1970s with Les Ballets Felix Blaska before returning to Australia in the mid 1970s as a freelance choreographer. Since 1976 Murphy has been the Artistic Director of the Sydney Dance Company.

Murphy is known for his original works, such as Poppy, Rumours and Viridian, and for collaborations with Australian composers, including Ross Edwards, Carl Vine and Graeme Koehne. He has also created works for the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia. In 1982 Murphy received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to dance and in 2003 the Centenary Medal for his contribution to the development of dance in Australia.

Janet Vernon has had a creative partnership with Graeme Murphy as a dancer, muse and Associate Director of the Sydney Dance Company (1976–2007) for more than 30 years. She appeared in Murphy’s first work and is an admired interpreter of his choreography. Vernon received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1989 and the Centenary Medal in 2003 for services to dance.

In this clip Murphy and Vernon reminisce about the anxiety Murphy initially had with partnering, particularly in a pas de deux (dance for two), because as a young teenager he was physically small and slight and some female dancers needed a strong partner. The techniques involved in partnering are complex; for example, the man has to know when his partner needs to be steadied and he has to have the physical strength to lift her into the air.

Graeme Murphy is famous for the daring eroticism of his choreography and costumes. The sensual shower scene in this clip, with its overlay of classical ballet music, followed by the playful run, the shutting of the door with the hint of sexual possibilities, and the humorous revealing of Murphy and Vernon in a classical lift is like a choreographed scene from one of Murphy’s productions.

The Sydney Dance Company, one of the major contemporary dance companies in Australia, has produced more than 30 full-length productions. Under Murphy and Vernon’s directorship it became known for its original, daring and often erotically confronting works. In 2006 they resigned as the company’s directors citing severe funding problems as inhibitors of their artistic endeavours. However, they have agreed to remain until a new director is appointed.

The Australian Ballet School, where both Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon trained, was established in Melbourne in 1964 as an adjunct to the Australian Ballet (established in 1962). Dame Margaret Scott (director of the school, 1964–90) says she became aware that Graeme Murphy had found a muse the first time he choreographed Janet Vernon. Murphy has choreographed Vernon in Schéhérazade, Daphnis and Chloé and After Venice, among others.

Dame Margaret Scott (1922–) was involved in forming the Australian Ballet in 1962. In 1964 she became founding director of the Australian Ballet School, remaining director until 1990. Scott started her career as a dancer at London’s famous Sadlers Wells Ballet and later went on to Ballet Rambert. She came to Australia on tour and stayed to dance with the National Theatre Ballet in Melbourne. In 1981 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire.