Coralie Hinkley at Fort Street Girls’ High School

The extraordinary Coralie Hinkley, passionately involved in so many dance-related activities, died in September 2021. An obituary is at this link. After her death her collection of papers, photographs, writings and so many other items were donated to the National Library of Australia by her daughter. The collection, Papers of Coralie Hinkley, has since been processed, and a finding aid is available for viewing online at this link.

The collection is extensive and covers Hinkley’s life and career, including her time spent abroad as well as in Australia. Given that I, in my long-past youth, was a pupil at Fort Street Girls’ High School in Sydney, I have started my investigation of the material in the collection by looking at the photos and other material relating to Hinkley’s teaching project at that school (which unfortunately did not coincide with my time there).

Hinkley began her project at Fort Street in 1963 when she was appointed to the school with the encouragement of the then Principal, Alma Hamilton. While eventually there was a performing group as part of the project, every student across the six years of the secondary school curriculum received a dance lesson every week.

Coralie Hinkley teaching and rehearsing in the gymnasium at Fort Street Girls’ High School, 1970s. Papers of Coralie Hinkley, MS 10753, box 8. National Library of Australia.

Amongst the various materials relating to Fort Street are reading lists, class notes, notes on specific works being created and Hinkley’s views on the aim of dance in education. On the latter she wrote:

Dance in education should contribute to the growth of the individual and this study is based on a scientific understanding of their needs and capacities. The modern dance provides an emotional release, an increased sensibility to the environment, skill in working creatively. The vital energy for artistic creation is fostered and nurtured; the child is developed physically, mentally and spiritually and the aesthetic side of her values is encouraged to flower.

There are also numerous photographs in the Hinkley collection showing the diversity of works created on the Fort Street students. Something of a surprise are images showing dancers performing/posing next to the sails on the roof of the Sydney Opera House, as in the header image and an image below. One has The Forest written on the back but it is hard to imagine a full work, which The Forest was, or even excerpts from it, being performed there. So those images need further research, although that the Sydney Opera House didn’t open until 1973 helps with dating.

There are two oral history interviews with Hinkley in the National Library, one which I recorded in 1997-1998 and which is available online at this link, and one recorded in 2013 by Alex and Annette Hood, which is available at this link.

More to come on the Hinkley collection in due course.

Michelle Potter, 21 February 2025

Featured image (detail): Dancers from the Fort Street Dance Group high on the structure, and against the sails of the Sydney Opera House, 1970s.

Note on photographs: Many of the photographs in the Fort Street part of the Hinkley collection, including those used in this post, were taken by Robert Walker whose stamp appears on the back of the print. Walker died in 1987 and I have not yet found a way to contact his family to ask permission to reproduce. I would welcome suggestions.

Enigma Variations. The Royal Ballet (2019)

Via the ROH streaming platform

Frederick Ashton choreographed his ballet, Enigma Variations, to the similarly named score by Edward Elgar: Royal Ballet publicity describes the ballet as an ‘ode to the composer Edward Elgar’. The ballet depicts several of Elgar’s friends and family who are seen at Elgar’s home as he ponders the outcome of a request to conductor Hans Richter regarding input into the premiere performance of the Enigma score. Richter eventually sends a telegram to Elgar agreeing to the request to conduct, and Elgar and his friends gather as one to share Elgar’s pleasure (and relief?).

I had never previously seen the ballet, which received its premiere from the Royal Ballet in 1968, and I came to the streaming with pretty much no knowledge of what was happening, not even why the mysterious envelope that arrived at the end of the work caused the thrill that it did for the cast. But even without this knowledge it was a fascinating work choreographically and for the way the collection of people who danced the various and diverse roles were so strong in their characterisations. It is also exceptionally designed as a period piece by Julia Trevalyan Oman. After watching it this first time, my curiosity sent me on a research trip via the internet and via David Vaughan’s engrossing book Frederick Ashton and his Ballets. I watched the stream again.

Christopher Saunders performed the role of Elgar and did so with a strength that drew attention instantly and constantly. The opening moments in which Elgar’s wife, danced by Laura Morera, offered her support for her husband as he struggled to remain unworried by his situation set the scene beautifully. It looked calm and simple in many respects but it was choreographically quite complex especially in relation to the various lifts included.

Christopher Saunders as Elgar and Laura Morera as Elgar’s wife, with Bennet Gartside as music editor A. J. Jaeger, in *Enigma Variation*s. The Royal Ballet. Photo: © ROH/Tristram Kenton

Francesca Hayward gave a memorable performance as Dorabella, a young friend of Elgar. Dorabella suffers from a speech impediment and this aspect of her persona was recognised with fast moving and constantly changing choreography—including fast runs and little hops on pointe. But, in addition to this somewhat remarkable choreographic inclusion, Hayward projected a winning, unforgettable youthfulness.

Francesca Hayward as Dorabella in *Enigma Variation*s. The Royal Ballet. Photo: © ROH/Tristram Kenton

Another standout character was Arthur Troyte Griffith, an architect and a close male friend of Elgar, danced dramatically and exuberantly by Matthew Ball. But the entire cast performed with such skill and dramatic input that it is hard to single out individual performances. One aspect of the choreography that stood out for me was Ashton’s skill in creating movement that never looked as though it was specific to particular parts of the body. Movement just coursed through the entire body.

Matthew Ball as Troyte in *Enigma Variation*s. The Royal Ballet. Photo: © ROH/Tristram Kenton

The ballet is episodic in structure and crosses time. But it is just beautifully structured and performed and will stay in my mind for a long time to come.

Michelle Potter, 20 February 2025

Featured image: Artists of the Royal Ballet in the closing moments of Enigma Variations. The Royal Ballet. Photo: © ROH/Tristram Kenton

Voices of Spring. The Royal Ballet

Via the ROH streaming platform

Frederick Ashton was a choreographer who used classical ballet as his medium, which today it is not such a common method of producing a new work, not even within a ballet company (at least not in my mind). This is not a criticism of ballet today and I clearly recall my former ballet teacher, Valrene Tweedie, saying ‘ballet absorbs everything’! To its credit ballet has moved on and continues to do so. But Ashton was a choreographer whose work is thrilling to watch for the manner in which he uses movement that encompasses aspects of ballet that no longer appear to the same extent in today’s choreography.

A recent addition to the ROH streaming platform has been Ashton’s six-or-so minute pas de deux Voices of Spring. Ashton originally made the work, then called Frulingsstimmen, in 1977 for a New Year’s Eve performance of Die Fledermaus as performed by the Royal Opera. It appeared in a ball scene in Act II of the production along with another Ashton inclusion, Explosions-Polka.

Frulingsstimmen was first performed as a dance piece, independent of the opera, in September 1978 under the name Voices of Spring, the English translation of its German title, Frühlingsstimmen. Since then the pas de deux has been part of the Royal Ballet’s repertoire (although it seems to have been performed somewhat infrequently).

The version the company has added to its streaming platform is a performance from 2013 danced by Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell. Technically they make Ashton’s demanding choreography look just breathtaking (including his ‘signature’ walking through the air moments). Impressive from both dancers is the line of the body, the fluidity of the arms and indeed the fluidity of the entire body throughout the piece, along with the use of a beautifully stretched neck, especially from Choe, with the head balanced so impressively at the top of the spine.

But more than technical matters, the connection between the two dancers had been exceptionally thought through. Campbell presented Choe to the audience in true balletic tradition, while never forgetting that he was an individual as well. Then there was the absolute joy that coursed through the pas de deux and that reflected so beautifully the music, the Frulingsstimmen waltz from Johann Strauss II.

This pas de deux has been danced by others over the years, all well-known artists. But, from the excerpts available on YouTube,* no one else seems to have captured the nature of the work as Choe and Campbell have done, especially the exceptional fluidity and the inherent joy seen throughout the performance. I was blown away.

Michelle Potter, 9 February 2025

* The YouTube footage available does not include the Choe/Campbell performance, which is only available online via the ROH streaming platform

Featured image: Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell in Voices of Spring. The Royal Ballet, 2013. Photo: © Tristram Kenton

Dance diary. January 2025

Queensland Ballet. The news is out

Queensland Ballet has announced that its new director, following the retirement of Li Cunxin and the sudden departure of Leanne Benjamin, will be Spanish-born Ivan Gil-Ortega who will take on the role in February this year. Gil-Ortega is a celebrated ballet professional with over 25 years in the field. He has held roles with companies and creatives around the world, and has worked as a principal dancer, assistant director, artistic consultant, freelance rehearsal director, stager, and coach. The media release noted Queensland Ballet’s enthusiasm for the appointment. In part the media release says:

We are thrilled to welcome Ivan to the Queensland Ballet family following a stellar career on stage, in studio and working alongside some of ballet’s leading lights. Throughout the recruitment process, Ivan articulated his vision very clearly with a particular focus on our dancers of today and our dancers of tomorrow, through the work of our Academy.

