The Creative Team

THE CREATIVE TEAM

DARYL BRANDWOOD, DANCER

DARYL BRANDWOOD is currently Leading Artist with West Australian Ballet (WAB). He is the most acclaimed dance graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Apart from WAB, he has danced with The Australian Ballet, BalletMet (USA), and the Australian Dance Theatre. He is the national winner of a much-coveted Helpmann Award as ‘Best Male Dancer’ (2006), and was a nominee for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer” in the 2010 Australian Dance Awards. In November 2011, he received the Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer award at the Ausdance (WA) Dance Awards.

Awards for Daryl’s artistry have been numerous. In 1993, he was a ‘Young Achiever in the Arts’ recipient. In 1995, he was a Mollie Askin Scholarship winner. In the same year, he won the Helsinki International Ballet Competition’s Men’s ‘Silver Medal’ Award and a ‘Gold Medal’ Choreographic Award. Three years later (1998), he received a Greenroom Award (Melbourne) as ‘Best Emerging Artist’, and he was later a Columbus Choreographic Project (USA) winner in 2005.

Daryl is a dancer of extraordinary range and depth of technique. Today, he is at the height of his dancing powers. As a solo dance event, HELIX is specifically constructed to showcase his unique combination of dance and interpretive skills, utilising the wide variety of dance techniques that have earned him the superlatives of dance critics across Australia:

“Above all, there is the performance of the night from Daryl Brandwood . . .”
Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald

“… Brandwood danced up a storm … And what a glorious sight that is!”
Susan Whitford, Dance Australia

“Daryl Brandwood gave a faultless performance, marrying fear, sensuality and athleticism”
Nina Levy, The West Australian

“Brandwood eats up the stage . . . a commanding presence throughout . . .
his performance is hauntingly beautiful”
Tim Balfour, The West Australian

“. . . the incredible dancing and stage presence of leading artist Daryl Brandwood,
who held the audience spellbound in Tobin del Cuore’s Consider the Raven,
choreographed especially for him . . . flawless technique . . . magic”
Trisha Kotai-Ewers, ArtsHub Australia

Of many career highlights, Daryl lists his work in Garry Stewart’s Helpmann Award-winning Devolution, Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Jiri Kylian’s Bella Figura, George Balanchine’s Diamonds (from Jewels) and Allegro Brilliante, Barry Moreland’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Natalie Weir’s The Collector and Lacrimosa, and Marcia Haydee’s The Sleeping Beauty (in the role of Carabosse) as amongst his finest.

BARRY MORELAND, DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER

Clive Barnes, when dance critic for the New York Times, once observed that “Moreland shows a choreographic mind of very considerable originality”.

Born in Melbourne, Barry Moreland began his career at J. C. Williamson Ltd as an office boy for Frank Tait. After taking drama classes at the National Theatre School, Moreland began his dance training at the Borovansky Ballet Academy.

His first professional engagement as a dancer was with the Borovansky Ballet in 1960 under Peggy van Praagh. He subsequently joined the Ballet Guild for a season touring country Victoria, before joining The Australian Ballet as a foundation member in 1962.

In 1964, Barry travelled to London, where he performed in a number of West End musicals, including Hello Dolly! with Gower Champion and Fiddler on the Roof with Jerome Robbins. He also studied drama with George Devine at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

Barry launched his choreographic career at the London Contemporary Dance School. He then became a foundation member of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. creating a number of works for the company including the award-winning Kontakion (filmed by London Weekend Television), and Nocturnal Dances to a commissioned score by Peter Maxwell-Davies. After leaving the company, Barry was invited by Glen Tetley to perform in Tetley’s Circles and Chronochromie for the Hamburg Opera Ballet in 1971.

Later in the 1970s, Barry joined the London Festival Ballet under Beryl Grey, initially as a dancer before developing his choreographic career with the company. Choreographic works by Barry during this period included Summer Solstice (subsequently performed by the Paris Opera Ballet and Houston Ballet), In Nomine, to the music of Peter Maxwell Davies, Dark Voyage to music by Erik Satie, and Prodigal Son (in Ragtime) (1974) to music by Scott Joplin, which London Festival Ballet toured to Australia in 1975.

In 1976 he began a freelance career as a choreographer in England, Europe (Dutch National Ballet, La Scala, Paris Opera Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet) and the United States (including two works for Houston Ballet and ‘Makarova and Company’ on Broadway). Barry returning periodically to Australia to create works such as Sacred Space and Trocadero (1979) for the Australian Ballet, and Dialogues (1980) for Sydney Dance Company.

