After 25 years, Australian dance star Lucy Guerin bows out of the company she founded

If there is one thing the professional dancer learns never to expect, it’s longevity. The physical demands on the body and increasing risk of injury tend to necessitate short careers. Melbourne-based choreographer Lucy Guerin has certainly bucked that trend, with a CV spanning decades and several international awards under her belt. But after 25 years at the helm of her eponymous company, she is now stepping away, conferring her artistic directorship on choreographer Melanie Lane.

Before she left, Guerin returned to the stage for an exquisite solo show, Place Dances, inside Melbourne’s Buxton Contemporary art gallery. It was the first time she had danced publicly in 13 years. “I have found it incredibly confronting, to be honest,” she says, hours before the premiere. “As a dancer, you always remember in your body what it feels like to do an arabesque or a jump. And part of me thought I could still do all those things if I just got back in the studio and trained a bit.” She laughs at her own hubris. “But I’m afraid that wasn’t the case.”