GRAEME MURPHY

I actually build my dreams around the dancers I've got in my company.

I mean, I think in the early days we were pretty... pretty British in our entertainment leads.

It's not a company of exponents of my style.

We moved, and there was a golden era in the '40s when we were so conscious of who we were as Australians.

We can't afford big symphonies but we commission works that sound rich and symphonic because of the nature of the instrumentation and the people we work with.

I don't think people we'll miss the fact that SDC is way up there and that our profile is high.

I look at the dancers and I get the inspiration for the work from them.

Yes, Carl Vine stuck around. He's now number one composer for choreography.

Dance is so joyous.

I'm in the position to pick the cream of the crop.

No one was creating and I always wanted to be created on.

SDC has a great reputation for putting live music on stage.

For me it was really important to get the essence out of the music for the story and not, sort of, press the music into the service of the whimsical telling of it.

But I also wanted to give them an intelligent emotional journey, without having to suspend reality - to be able to look at those characters and see reasons for the relationships and why what happens happens.

I think the Olympics could help us reach more people.

Normally our season is seven weeks in the Drama Theatre and four weeks in the Opera Theater.

I'm thrilled at the moment because our audiences, you know, they... the demographic is 50% male.

I think it requires a bit of honesty, Swan Lake.

If the year 2000 can help us move into the future, that's fine, but I am afraid that people see it as a full stop and that one can take a big breath afterwards - you can't.

I always figure I have this tree and there's always some green fruit that's not ready to pick or blossoms that are ready to flower; there are always some ready to drop off too.

I wanted to give people - which is fairly bizarre considering my whole life is contemporary dance really - I wanted to give people a really fulfilling sense that they had seen a white classical ballet - in a very pure form.

It's the emotional trigger points that are important to me because I know if I could believe in the characters and try and imagine how they felt then I'd be able to do something quite honest.

I'm interested in people who can take the movement somewhere.

Sydney is a very good market for us - we have a very strong following here.

Mostly, I'm in the very enviable position that no one dictates what I do.