Jarryd Madden began his dance journey at the age of three in Wauchope, New South Wales, encouraged by his mother, a dance teacher. He trained locally until 2005 when, at sixteen, he moved to Melbourne to attend the National Theatre Ballet School. Following a guest appearance with The Australian Ballet in their 2007 production of The Nutcracker, Jarryd officially joined the company in 2008. He steadily rose through the ranks, being promoted to coryphée in 2011, soloist in 2015, and senior artist in 2017. A versatile performer, Madden has been a fixture in every Bodytorque season since joining the company. His repertoire highlights include the grand pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty with Natalia Osipova, roles in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland©, and featured parts in works by choreographers such as Graeme Murphy, Wayne McGregor, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato, and Nicolo Fonte. Madden's talent has been recognized with a Green Room Award for Year's Work in 2019 and the Telstra People's Choice Award in 2016, following a nomination for the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award in 2012.
"Get ready for the most dad rock playlist Dance Australia has ever seen. This playlist encompasses the entirety of my music journey. From my early childhood years, getting the latest “So Fresh - Best of Summer” CD at Christmas, through the angst-y emo teen years, finally into the refined wine that I am. My musical foundations stem from my father. I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Queen, KISS, and Pink Floyd – hands down some of the greatest rock bands of all time. One thing he didn’t intentionally teach me (but I learned through his passionate speeches as to why his music was the greatest) was the emotional connection you can have to music. Music is emotion. I love experiencing all types of emotions when listening to music.
Hence the vastly eclectic setlist here. But no need to worry, there’s classical music in here too! Including some pieces that I have loved dancing to in my career, and some I’d love to have a go at choreographing to. What would I choreograph? Thanks for asking... Dracula! The quintessential, definitive version of Dracula. It would be big. Like Hollywood big. One day at work, I was gasbagging to our Music Conductor, Jonathan Lo, about composers who wrote emotionally driven scores. And he said Rachmaninoff was what he listened to most during his ‘emo’ years. I said “you and I had lived very different emo years!” Hence Blink-182 in the set. Enjoy. Sorry I couldn’t shorten the list down any further... there are too many great bands out there and I wanted to include a couple of each of their greatest songs. Sometimes not necessarily the ‘single’, but ones that sparked an emotional response."
You can follow Jarryd on Instagram here.
*Please remember that per Spotify's terms and conditions, these playlists are intended for personal listening enjoyment only.