He is also brimming with ideas around nurturing home-grown talent here in Australia as well as exploring world-stage collaborations and exchanges which will see him leaning into his international peers and networks. Ivan and his family are very much looking forward to calling Queensland home and we cannot wait to see them here very soon, Brett Clark AM, Board Chair said.

Gil-Ortega has worked with Queensland Ballet previously when he assisted Derek Deane on the production of Deane’s much admired Strictly Gershwin. Follow this link to a fuller biography of Gil-Ortega provided by Queensland Ballet.

Portraits of Ivan Gil-Ortega. Photos: © Karine Grace

News from Paul Knobloch

For the past several years Paul Knobloch has been the Australian Ballet’s Ballet Repetiteur. Things appear to be changing, however. A recent media release announced that in February Knobloch will be returning to Canberra, where he was born and educated and where he had his initial dance training. He will be working with Jackie Hallahan’s Dance Development Centre (DDC) on a series of events to celebrate the school’s 40th anniversary. The media release states, ‘As DDC gears up to celebrate its monumental 40th anniversary, Knobloch’s involvement promises to elevate the festivities and inspire the next generation of dancers.’

Paul Knobloch. Photographer not identified

I can’t help wondering, however, whether or not Knobloch will return to the Australian Ballet? Here is a link to the media release.

Dancing and Fatboy Slim

During January I was sent a Youtube link to some dancing being performed (back in the 1990s) to Fatboy Slim’s song Praise you. I have to admit that I had never heard of Fatboy Slim—not really part of my general interests I’m afraid especially not during the 1990s when I was rather busy with various other matters (mainly watching children growing into adults, writing a PhD thesis, and working in a range of casual jobs).

Here is the footage, which I found to be an interesting variety of community dance. It reminded me a little of an unexpected performance at a wedding of one of my sons (back around the same date as the footage). Quite out of the blue (I thought anyway) the guests assembled and danced in a similar fashion. It was somewhat different from the traditional celebratory wedding waltz!

Oral histories

I had the immense pleasure in January of recording an oral history for the National Library of Australia with Megan Connelly, currently director of the Australian Ballet School. As part of the NLA’s COVID responses project, Connelly talked about managing the pandemic at the Australia Ballet and the Australian Ballet School before talking at length about her extraordinary dance career to date.

This interview was the 169th oral history I have recorded for various organisations (mostly the National Library). Here is a link to the updated list of those interviews (arranged alphabetically).

Reading in December

My December reading included Barbara Newman’s Striking a Balance. Dancers Talk about Dancing. My edition was published way back in 1992, although the talks were recorded mostly in 1979 and published in the original edition in 1982. I was especially interested in the format since over the past several decades I have recorded oral history interviews with dancers, choreographers and artistic directors. Two of Newman’s essays stood out for me—those with Moira Shearer and Bruce Marks. What made them especially interesting to me was the extensive comments they made about how they approached particular roles. Shearer spoke at length about how she perceived the character of Giselle and where she fitted into the overall storyline of Giselle. Bruce Marks spoke in a similar fashion about Siegfried in Swan Lake. Others also reminisced about particular roles they had taken on but Shearer and Marks seemed, to me at least, to be especially analytical in their thoughts.

Vale Carolyn Brown (1927 –2025)

I was deeply saddened to hear that American dancer Carolyn Brown had died in January at the age of 97. Brown had a truly remarkable career with Merce Cunningham Dance Company over many years. But I remember her in particular because she helped me with my doctoral thesis, which concerned the designs made for the Cunningham company by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns during the 1960s and 1970s. We met for the discussion in New York in a cafe close to Lincoln Center Plaza. Brown was incredibly generous and honest in her recollections of the years of Rauschenberg and Johns.

Never forgotten for many reasons. Try this link for an obituary from The New York Times.

Carolyn Brown: Born 26 September 1927; died 7 January 2025

Press for January 2025

– ‘Critics Survey. Michelle Potter’. Dance Australia, January/February/March 2025, pp. 32-33.

