Tankard's father served in the Royal Australian Air Force and the family moved to various bases during her early years. She was born in Darwin, but had her first dance lessons in Melbourne. Several years later the family moved to Penang, Malaysia and was influenced by Malaysia's colour and ceremony. Later, living near Newcastle, New South Wales, Tankard took classes in Newcastle and then in Sydney before entering the Australian Ballet School in 1974.[citation needed]
Tankard's professional career began as a dancer with the Australian Ballet at the end of 1975. She also choreographed her first work, Birds behind Bars, for a choreographic workshop program, Dance Horizons, in 1977.
Tankard's early successes as a performer came when she worked in Germany with Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal between 1978 and 1984; Tankard was a principal artist and toured extensively. Meryl created roles in Cafe Muller, Kontakhof, Arien, Keuscheitslegende, 1980, Bandoneon, Walzer. In 1980 she played the leading role in the movie Quackfurdonald Mit Lieben Gruss, filmed in Munich and Disneyland and screened on German television. In 1982 she co-wrote and performed in Sydney on the Wupper, a short film awarded the Silver Film Band for Best Short Film at the 1983 Berlin Film Festival.
She then spent several years between Australia and Europe. In Europe she was a guest performer with Bausch's company as well as performing in Lindsay Kemp's Company. In Australia in 1984 she made Echo Point, and in 1986 performed in Robyn Archer's television production of The Pack of Women for ABC TV and played co-lead in the ABC TV series Dancing Daze, produced by Jan Chapman. In 1986 she created Travelling Light. In 1988 she created and performed solo her full-length Two Feet, which marked a major turning point in the creative collaboration she had established with photographer and visual artist Regis Lansac who created visual projections to accompany Two Feet and continued to develop this aspect of their collaboration.
In 1989 Tankard was offered the directorship of a small company in Canberra, which she named the Meryl Tankard Company. Works in Canberra included Banshee (1989), VX18504 (1989), Nuti (1990), Kikimora (1990), Court of Flora (1990), Chants de Mariage I and II (1991–1992), and Songs with Mara (1992). Tankard also revived Echo Point and Two Feet, collaborated with the theatre director Pierre BokoronCirco (1991), and created choreography for Opera Australia's Death in Venice (1989), and made Sloth as part of Seven Deadly Sins – a program by seven contemporary Australian choreographers filmed for television by the ABC in 1993.
She moved to Adelaide, South Australia as director of Australian Dance Theatre. Tankard created Furioso (1993), Aurora (1994), Possessed (1995), Rasa (1996), Seulle (1997) and Inuk (1997). She also choreographed The Deep End (1996) for the Australian Ballet and Orphee et Euridyce for Opera Australia. Under Tankard's leadership, Australian Dance Theatre toured extensively worldwide. It was the first Australian company to be invited to perform at the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
Tankard left Adelaide in 1999 and began a career as a freelance choreographer. Her commissions have included:
2015 = Directed and co-produced Michelle's Story, 29min documentary (commissioned by ABC TV and Adelaide Film Festival). Awards for Michelle's Story – Adel Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary, Screen South Australia Award for Best Short Film, Best documentary, Best Soundtrack. Aust Dance Award – Most Outstanding Dance film.
2016 = Performed MCA
2016 = Directed and choreographed Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Beautiful Game at WAAPA Perth
2018 = Performed and created – Meet Meryl and Jo in Bonn Germany – Pina Bausch Retrospective
2018 = Choreographed Camille Claude for Theatre de l’Athenee Paris
2018 = Remounted Furioso for Royal Ballet of Flanders Antwerp, Gent – Belgium
2019 = Produced Two Feet film of original production with Meryl Tankard screened at IMZ Dance on Screen Festival Wuppertal
2019 = Created Two Feet for Adelaide Festival with Natalia Osipova
2019 = Created Zizanie for Adelaide Festival for Restless Dance Theatre
