Atomos, the second instrumental album from post-classical duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen, has a pervasive stillness that would seem to be at odds with dance. But the Royal Ballet's resident choreographer, Wayne McGregor, has a habit of finding movement in unlikely places. After seeing how his dancers responded to their first album during practice sessions, he asked the duo to write the score for a new work for his company Random Dance.

In 1955, Katharine Hepburn became obsessed with lyrebirds. Connecticut is a long way from the Dandenongs, but an Old Vic tour of Shakespeare's plays with her friend Robert Helpmann gave the actress an opportunity to fulfil a dream. This, in turn, led to the birth of one of Australia's greatest homegrown ballets, The Display. ''She had read a little book called The Lure of the Lyrebird,'' Helpmann told Fairfax in 1964. ''And she was determined to see them."

The stripper was the final straw for flamenco dancer Jessica Statham and guitarist Damian Wright. Yes, he was dressed as Zorro, which befitted a Spanish nightclub in Sydney's Latin quarter, but the duo decided they'd had enough of the hens' parties and it was time to leave. Statham headed for Spain, where she would spend the next five studying dance. Wright spent much of the time travelling back and forth between Australia and the Iberian peninsula, learning to play and compose in the flamenco tradition. When Statham returned, the pair began experimenting with music and dance based on flamenco traditions but with modern influences.

Maria Pages first danced for the public when she was five years old and says she will never forget how it felt: ''I remember the sensation of the floor. I remember the feet [being] very cold, probably because I was nervous. I remember I was so concentrated on this performance. They are in my mind forever all these sensations, like a film.''