Some who log on to this site have asked about Alan Brissenden’s and Keith Glennon’s recently published book Australia Dances: creating Australian dance 1945–1965. With the kind permission of The Canberra Times, who published my overview of the book on 2 August 2010, I am posting a PDF of that review. While I was extremely [...]

Inspired by a comment on my August 2010 post regarding Olga Spessivtseva in Australia, I went back to that amazing National Library of Australia resource, Trove, and began looking again for passenger lists around the end of 1934 that might contain the names Olga Spessiva or Leonard G Braun.
It appears that Spessivtseva and Braun left [...]

The interview with Paul Knobloch recorded by Stateline Canberra during Paul’s recent Australian visit screened on  Friday 24 September. Its online availability will, it seems, expire in December so it’s worth having a look before that happens.  In addition to the words from Paul and  his mentor, Jackie Hallahan, there are some photos of Paul [...]

Wrong Skin, Spring Dance Season, Sydney Opera House, 2-12 September 2010

Wrong Skin, performed by the indigenous company Chooky Dancers, is really a play with dance sequences included. Its narrative line concerns traditional law, in particular as it relates to kinship and marriage in indigenous society, and the difficulties of adhering to tradition in the face [...]

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, 16–18 September 2010
One work saved (just) the Canberra program by Complexions Contemporary Ballet: Moonlight, a very brief solo for Desmond Richardson, co-artistic director of this New York based company, and also its leading dancer. Richardson has a Mr Universe body with fabulously defined musculature and extraordinary flexibility. He used it [...]

In glass:  Spring Dance Season, Sydney Opera House, 7–12 September, 2010
Narelle Benjamin says her latest work, In glass, was inspired by the partnership of the two dancers who perform the work, Paul White and Kristina Chan. The best parts of the work are indeed when White and Chan are dancing either separately but in unison, [...]

Transports exceptionnels:  Spring Dance Season, Sydney Opera House, 9-12 September 2010

Philippe Priasso and earthmover

A perfect Sydney spring  day
A large, orange earthmover with driver
The remarkable voice of Maria Callas
A dancer, Philippe Priasso

Billed as a duet for dancer and earthmover, this free event on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt was a remarkably moving occasion as the [...]

For those who may not have read the interview by Alan Helms with dance critic Alastair Macaulay, published recently in the summer issue of the ballet.co magazine, I recommend it. It is quite long but a totally fascinating read.
One of the highlights of my tenure as curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in New [...]

During August I spent some time investigating the spelling of Valentin Zeglovsky’s name and posted some results under the title ‘Valentin Zeglovsky: some Australian notes’. It was a somewhat esoteric exercise but it did yield other information about Zeglovsky, of which I was not previously aware. So for me it was a worthwhile excursion, although it [...]

Liz Lea reports that her show, 120 Birds, has just concluded its run at the Edinburgh Fringe. She says they ‘did well’ but the reviews suggest she and her dancers did a little more than well. It sounds like a knockout. Let’s hope Lea finds an Australian venue for the show.
Extracts from reviews:
‘Liz Lea mines the [...]