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#45: Tim Storrier designs for Sydney Dance Company

published

6 December 2019

Tim Storrier is one of Australia’s most renowned artists. At age 22, he was also the first artist commissioned to design a set for The Dance Company (NSW), now called Sydney Dance Company. The result was Love 201 with choreography by then resident choreographer Keith Little and composer Peter Sculthorpe. Since then, many illustrious artists and designers have created sets for the company, including Gerard Manion, Kenneth Rowell, Andrew Carter, Alan Oldield and Brian Thomson.

  • Kristian Fredrikson's designs for 'Daphnis and Chloe' (1980)

  • Brian Thomson's designs for 'Tivoli' (2001)

In the early days it was a very hands-on craft, with sets wrought from canvas, paint and heavy wooden structures. The innovation of using cloth scrims added a new dimension to the space and a closer collaboration with lighting designers. Textures, materials and a lot of raw courage produced sets that included skateboard ramps (Daphnis and Chloe), swinging light beams, dancers aloft the stage in ropes, moving walls, magic cloths that disappeared into the stage, and more recently the use of projection and digital technology, which disrupted the whole premise of the “fourth wall” and relationship between audience and performer.

Andrew Carter’s designs for ‘Shining’ (1987)

Follow #SDC50Years on Instagram, Facebook andTwitterto revisit some of our highlights and greatest moments of dance over the past 50 years and share your favourite memories of Sydney Dance Company using #SDC50Years.

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