Michelle Potter, 31 January 2025

Featured image: Portrait of Ivan Gil-Ortega. Photo: © Karine Grace

Critics’ Survey, 2024. Dance Australia

Dance Australia‘s annual ‘Critics’ Survey’ was published in this year’s first issue (January/February/March 2025). The survey is always a good read with its breadth of coverage and its varied views of the year’s best productions. In addition to my report, headed as ‘Michelle Potter (Canberra and elsewhere)’ on pp. 32-33, critics represented this year are Lisa Lanzi (Adelaide), Denise Richardson (Brisbane), Rhys Ryan (Melbourne), Nina Levy (Perth), and Geraldine Higginson (Sydney).

I began my contribution with some remarks about reviews in general, which I have also addressed elsewhere on this website. Those remarks deal specifically with an issue regarding critics and reviews that I continue to find frustrating and annoying—who can and who can’t review a show according to some involved with a production. I followed up with a general comment about dance in Canberra and I noted that I frequently travel outside of Canberra to see works I otherwise would miss, hence the ‘and elsewhere’ that follows ‘Canberra’ in the heading to my Dance Australia remarks. Finally I chose the show I think outclassed all others (others that I was able to see of course).

I don’t yet have a good quality PDF file of my contribution so I have posted a text version below. An image of a moment from Queensland Ballet’s production of Coco Chanel. The life of a fashion icon was published with my survey remarks and I have used it as the featured image for this post.

Here is the text:

‘I have a major gripe. Twice in 2024 I was offered complimentary tickets to a production but was invited to come and ‘enjoy’ the show but not to write a review. Both productions were in Canberra with one by a Canberra-based organisation. In both cases I did not accept the complimentary ticket with its attached condition. My gripe focuses on the right to decide whether reviews can or cannot be written about specific performances that are open to the public? Who has that right?

I wondered whether there was media manipulation involved on the part of the companies and I turned to what is perhaps my favourite book of collected reviews—Mirrors and Scrims. The Life and Afterlife of Ballet, written by American dance writer and critic Marcia Siegel. Siegel remarks, ‘I see myself as both a demystifyer and a validator, sometimes an interpreter, but not a judge.’ Personally, I stand with Siegel’s concept of a critic being a ‘demystifier’, ‘validator’ and ‘interpreter’ and I make an effort to avoid being judgmental. But I’m not sure that is how those who suggest that I not write about their productions think about reviews. To make the matter even more frustrating, it seems that eventually the Canberra-based organisation relented and gave permission for two other Canberra-based critics to review the show. But the permission was not passed on to me.

Whatever the reasons behind the issue, I am exasperated by the situation. I don’t tell those involved with putting a show together what steps to put in their choreography so why should they tell me what I can or can’t write? An honest review may well contain some criticism. But good reviews have to be honest and there will always be cases where a reviewer will feel the need to suggest there are issues that cause a work to fall short. Such criticism is not meant to be judgmental, but to be of potential benefit both for readers and for those who produce and perform in the shows. Reviews matter. They stand strong against flowery media releases, and they also help to create a history of what is regarded by many as an art form that disappears when a performance finishes. Admittedly twice is not a huge number of times for the situation to have occurred, but it represents a significant movement for the future perhaps?

Dance in Canberra, local dance that is, is largely made for a variety of community groups with the major exception being Alison Plevey’s currently-funded Australian Dance Party. Those community groups are made up of people of a certain age, people from a variety of multicultural backgrounds, people with medical conditions that benefit from access to movement, and a variety of other specific groups. Many community performances by these groups are exceptional and are often, even usually, danced outside the environment of a regular theatre, giving audiences a new perspective on where dance can happen. But in order to see professional productions from Australia’s major companies who rarely bring their work to Canberra, I travel a lot outside the city where I live.

The show that stood out for me during 2024 was Coco Chanel. The life of a fashion icon choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and performed in Brisbane by Queensland Ballet,

The work was quite episodic, which is hardly surprising given the extent and changing nature of Chanel’s career. But Lopez Ochoa handled this episodic context with absolute skill. There was never any doubt about what was happening, despite the complexity, and the short duration of each episode. Choreographically her use of the space of the stage was carefully considered as were the groupings she made between dancers as the episodes unfolded. In addition, the collaborative elements, especially Jon Buswell’s lighting design, made Coco Chanel an absolutely brilliant production.

