# Elizabeth Cameron Dalman

Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM (born 1934) is an Australian choreographer, teacher, and performer. She founded Australian Dance Theatre and was its artistic director from 1965 to 1975. She is also the founding director of Mirramu Dance Company.

## Early life and education

Elizabeth Cameron Dalman was born in 1934 in the Adelaide eastern suburb of Tusmore. Her father, Sir Keith Cameron Wilson, was a lawyer and politician and her mother, Elizabeth Hornabrook (nee Bonython), was an art lover. Dalman began dancing when she was three years old and studied dance during her school years.
She attended Presbyterian Girls' College (now Seymour College), and commenced studies at the University of Adelaide. However, she dropped out because she was more interested in pursuing dance.
She trained in dance with Nora Stewart, who taught her modern techniques espoused by British dancer and choreographer Margaret Morris. In 1957 Elizabeth travelled to London to study dance. There, watching a performance of modern dance by Jose Limon's company, she decided that this was the way that she wanted to dance.
However, Dalman won a position at the Ballet der Lage Landen in the Netherlands, and after that moved to Germany. The Netherlands was very progressive and other international artists toured there, but Germany was still recovering from World War II. While in Germany around 1958, she met Colombian-American choreographer Eleo Pomare, son of a Haitian mother and African father, who became her most important mentor. He was known for making political statements in his dance works. The two remained friends until his death in August 2008.
She later travelled to New York to continue her studies. In New York, she studied with Martha Graham, Murray Louis, James Truitte, and Alwin Nikolais. She lived in Amsterdam with Pomare and other dancers, was particularly influenced by Pomare's style of dance, and wanted to dance in the same style.
In 1994 she obtained Masters of Creative Arts degree from University of Wollongong.
In 2012 Elizabeth was conferred a doctorate in dance (PhD) from the University of Western Sydney for her thesis entitled "The Quest for an Australian Dance Theatre".

## Career in dance
### ADT

Returning to New York in 1962, she danced with the Eleo Pomare Dance Company for two years. Back in Adelaide in 1965, she formed the Australian Dance Theatre and for ten years was artistic director. At the time, she was the first to bring modern dance to Adelaide, which began as a rebellion against classical ballet, and her shows were often scathingly reviewed. However, she travelled to the regions, where she had appreciative audiences, with some people travelling hundreds of miles to see a performance. In 1967, she created piece in protest at Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, called Sundown, and was labelled an "angry woman" as a result.
In 1975 she left the ADT, moving overseas again to dance and teach in Italy and the Netherlands.
In 1999, she founded "Weereewa – A Festival of Lake George", which was held in Bungendore, New South Wales. The festival showcased visual and performance artists and writers, and continued more or less biennially until at least 2014.

### Mirramu

In 2002 she co-founded (with Vivienne Rogis) and was and is inaugural director of the Mirramu Creative Arts Centre at Lake George, in New South Wales near Canberra.
Mirramu performed at the March 2008 Weereewa - A Festival of Lake George event, and again in 2014, along with dancers from Malaysia and Taiwan.
As of January 2025 Dalman still lives and works at Mirramu.

### ADT 2025

For the Adelaide Festival in February 2025, for the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the ADT, Dalman returned to help train the dancers for the performance of their collaborative work, A Quiet Language. Artistic director Daniel Riley wants to capture some of the spirit and energy of the early days of the company, when events called "happenings" were held; parties where artists of all disciplines came together and experimented with creating new things.

## Other roles and activities

Dalman was a mentor and board member of the Australian Choreographic Centre in Canberra, and she has studied Indigenous dance forms.
She has taught in Australian universities, and travelled as a performer, choreographer, teacher and researcher, including to Taiwan, Japan and West Africa.

## Recognition and awards

Dalman won five Canberra Critics' Circle Awards for choreography and production between 1990 and 2015.
* 1994: Australian Artists Creative Fellowship, for five years
* 1995: Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), for her contribution to contemporary dance in Australia
* 1997: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Dance Awards for achievement in dance
* 2004: ArtsACT Creative Artist Fellowship, Canberra
* 2015: Inducted into the Australian Dance Awards Hall of Fame
* 2015: CityNews Artist of the Year
* 2020: Anthea da Silva's painting of Dalman, entitled Elizabeth, winner of the inaugural Darling Portrait Prize