MS 9264
Records of the Meryl Tankard Company
Scope and Content Note
- Records
- 1984-92
- 1.96 m. (14 boxes and a number of elephant folios)
- Available for reference
The collection largely consists of production files created by the
Canberra-based Meryl Tankard Company, 1989-92, though some material draws
on Meryl Tankards previous work. Overall, the papers are arranged
chronologically within financial year divisions, much in the order that
they were received as working files. This order merely reflects the
operation of the Company and annual reporting to its management board.
The media releases, programs, production agreements, budgets and
schedules, operational correspondence, cast notes, handbills, cuttings and
other material held in this collection are generally associated with
individual productions staged by the Company, or its participation in
events, festivals and tours in Australia and overseas.
The records were donated to the National Library by Meryl Tankard in
1993.
Historical Note
Meryl Tankard is one of the most innovative and adventurous graduates of
the Australian Ballet School. In the late 1970s she joined the Pina
Bausch Tanztheater in Germany, returning to Australia in 1982 as one of
its leading dance/mime performers. Before going to Europe she
choreographed Birds Behind Bars for the 1977 Dance Horizons
program, and studied mime at the Leroq School in Paris. Tankard then
toured with the controversial Lindsay Kemp company in his production of
A Midsummer Nights Dream. After touring the United States
with Pina Bausch, she gathered around her a group of actors and dancers in
1984, choreographing her ballet Echo Point, which was made
possible by an Australia Council Grant. She was one of the lead
dancers/actors in the television version of A Pack of Women, and
in 1987 her dance/acting work Travelling Light was part of the
1987 Spoleto Festival.
Meryl Tankard took over the role of artistic director of the Human Veins
Dance Theatre in 1989. Between 1989 and 1992 the renamed Meryl Tankard
Company created a range of works that reflected Tankards highly
individualistic style, once described as a cross-art form never
merely a vehicle for the display of movement.
The Companys repertoire: VX18504, Two Feet, Banshee,
Echo Point, Nuti, Kikimora, Court of Flora,
Circo, Chants de Mariage and others, were performed
locally and around Australia. The Meryl Tankard Company was a regular
feature at the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the Melbourne
International Festival of the Arts, Canberras Floriade,
and other Australian arts festivals. With the assistance of government
granting bodies, tourism and international cooperation societies, the
Company made notable appearances at festivals in Japan, Indonesia, China
and Italy.
Responding to Tankards period of extraordinary
creativity in Canberra, she and her Company were much feted in the press.
Performances were geared towards a variety of audiences at community,
educational, charitable and other special interest, and national venues.
Tankard herself was the recipient of the 1992 ACT Citizen of the Year
Award.
Meryl Tankard left Canberra at the end of 1992 to take on the
directorship of the Australian Dance Theatre.
- References:
- A full house : the Esso guide to the performing arts collections
- of the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1991.
- Potter, Michelle, A Passion for Dance, Canberra, 1997.
- Ruskin, Pamela, Invitation to the Dance, 1989.
|
Series |
|
Title |
|
1 |
|
Productions, 1989-92 |
|
2 |
|
Overseas tours, 1989-91 |
|
3 |
|
Company administration and publicity |
Series 1 Performance programs
The series covers the period of the Meryl Tankard Company 1989-92. File
material comprises correspondence with theatre and festival organisers,
insurers, agents, advertisers and others, production budgets, contracts
with performers, musicians, and theatre agents, statements of income and
expenditure, travel and theatre arrangements, mailing lists and publicity
material, photographs, programs and press cuttings.