The aspect I especially loved was Lopez Ochoa’s approach to her choreography. It was distinctively individualistic, but emboldened by an understanding of, and belief in, classical ballet as a medium to be pursued. It has been a long time since I sat in a theatre and was completely and utterly absorbed to the extent that somehow I felt I was part of the story.’

MIchelle Potter, 25 January 2025

Featured image: Luke Dimattina (foreground) as Pierre Wertheimer in Coco Chanel. The life of a fashion icon. Queensland Ballet, 2024. Photo: © David Kelly.

All In. Dance Makers Collective

22 January 2025, Parramatta Town Hall, Western Sydney

It is not easy to review All In. To tell the truth, in many decades of performing, teaching and reviewing and writing about dance, I have never really seen anything like it. Not only that, Dance Makers Collective (DMC) is a new organisation for me (even though it is more than 10 years old apparently). Based on Dharug country (Western Sydney), it is a collective-led dance company with a mission to build dance communities and it works with, and between, dance theatre, contemporary dance and social dance. It aims to connect and move people and to destigmatise dance.

Its co-director, Miranda Wheen, is well known in Canberra having performed, with exceptional results, for various Canberra-based groups, including those directed by Elizabeth Dalman and by Liz Lea. My interest in Wheen’s work is what encouraged me to accept the generous invitation to review the latest DMC show.

The show took place in a hall with an unraked floor with two rows of seats around the edges of the space. It began with an Indigenous section led by a remarkable performer singing and using a version of clapsticks (they were quite long) to develop the rhythm of the section. The Indigenous element moved into a second section, which began with a series of connections between the Indigenous dancers and dancers performing Western-style contemporary dance.

The Western section eventually took on a life of its own and, while I found this section somewhat lengthy, the choreography was fast-paced, varied in the groupings that formed and dissolved, and nicely danced by all.

What was for me the most interesting of the following sections began as a Spanish/Flamenco flavoured performance led by a committed artist (Pepa Molina?), whose flamenco skills were clearly exceptional, and who was accompanied by a small number of other dancers also demonstrating Spanish movement. A few minutes into this section, however, the Spanish dancers were joined by a young man dressed all in white, who at first seemed also to be performing Spanish-style movement. But it didn’t take long to realise that he was in fact a proponent of Indian movement. What was totally fascinating was the way he moved his fingers. While they were clearly Indian-style, and exceptionally clear, somehow they blended beautifully with the the leading Spanish dancer whose fingers moved as if playing castanets. Here was a terrific example of the joyous connections between dance forms.

But the culmination of the show really brought home the concept of ‘all in’. The show moved quite suddenly into its finale when the audience (and not just one or two audience members but pretty much the entire audience) rose from their seats and joined the dancers on the floor. Young and old, experienced and not so experienced, all were present moving together. There were some instructions on a screen at the end of the space ‘Go left’, Go right’, ‘Make a circle’, ‘Dance with the person next to you’, and so on. And they did!

Media for the show, which was part of the 2025 Sydney Festival, stated: ‘Dance exists on stages, at weddings, in clubs and at cultural gatherings. Why is it so universal? What are the boundaries between ballet and backyard parties? Can dance build bridges and ignite collective joy?’ Well All In certainly built bridges of various kinds, including between dance styles and between performers and audiences. And seeing the thrills and excitement that permeated the finale, dance clearly can ignite collective joy.

So, apart from the thrill of watching a performance that was mostly an outstanding show in terms of dance technique, what All In showed us is that dance is for everyone and that it exists beyond what might be called a mainstage show. It needs to tour. I can think of a number of Canberra venues in which All In might be presented, notably in Canberra Theatre Centre’s Courtyard Studio Theatre and in Gorman Arts Centre’s Main Hall. Let’s hope!

Michelle Potter, 24 January 2025

All photos: © Anya McKee

Featured image: A moment from the opening scenes of All In. Dance Makers Collective, 2025. Photo: © Anya McKee

