Lucy Guerin AO has announced she will step down as Artistic Director and CEO of Lucy Guerin Inc at the end of 2026, marking the end of a remarkable chapter in Australian contemporary dance.
Guerin founded the company in Melbourne in 2002, initially as a structure to support the making and touring of her own choreographic works. Over the past 25 years, Lucy Guerin Inc has grown into a vital centre for choreography, research, learning, discussion and artistic exchange, supporting not only Guerin’s practice but a broader ecology of dancers, choreographers and independent artists.
In a statement announcing her decision, Guerin said: “After 25 years, I’ve decided to step down as Artistic Director of LGI to explore new directions in dance. I founded the company in 2002 to support the making and touring of my dance productions, but over the years it has become so much more than that. It is now a centre for choreography, discussion, learning, connection, and ideas and there are so many people who have worked incredibly hard to create and support this organisation. I am deeply grateful to all of them.”
Speaking exclusively to Dance Australia, Guerin says the decision has been forming for some time, and that she feels “very resolved” about leaving the company.
“I have been thinking about the right time for a while, and I feel very resolved about my leaving, which makes it feel right,” she says. “I have loved building LGI and have enjoyed the shaping of the company along with many other incredible people. But the making of new work is what is the most important to me, and I’m ready to step back from the daily chores to make a bit more space to think as well as make.”
For Guerin, the moment is not only about stepping away, but about making space for another artist to take up the kind of sustained creative opportunity that has shaped her own practice.
“What feels most important to me as I leave is for someone else to have this rare opportunity to explore their choreographic practice in a deep and challenging way as I have, or whatever their equivalent to that is for them,” she says. “There are so many hugely talented choreographers and dancers that have been involved with the company in varying degrees, and I am so proud that there is a wave of artists who will continue to build on what the company and the sector is working towards.”
Guerin’s career has been marked by an ongoing investigation into the body, space, rhythm, perception and human behaviour. Her works have incorporated dance, film, music, text, design and visual art, and have toured extensively through Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. She has been commissioned by companies including Chunky Move, Dance Works Rotterdam, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Lyon Opera Ballet, Skånes Dansteater, Rambert and The Australian Ballet.
Her many honours include the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, a New York Dance and Performance Award, multiple Green Room, Helpmann and Australian Dance Awards, the Australia Council Award for Dance in 2016, and appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2020.
Since its founding, LGI has become closely associated not only with Guerin’s own choreographic output, but with the development of contemporary dance practice more broadly. The company’s home, WXYZ Studios in North Melbourne, opened in 2018 and has become an important hub for the independent dance sector. In 2022, LGI received a $2 million bequest from former Chair Chloe Munro AO, the largest gift ever made to Australian contemporary dance. Of that, $1.5 million was distributed as fellowships to 20 independent dance artists, with the remaining $500,000 directed to the creation of Guerin’s new work.
Guerin says LGI’s expansion from a structure supporting one choreographer into a wider artistic community has shaped her understanding of what leadership can be.
“I’ve always wanted to be part of an artistic community and to have a dialogue with other dancers and choreographers,” she tells Dance Australia. “Although I am the Artistic Director, my work is constantly responding and shifting to what’s around me, and I’m trying out new things in my work that may very well fail. The dancers and my peers are always involved in the making, in a very integral way.”
She describes leadership not as authority, but as the creation of conditions in which artists can work, question and exchange ideas.
“For me leadership is not about being an authority, it’s about being responsible for creating the conditions where we can connect, be inspired, and share knowledge,” she says. “For me that keeps things in motion and not predictable. That’s not to say I don’t make the final decisions on what I want my dance works to be, but I’m not very creative in a situation where I am just telling others what to do. It’s important to create pathways for artists and we’ve tried to do that through our programs at LGI.”
LGI Chair Peter Jopling AM KC paid tribute to Guerin’s artistic vision and the company she has built.
“Lucy Guerin founded this company with a singular artistic vision and the determination to build something lasting, not just for audiences, but for the entire ecology of Australian dance,” he said. “Twenty-five years later, that is exactly what she has done.”
He added that Guerin leaves the company at “a moment of real strength”, describing LGI as artistically vital, financially sound, internationally respected, and supported by a committed community of artists and audiences.
Dancer and choreographer Lilian Steiner, who has worked with Guerin and LGI over a 14-year period, also reflected on the scale of Guerin’s influence.
“The traces and impressions Lucy and her company have left in generations of dance artists is remarkable and admirable, and her legacy is one I feel honoured to hold so deeply in my own body and memory,” Steiner said.
Guerin will continue to lead LGI until the end of 2026. In October 2026, she will perform a new solo work, marking her first performance since 2013 and her final performance with the company. Her recent works will continue to tour in 2027 and 2028.
The return to performance is, for Guerin, closely connected to the next phase of her artistic life.
“Being a CEO/Artistic Director has meant that I’ve become a bit disconnected from my own dance practice over the years,” she says. “I have a strong desire to revisit my physical self and see what’s going on there! What knowledge resides in my body and mind that wasn’t there when I was thirty? I know what I’ve lost, that’s for sure. Dancing is certainly different, but I’m really excited to return to the studio on my own and explore what a solo is for me now.”
She admits there is some trepidation in the return, but sees that as part of the process.
“I’m a little afraid of the stage, but a bit of doubt is essential I think to the act of creation,” she says.
After leaving LGI, Guerin says she will continue to work as an independent maker, undertaking commissions, residencies and workshops.
The LGI Board will begin its leadership search in the coming weeks, seeking a new Artistic Director and co-CEO to commence in 2027.