The contents of the series are arranged chronologically, under the title
heading of performances at festivals and dance venues in Canberra and
around the country. The level of documentation varies widely. The 1992
material includes work schedules for Company performers. Several bound
volumes of press cuttings and media releases for 1992 completes the
series.
|
Folders 1-11, |
1989 |
|
Folders 12-31, |
1990 |
|
Folders 32-42, |
1991 |
|
Folders 43-58, |
1992 |
Series 2 Overseas tours, 1989-91
Beginning with a tour of Japan sponsored by the Australia-Japan
Foundation in August-September 1989, the Meryl Tankard Company completed
four tours outside Australia over the next three years. Records of the
Japan tour are scanty. Of interest are some Japanese language press
cuttings. Tours of Indonesia, centering on the Jakarta International
Festival of the Performing Arts, Gendung Kesenian August 1990, and
immediately following, appearances at the Stagione Danza
festival, Rovereto, Italy, and the following year of China, are well
documented by comparison. The records include details of travel and
booking arrangements, liaison with embassies, sponsoring bodies, travel
agents, festival organisers and theatre operators, press cuttings and
photographs.
|
Folder 1, |
Japan, 1989 |
|
Folders 2-4, |
Indonesia, 1990 |
|
Folders 5-6, |
Italy, 1990 |
|
Folders 7-11, |
China, 1991 |
Series 3 Company administration and publicity
The records of the Meryl Tankard Company held by the Library contain a
limited amount of material pertaining to the administration of the Meryl
Tankard Company, and the relationship of the Company with the Gorman House
Arts Centre. The series includes some minutes and reports of the Gorman
House Management Committee, tennants newsletters, contractual,
financial and other corprorate material, but is largely composed of
publicity matter.
Included in the series are mission statements, miscellaneous publicity
material relating to both the Meryl Tankard Company and Meryl Tankard,
correspondence and related items signalling involvement with ACT schools,
details of work experience and auditioning arrangements, relationships
with other companies, including Jigsaw Theatre Company, miscellaneous
correspondence and press cuttings, including material relating to the 1992
ACT Citizen of the Year award, address lists for Meryl Tankards
farewell, and miscellaneous publicity photographs. Completing the series
are a number of magazines containing reviews and several publications, and
postcards, handbills, posters, a T-shirt and other Company publicity
matter.
|
Folders 1-3, |
Gorman House Administration |
|
Folder 4, |
Meryl Tankard Company, mission statements |
|
Folder 5, |
General Company publicity |
|
Folders 6-7, |
Meryl Tankard publicity and curriculum vitae |
|
Folders 8-9, |
Student activities and work experience |
|
Folder 10, |
Auditions |
|
Folders 11-14, |
Relations with other companies and services |
|
Folder 15, |
Letters of support and miscellaneous correspondence |
|
Folder 16, |
Miscellaneous cuttings |
|
Folder 17, |
Travelling Light, Melbourne 1987, miscellaneous cuttings
|
|
Folder 18, |
ACT Citizen of the Year, 1992 |
|
Folder 19, |
Meryl Tankard farewell, address lists |
|
Folder 20, |
Performers, photographs |
|
Folder 21, |
Handbills, leaflets, postcards |
|
Folder 22, |
Reviews, miscellaneous cuttings |
|
Folder 23, |
Miscellaneous publications |
|
Folder 24, |
Meryl Tankard Company t-shirt |
|
Elephant folios, |
Meryl Tankard Company posters |
Box List
|
Box |
Series |
Folder/piece |
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1-7 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
1 |
8-14 |
|
|
|
|
3 |
1 |
15-21 |
|
|
|
|
4 |
1 |
22-28 |
|
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
29-35 |
|
|
|
|
6 |
1 |
36-42 |
|
|
|
|
7 |
1 |
43-49 |
|
|
|
|
8 |
1 |
50-56 |
|
|
|
|
9 |
1 |
57-58 |
|
|
|
|
9 |
2 |
1-6 |
|
|
|
|
10 |
2 |
7-11 |
|
|
|
|
10 |
3 |
1-2 |
|
|
|
|
11 |
3 |
3-9 |
|
|
|
|
12 |
3 |
10-17 |
|
|
|
|
13 |
3 |
18-21 |
|
|
|
|
14 |
3 |
22-24 |
Guide prepared September 1998
|