Meryl Tankard

Meryl Tankard (born 1955) is an Australian dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker. She started her career at the Australian Ballet in Sydney in 1975, and was principal dancer with Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany between 1978 and 1984. In 1989 formed her own dance company in Canberra, the Meryl Tankard Company. In 1992 she was appointed director of the Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide, South Australia, leaving in 1999 to become a freelance choreographer. Furioso is considered one of her defining works; other well-known works include Two Feet, Furioso, Songs With Mara, and Chants de Marriage 2. Her life partner is photographer and visual artist Regis Lansac, who does the videography for many of her works.

In 2010 she studied filmmaking at the AFTRS and made several short films. In 2015 she directed and co-produced the documentary film Michelle's Story, about dancer Michelle Ryan, artistic director of Restless Dance Theatre.

Early life and education Meryl Tankard was born in 1955 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. She was the youngest of three sisters, was born to Clifford Matthew (known as Mick) and Margaret Mary (known as Margot). Mick was a sergeant fitter in the RAAF's Motor Transport section, although had served in the AIF during World War II. The family moved to various bases during her early years. She had her first dance lessons in Melbourne, Victoria, studying ballet for 10 years with Bruce and Bernice Morrow, who included improvisations at the end of each class.

In 1965 the family moved to Penang, Malaysia, and Tankard was influenced by Malaysia's colour and ceremony. She took lessons with a very strict Chinese teacher. In 1974 she was awarded an Australian Ballet Society scholarship in 1974.

In 1988 she created and performed solo her full-length Two Feet, which marked a major turning point in the creative collaboration she had established with photographer and visual artist and life partner Regis Lansac, At the ADT she reworked some of her earlier pieces as well as creating new pieces. She also created Aurora (1994), Possessed (1995), Rasa (1996; in collaboration with Padma Menon),

In 1993 she was commissioned by ABC Television to create a seven-minute dance, "Sloth", as part of Seven Deadly Sins, a series of short films by seven contemporary Australian choreographers. During her time in Adelaide she also choreographed The Deep End (1996) for The Australian Ballet a second work for Opera Australia, Orphee et Euridyce, The work was reprised at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University in 2002 (where in 1999 her work Furioso had been performed).

Since 2000 Tankard has worked freelance. in New York and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. This dance later developed into Pearl, for the Sydney Opera House 30th birthday celebrations.

In 2021, Tankard choreographed Claudel for the Sydney Opera House,

In November 2022, as part of ICON, An Extraordinary Event, a tribute to Pina Bausch at WAAPA, Tankard's Chants de Mariage 2 was performed for the first time in Perth, using the original 1991 costumes. Reviewer Rita Clarke wrote: "Tankard's choreography, music and design is stunning, with a visual beauty that leaves you lost for words". In January 2023, she choreographed Kairos for FORM Dance Projects at Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival. This work, a world premiere, was composed by Elena Kats-Chernin, who also played piano live, while video design and photography was by Regis Lansac.

Filmmaking In 2010, after a year's full-time study, Tankard earned a Graduate Diploma in Directing (Fiction & Non-Fiction) from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, ) Michelle's Story, 29-minute documentary about dancer Michelle Ryan, artistic director of Restless Dance Theatre, commissioned by ABC Television and Adelaide Film Festival. The film won Adelaide Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary, SA Screen Awards for Best Short Film, Best documentary, Best Soundtrack; and the 2016 Australian Dance Award for Most Outstanding Dance film. The film was shown at the Mercury Cinema in Adelaide in March 2019, presented by the J. M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice in association with Maggie Tonkin.

she is working on a screenplay for a feature film.

Wild Swans and The Deep End were filmed and screened on ABC Television, 2002: Lifetime Achievement award Australian Dance Awards 2018: Performed and created – Meet Meryl and Jo in Bonn, Germany – Pina Bausch Retrospective 2018: Choreographed Claudel for Théâtre de l'Athénée, Paris 2018: Remounted Furioso for Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp, Belgium 2019: Two Feet at the Adelaide Festival, with Natalia Osipova 2019: Film Re-creating Two Feet 2019: Created Zizanie for Adelaide Festival for Restless Dance Theatre 2021: Claudel for the Sydney Opera House 2022: Chants de Mariage 2, at WAAPA in Perth 2023: Kairos, for FORM Dance Projects at Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival 2024:For Hedy, creation for Zurich Ballet 2025: Kontakthof – Echoes of '78 [director and performer] (for Pina Bausch Foundation and Sadler's Wells

Personal life Tankard's life partner is photographer and visual artist Regis Lansac.