Barry returned to Australia during 1982 to create his third work for Sydney Dance Company - Daisy Bates. He was appointed artistic director of West Australian Ballet in 1983 and directed the company for fifteen years until 1997. As director of West Australian Ballet he commissioned works from many Australian choreographers, composers, and designers, including Jacqui Carroll, Elizabeth Hill, Carl Morrow, Chrissie Parrott, Edmund Stripe, Gideon Obarzanek, Natalie Weir, Leigh Warren and Garth Welch. Barry also made a significant opus of works himself for West Australian Ballet including Spindrift (1983), Alice in Wonderland (1984), Romeo and Juliet (1985), Afternoon of a Faun (1985), Seven Deadly Sins (1987), Orpheus (1987), Celestial Mirror (1988), Lady of the Camellias (1989), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1991), and Hamlet (1993).

Barry is a Fellow of the Edith Cowan University of Western Australia, a recipient of the City of Perth’s Cultural Achievement Award for his contribution to the cultural life of the city, and has served a four year term as a member of the Australia Council’s dance funding panel. He recently received the Outstanding Achievement Award for his choreography of HELIX at the AusDance (WA) 2011 Dance Awards. A major revival of his Afternoon of a Faun will be part of West Australian Ballet’s May, 2012 Season. Further information: http://web.me.com/morelandance

IAN BATT, CINEMATOGRAPHER

IAN BATT is a dual AFI Award-winning cinematographer (for Inside Australia and Cracking the Colour Code). He’s a West Australian and he’s worked on some of Australia’s most acclaimed documentaries in recent years (including Pipe Dreams, Hoover’s Gold, Gallipoli Submarine), along with drama series such as Air Australia and The Sleepover Club. He is noted for his innovative engagement with new filmic technologies and their utilisation in the creation of compelling imagery. In 2008, Ian’s company Thunderbox produced Risking Our Kids, featuring Professor Fiona Stanley’s work in protecting Australia’s children against social and environmental dangers to their health and well-being. For his cinematography, a major element of HELIX , Ian received the Outstanding Achievement in Design along with the other members of the design team

CRISTIAN BROADHURST, EDITOR

CRISTIAN BROADHURST is a highly-accomplished freelance video and film editor who has been involved in media production for the last 15 years. In that time, he has worked as a video editor, sound engineer, cinematographer and graphic designer for numerous national and international clients. He has produced literally hundreds of programs for television, radio, commercial organisations and the arts.

Today, he specialises in film and video post-production and operates his own film production business in his home town of Fremantle.

He is passionate about the role of editing in film. “The unique emotional energy derived from the synergy of image and sound is a source of endless fascination to me,” he says. “For me, the process of editing is essentially the process of uncovering the most emotionally effective flow of aural and visual sensations.”

For his editing of the HELIX film, compilation and adaptation of imagery from multiple sources, Cris shares the Outstandiding Achievement in Design award from Ausdance (WA) Dance Awards, 2011.

JON BUSWELL, LIGHTING DESIGNER

JON BUSWELL is a Helpmann Award-nominated lighting designer who has worked with the Victorian Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Royal New Zealand Ballet, The Australian Ballet, and West Australian Ballet, for whom he is currently the Technical Director. Prior to moving to Australia, Jon worked in London’s West End with the likes of Sir Peter Hall, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson and Dawn French. In the USA, he has worked with The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Denver Centre for Performing Arts and with the RSC in New Haven at the Wharf Theatre. For his Lighting Design of HELIX, Jon shares the Outstanding Achievement in Design award from Ausdance (WA) Dance Awards, 2011.

BRUCE MCKINVEN, COSTUME DESIGNER

BRUCE MCKINVEN graduated from the Visual Arts course at QUT in 1994 and from the Production Design course at NIDA in 1997. Prior to NIDA he was Design Assistant on many productions for Brisbane and Sydney based companies including QTC, STC and QPAT.

Since graduating from NIDA, Bruce has designed seasons for Expressions Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre, Thwack and West Australian Ballet.

In film, Bruce has worked as Assistant Art Finisher in Wardrobe on Mission Impossible 2 and as Costume Props Maker for Warner Brothers’ Scooby Doo. For his elegant designs for Daryl Brandwood’s series of HELIX costumes, Bruce shares the Outstanding Achievement in Design award from Ausdance (WA) Dance Awards, 2011.