Tanja Liedtke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tanja Liedtke (6 October 1977 – 17 August 2007) was an Australian-based contemporary dance choreographer.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany,^[1] she began dance and theatre studies in Madrid, Spain, continuing in the United Kingdom at the Elmhurst School for Dance and Ballet Rambert School. She moved to Australia from Germany in 1996 and continued her dance study with the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy in Sydney.

Liedtke had been a member of the Australian Dance Theatre (1999-2003) and DV8 Physical Theatre (2003 including the film and European tour of The Cost of Living and 2005 for Just for Show).^[2] She had choreographed works in Germany, Brazil and Taiwan, and received the 2006 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for "Twelfth Floor".^[3]

In May 2007 she was selected to be the artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company, succeeding founding director Graeme Murphy from October 2007.

In the early morning of 17 August 2007, Liedtke was accidentally struck by a garbage collection truck at Crows Nest, an inner northern suburb of Sydney. Liedtke had earlier that night watched a performance by the Bangarra Dance Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. She left the theatre at 11.00pm and went home with her partner. Around midnight, Liedtke & her partner went to bed however she could not sleep. Liedtke told her partner she needed to clear her head and went for a walk alone in the fresh air. Sometime between 2.00am - 2.30am Liedtke was hit by a garbage truck. The truck's warning lights were on and it was not speeding. She died in Royal North Shore Hospital a short time later from head injuries.^[1]