Tanja Liedtke
Tanja Liedtke, recently appointed artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company, died in a road accident in the early hours of Friday morning, August 17, 2007.
Acccording to reports, the 29-year-old was alone when hit by a garbage truck, not far from the apartment she shared with her partner, dancer Solon Ulbrich. They had attended Bangarra Dance Company's True Stories the night before, meeting up with members of the company to talk after the performance.
Sydney Dance Company announced Liedtke's appointment at the beginning of May; she was due to take over the company from founder-artistic director Graeme Murphy in October. Just ten days ago, she had impressed audience, viewers and participants of the Helpmann awards with her verve and articulate grace when making her first general public appearance at the awards as a guest presenter.
The appointment of Liedtke to the SDC job had been seen by the dance and theatre community as a bold step by the company to place it firmly in the 21st century and into the future. As she put it herself, at the time of her appointment, her joy was always, "Creating something fresh and new and exciting, that's where my focus is."
Liedtke was born in Stuttgart and moved with her family to Madrid where her dance education began. Later, the family moved to London where she continued her training before a move to Sydney where she began her move into choreography. In 1999 she joined Adelaide's Australian Dance Theatre. Last year her work Twelfth Floor won an Australian Dance Award for outstanding achievement in choreography. Her last work, Construct was a piece which, in her own words, showed "how we construct life".
Members of Sydney Dance Company are currently on a regional tour in Bathurst. Graeme Murphy was too distressed to speak about the tragedy which has robbed him and Australia of one of the brightest lights of a new generation. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald's Valerie Lawson, SDC chairman, Tom Dery, said "She just exuded optimism and talent and imagination and flair and vision".
