Construct at the Suzanne Dellal Centre

When three Australian dancers take to the stage at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv later this year, they won’t just be the first Australian company performing at Israel’s celebrated home of dance.

They’ll be performing a tribute to Tanja Liedtke, an award-winning choreographer and artistic director-designate of the Sydney Dance Company who was tragically killed in August 2007.

The 29-year-old rising star had fended off a field of more than 50 local and international choreographers to win arguably the most coveted job in Australian contemporary dance.

Liedtke was about to succeed local legend Graeme Murphy, who had established and then nurtured the Sydney Dance Company into one of Australia’s premier dance institutions over the previous 25-plus years.

She had impressed the board with her ‘original choreographic voice, a clearly defined creative spirit and the energy and commitment to take the company into the future.’

But she was killed prematurely in a road accident in Sydney’s north just hours after watching Bangarra Dance Company at the Sydney Opera House. She was due to take up her new position just a few weeks later.

Her last piece of work, Construct, premiered at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre in May 2007 to rave reviews.

Allen Robertson, the veteran dance critic for The Times, wrote: ‘The surprise of stumbling across a fresh, fully-formed talent is one of the reasons we keep going to the theatre.’

Rather than let it languish, Liedtke’s long-term partner, fellow dancer Sol Ulbrich, reprised the acclaimed work for an Australian and international tour.

And so Construct, which received two 2008 Robert Helpmann awards and three 2009 Australian Dance Awards, is touring Germany, Canada and Israel in October and November.

Three dancers perform Liedtke’s athletic choreography, which is a sharp, fresh and droll look at mankind’s need and desire to build – houses, emotional relationships, lives, futures and dreams.

It is, as Robertson described it, a ‘candid, complex show with the kind of clever movement that has the audience laughing out loud and frequently bursting into spontaneous applause’.

Born in Germany, Liedtke began her dance and theatre studies in Madrid, and later graduated from the Ballet Rambert School in Britain before her family moved to Sydney in 1996.

She joined Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide in 1999 before moving to London four years later to dance with Australian ex-pat Lloyd Newson and his acclaimed company, DV8.

Liedtke established a name for herself with DV8, but returned to Australia after two demanding productions in three years.

On her return, she quickly choreographed two award-winning, full-length pieces – Twelfth Floor and Construct. Twelfth Floor received the 2006 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography.

Construct won a host of accolades too. Now, tragically, it’s become her legacy – but one that will no doubt enthral Israeli audiences.