Janet Vernon AM, dancer, met her life and professional partner, Graeme Murphy, at the Australian Ballet School. In 1976, the couple was appointed to lead the Dance Company New South Wales (later the Sydney Dance Company) and they put together their first production, Poppy. Throughout their careers she has been Murphy’s muse and collaborator, able to see the full sweep of a production and ensure its parts worked together while he concentrated on details. In the early years they often danced together; later, she danced with the company throughout the world, in roles and productions they had created together. In 1996 she was named amongst Australia’s top five female dancers of all time (along with Marillyn Jones, Marilyn Rowe, Kathleen Gorham and Lucette Aldous). In 2000 Murphy and Vernon celebrated their achievements in Body of Work: A retrospective. Two years later they put together a unique Swan Lake. They married in 2004, and in 2009 choreographed the film Mao’s Last Dancer. Vernon and Murphy retired from the Sydney Dance Company in 2007 but the couple has continued to create works for Chinese, German and Australian companies.
