Graeme Murphy

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 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.

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

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.

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

I think the Olympics could help us reach more people.

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

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

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

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

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

There's a line of dancers waiting to get into Sydney Dance Company.

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.

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

We also tour nationally and internationally.

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

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

Dance is so joyous.