The task: to get to a Dancers Company media call in a remote outback location in Central Australia. In the car: Associate Artistic Director Danilo Radojevic, Australian Ballet guest dancers Reiko Hombo and Jia Yin Du, and physiotherapist (and keen photographer) Sophie Emery.

I was behind the wheel, trying in vain to follow a little faxed map out to the Red Centre sand dune where we were meeting a journalist and photographer …

As we searched for the road that matched the one on our map, we circled around and around the outskirts of Alice Springs, eventually spying an unsealed, 4WD-friendly road. Was it the one? We didn’t know … and may have ended up in Adelaide without Danny’s handy phone GPS (genius)! With confirmation that we were heading in the right direction we set out on the dusty red road, rattling along with a cloud of dust following our little hire car. For a while it seemed like we might never find the location, until were lucky to rumble past a truck with a friendly local inside. “Further down the road and past the next cattle grate, you can’t miss it!” was the answer we got, so a quick “Thanks, mate!” and we were on the road again.

Five minutes later, the Red Centre sand dune loomed to our left, stark red sand against a clear blue sky. Breathtaking! Sun hats in hand, and braving sandy wind, we ran up to the dune towards two smiling faces that were waiting for us, and in moments Reiko and Jia Yin were in their rehearsal gear, doing lifts in the sunshine with the cameras clicking away.

Success!

As for the passers-by who got bogged in the dune … well, that’s another story.

By Jasmine Moseley, The Australian Ballet’s Assistant Company Manager

The Dancers Company performs the final show of its 2009 tour at the Darwin Entertainment Centre tonight