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After dancing with the Australian Dance Theatre and the UK-based DV8 Physical Theatre, Tanja Liedtke became an award-winning choreographer. She tragically died aged 29, on the eve of becoming the youngest director of Sydney Dance Company. To commemorate Liedtke’s life and work, her partner Sol Ulbrich and fellow dancers staged a world tour of her works Construct and Twelfth Floor. As Ulbrich noted in the 2011 film Life in Movement, ‘There’s a lot to be said for giving everyone a chance to still speak through her voice. This is the thing that they’re left with, that they hold in their bodies.’
This photograph was taken during Liedtke’s performance in the Australian Dance Theatre’s production of Birdbrain, directed by Garry Stewart.
Tara James shares the joy of dance and its power to connect in the National Portrait Gallery’s touring exhibition Dancer.
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