<
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/27/elizabeth-cameron-dalman-a-quiet-language-odeon-theatre>
"At 91, Elizabeth Cameron Dalman dances in nature at her bushland retreat
outside Canberra, Mirramu Creative Arts Centre, surrounded by writers, singers
and visual artists stoking their respective muses. “So many people bring up
this age thing,” she says, “and my reply is that in dance we are ageless.”
A contemporary dance pioneer in Australia, Dalman has just seen the final
performance of one of her “great inspirations” and occasional collaborators,
dancer Eileen Kramer, in a filmed component of the dance work
Afterworld,
part of Sydney festival. Kramer died in November at 110. “I’m going to live to
that age,” Dalman chuckles.
In Adelaide in 1965, Dalman co-created Australian Dance Theatre, running the
company for a decade, confounding the era’s prejudice against modern dance and
women artistic directors. She is still fired by creativity and the “exchange of
energy” with audiences, but bored with people “going on about this age thing”.
She’d rather talk about what feeds longevity, pointing to medical research
showing the health and mobility benefits of dancing for Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s patients. “It’s not just pure exercise, you are adding creative
activity,” she says. “You’re engaging the left and right side of the brain.
Eileen kept saying, ‘The creativity keeps me alive’.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