As I am not familiar with the company and didn’t really know the names of the various dancers, below is the list of creatives from the online program:
Director & Choreographer Miranda Wheen
Assistant / Rehearsal Director Marnie Palomares
Producer Carl Sciberras
Composer Fiona Hill
Designer Anya McKee
Lighting Designer Benjamin Brockman
Creative Collaborators Vishnu Arunasalam, Azzam Mohamed, Pepa Molina, Peta Strachan
Co-Choreographers & Performers Samuel Beazley, Mitchell Christie, Eliza Cooper, Emma Harrison, Katina Olsen, Melanie Palomares, Emma Riches, Ella Watson-Heath
Co-Choreographers Jana Castillo, Tra Mi Dinh, Sophia Ndaba
Featuring Cameo Performances from Jannawi Dance Clan, Future Makers, Riddim Nation, Las Flamenkas, Pepa Molina, Vishnu Arunasalam, and Majdy and Seraj Jildah
Indian Percussion Pirashanna Thevarajah
DJ Krystel Diola
Music Mix Bob Scott
Additional Choreography (Jannawi Dance Clan) Peta Strachan
Additional Music (Jannawi Dance Clan) Steve Francis (Composer) and Matthew Doyle (Vocals)
Additional Choreography (Las Flamenkas) Pepa Molina
Additional Music (Las Flamenkas) Manuel Barco
Stage Managers Tom Kelly and William Phillips

Yugen. The Royal Ballet

Via the ROH streaming platform

I was really surprised to discover (belatedly) that the Royal Ballet’s repertoire included a work called Yugen, choreographed by Wayne McGregor and presented in 2018. Australians of a certain age will remember Robert Helpmann’s narrative ballet Yugen, which he created for the Australian Ballet in 1965. Helpmann’s Yugen was freely adapted from the Japanese Noh play Hageromo. It told the story of Tsukiyomo the Moon Goddess and, in essence, focused on the outcome of an event one night when Tsukiyomo came down to earth to bathe in a lagoon but had her wings stolen by a local fisherman, Hakuryo, who believed they were rare shells.

Alan Alder as Hakuyro the Fisherman in Robert Helpmann’s *Yugen*. The Australian Ballet, 1965. Photo: © National Library of Australia/Walter Stringer

‘Yugen’ is a Zen Buddhist term and was defined by Helpmann in program notes to his ballet as ‘the most gracefully refined expression of beauty; beauty which is felt—as the shadow of a cloud momentarily before the moon’.

McGregor’s Yugen couldn’t be more different. His interpretation of the word ‘yugen’ is of course similar to that of Helpmann. In an ‘extra’ to the ROH stream, McGregor says the word means ‘mysterious or profound grace, something that has a mercurial beauty’. But there is no specific narrative line in McGregor’s production, although when watching it one is tempted to create a story in one’s mind as the work progresses. This is especially so with the relationship that seems to evolve between and beyond the leading dancers, Calvin Richardson, Sarah Lamb and Federico Bonelli, along with Joseph Sissens who takes a significant role as the work moves to an end. And also in that ‘extra’ to the stream, McGregor mentions that in his Yugen there is no obvious storyline, but goes on to say that he believes there is no such thing as a non-narrative ballet as audiences tend to imagine their own story (as indeed I did).

Choreographically, whether we see/imagine a narrative or not, McGregor’s work for eleven dancers is quite stunning. Danced to Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and presented as part of Bernstein’s centenary celebrations, the work begins dramatically in front of Edmund de Waal’s set of rectangular structures of different heights and depths.

Scene from *Yugen* showing Edmund de Waal’s set. Photo: © ROH/Andrej Uspenski

From there the work proceeds through duets, solos and other combinations of dancers. A highlight is a solo from Richardson in which he seems to puzzle over his existence or state of being. Sarah Lamb performs McGregor’s demanding movements calmly and with amazing skill and it is such a pleasure seeing her look into the face of Bonelli who partners her through the work. They are clearly connected, emotionally or otherwise.

McGregor’s choreography is filled with exceptionally lyrical movements of the arms and upper body. And, as ever, he uses the space of the stage in unusual and thought-provoking ways. Watching is a moving and often surprising experience. It’s a waiting game too as one waits to see what will happen next in terms of how the body can move. Costumes by Shirin Guild allow McGregor’s diverse and fluid movements to be seen at their best

But perhaps the most deeply involving moments come as the work concludes. In a duet, with no one else on stage, and with the lighting (from Lucy Carter) progressively darkening, Sissens leads Richardson into the blackness. Is it to his death?

Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens in a moment from *Yugen*. Photo: © ROH/Andrej Uspenski

I probably need to relate the choreography of McGregor’s work more closely to the various psalms that are sung during the work. Perhaps another viewing? On this first viewing I am simply enjoying the fascination of two productions called Yugen—both so different in approach to the word, or aesthetic concept, that gave birth to them. And of course I enjoyed the spectacular dancing of the eleven Royal Ballet dancers who performed this second (for me) Yugen.

Michelle Potter, 5 January 2025

Featured image: Sarah Lamb in Wayne McGregor’s Yugen, 2018. Photo: © ROH/Andrej Uspenski

Postscript: McGregor’s Yugen was a co-production with the Dutch National Ballet.

Dance diary. December 2024

Karen van Ulzen and Dance Australia

After 35 years as editor of Dance Australia, Karen van Ulzen is moving on. She has been a strong and successful editor and her retirement is a particular loss to the dance community. In a Facebook post, Karen wrote:

Dance is my lifelong love but it is time to hang up the keyboard. I am looking forward,k to indulging my other loves: visual art (specifically painting) and writing. However, dance is still my love and I hope to continue to contribute to the artform in some other way.

Portrait of Karen van Ulzen. From Yaffa/*Dance Australia* online. Photographer not identified

Taking over from Karen is Olivia Weeks whose dance background includes teaching and an extensive background with the Royal Academy of Dance. Of her plans she told Dance Australia:

As Editor, I’m excited to contribute to our ever-evolving dance landscape. My goal is to continue to champion the incredible talent Australia has to offer, celebrate the stories that make our industry so unique, and ensure Dance Australia remains a vital platform for our community in 2025 and beyond.

Read more about Olivia Weeks at this link.

I wish Olivia every success and give my sincere thanks to Karen for all she has achieved for dance in Australia, and for her support of my writing over many years.

More on books and reading

After the death of Eileen Kramer I thought it was time to read her autobiography, Walkabout Dancer, a copy of which she kindly gave to me but which I had never taken the time to read. It was published in 2008 in North America and I honestly can’t believe that there was a professional editor at work on the text prior to publication. The text is rife with spelling errors and inconsistencies and inaccuracies in names and places throughout. Perhaps the inaccuracies extend even to aspects of the story itself? To tell the truth, I wish I had never taken on the reading of it. It does nothing to advance the image of Eileen Kramer.

I did, however, enjoy Derek Parker’s 1988 publication, Nijinsky. God of the dance, a copy of which I found in the Harry Hartog Bookshop at the ANU. (That HH bookshop again!). Apart from the fact that it revealed some interesting personal information about ‘the God of the Dance’, it contained some photographs of Nijinsky and his colleagues that I had never seen before. It’s a shame though that some of the photographs on certain pages were positioned very close to the binding and were not always easy to see in full. Well worth a read however.

Vale Arlene Croce (1934-2024)

Renowned American dance critic, Arlene Croce, died in New York in December. She was 90 years old. I never met her, despite having spent some time in New York on various occasions over the past thirty years or so. But I had always enjoyed her writing for various outlets including The New Yorker, Ballet Review, which in fact she co-founded, and other publications. Her background knowledge was wide and very apparent in her dance writing, and I especially admired her exceptional and always appropriate use of descriptive words and her highly analytical approach to her writing.

As part of an obituary, the following words appeared in The New Yorker, issue of 19 December 2024:

Croce took dancing seriously, pulled dances apart and analyzed them rigorously, and her clarity and imagination, her stunning insights, and even her glaring flaws—all this was there on the page. This passion and discipline made her a kind of alter ego of—or perhaps a ministry to—the art. She had an unrelenting determination to say what she had seen.

It is interesting to reread what is one of her best known articles, ‘Discussing the Undiscussable’, which appears in her collection of reviews and articles, Writing in the Dark, Dancing in The New Yorker. In this article she talks about her reasons for refusing to go to, let alone review, a performance of Still/Here by choreographer Bill T. Jones, a work he created involving terminally ill people who speak about the issue of dying. The article caused something of a stir when it was published in The New Yorker in 1994. It still raises many issues about dance and how it is, or has been, perceived.

The original article appears to be available online without a New Yorker subscription. Try this link

Some statistics for 2024

Over the course of 2024 this website received slightly more than 75,000 views. The top five countries making use of the website were (in order) Australia, United States of America, New Zealand, Canada and United Kingdom. Top five cities from which people logged in were Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Brisbane and New York. During 2024, the top post on a northern hemisphere production was Joy Womack: The White Swan; the top Australian-related post was Etudes/Circle Electric. The Australian Balle t; and the top New Zealand post was Swan Lake. Royal New Zealand Ballet.

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A very happy 2025 to all. May the year be filled with dancing.

Michelle Potter, 31 December 2024

Featured image: A young Canberra dance student performing as Triton in a ballet school production of The Little Mermaid, 2023. Photographer not identified

Season’s Greetings and some highlights (and other issues) from 2024

Just recently a friend sent me some images she had taken in Adelaide while visiting the exhibition ‘Garden Cycle’ in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The exhibition consisted of works by American glass artist Dale Chihuly. ‘Is this the kind of thing you saw in Seattle?’ she asked. The question sent me back to my collection of shots taken on a visit to Seattle in 2013 when Chihuly’s work was on display, indoors and outdoors, in the Seattle Space Center.

This was an excuse to use one of my Seattle shots for the header image for this post. Chihuly’s amazing work has to be the best of many aspects of artistic endeavour.

Best production: Coco Chanel. The LIfe of a Fashion Icon. Queensland Ballet

In 2024 audiences were treated to some spectacular new dance—the Australian Ballet’s productions of Oscar and Carmen spring immediately to mind. And I was thrilled by Silence and Rapture, the Sydney Dance Company’s exhilarating collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. And many more great shows!. But it was definitely Queensland Ballet’s production of Coco Chanel. The Life of a Fashion Icon, from choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, that takes first place for me. I was really pleased too to see that my review of this show for Limelight made the top ten reads of reviews for 2024. It came in as 10th even though it had been available to read for just six or so weeks.

Coco Chanel was beautifully choreographed, fabulously danced and totally absorbing from beginning to end.

Neneka Yoshida as Coco, Patricio Revé as Boy Capel and Darcy Brazier as Etienne Balsan. Photo: © David Kelly

Keep an eye out for …

I am looking forward to seeing how Alice Lee Holland manages her role as artistic director of Canberra’s youth organisation, QL2 Dance, following on from many years of direction by Ruth Osborne.

I am also looking forward to seeing who becomes artistic director of Queensland Ballet after the sudden departure of Leanne Benjamin. It was a thrill to hear that Liam Scarlett’s Dangerous Liaisons, a sensational QB production going back to 2019, is on QB’s 2025 calendar. A good sign that the strength that Li Cunxin brought to the company may continue perhaps?

Obituaries

2024 was a sad year in many respects. The following dancers, choreographers, writers and historians, who have had an influence on my writing and viewing, died during the year. They worked across Australia and elsewhere and I felt as though I was constantly writing obituaries.

Joan Acocella
Edith Campbell
Arlene Croce
Joy Dalgliesh
Roz Hervey
Rowena Jackson
Eileen Kramer
Hilary Trotter
Frank van Straten

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Have a great holiday season, and to all those who have logged on to this site over the past 12 months, my heartfelt thanks.

And more by Chihuly from Seattle.

Michelle Potter, 22 December 2024

Featured image: Dale Chihuly, Section of ‘Persian Ceiling’. Seattle 2013.

Emerging Choreographers, 2024. QL2 Dance

14 December 2024. Gorman Arts Centre, Canberra

Emerging Choreographers is an annual event on the QL2 calendar. It is a mentored program in which a number of senior QL2 dancers try their hand at choreography. They create and present a short work in collaboration with their peers and each choreographer is supported by professional artists in rehearsal and presentation. Many of those who have tested their early approach to choreography over the years have gone on to make significant careers in the dance world. Some have returned to work on various QL2 projects.

I am not in a position to review this year’s event given that I have a family member closely involved in the program. So I am simply presenting below a very small selection of images from the event.

Those emerging artists who created works for the 2024 program are: AKIRA BYRNE, ALEX POTTER, ARSHIYA ABHISHREE, CALYPSO EFKARPIDIS, CHARLIE THOMSON, CHRIS WADE, JAHNA LUGNAN, MAGNUS MEAGHER and SAM TONNA.

A link to a review of the 2024 program, written by Samara Purnell for CBR CityNews, is at the end of this post.

Scene from Calypso Efkarpidis’ *DreamScape*

Coral Onn and Juliet Hall in Alex Potter’s *Dominion (Pupa*)

Scene from Sam Tonna’s *Chromed and Polished*

Dancers and choreographers acknowledge tech staff at the end of the opening show

The review on CBR CityNews is at this link.

Michelle Potter, 15 December 2024

Featured image: A moment from the film Catch and Release from Christopher Wade and Magnus Meagher