Dance diary. August 2026

Gertrud Bodenwieser

In August an email from James Batchelor arrived in my inbox. It concerned a talk he would be presenting in Canberra at the Street Theatre in conjunction with Ruth Osborne and academics from the Australian National University (ANU). The talk relates to Batchelor’s current work towards a Masters degree at the ANU and is part of a regular Street program with the overarching name ‘Wellspring: Inquiry and Exchange’. Batchelor’s contribution takes place in early September and is entitled: ‘Preserving Australian Modern Dance. Creating a Pedagogy for the Bodenwieser Technique’. Details here.

The beautiful photo that accompaniesthe notification of the event was a surprise, and a very pleasant one. The photo was taken in 1927 and shows a young Gertrud Bodenwieser captured mid-dance. It was a quite new image for me.

Listen at this link.to what Batchelor in his discussion of the forthcoming talk.

The Stellar Company

This year, 2026, marks the 20th anniversary of the Stellar Company, a Canberra-based multi-arts organisation for people of all abilities and backgrounds. It was formed in 2006 by Jolanta Gallagher and used the name Australian Talented Youth Project. Now led by Liz Lea and renamed the Stellar Company it has been invited by Sing Australia to present a series of dance programs at the Sydney Opera House in October as part of Sing Australia’s National Gathering. The event is described by Sing Australia as ‘a three-day celebration of singing, connection, and energy.’

The invitation seems like a wonderful way for the Stellar Company to celebrate 20 years. Read more about the Sing Australia National Gathering at this link.

The Stellar Company in performance, Canberra ca. 2023. Photo (detail): © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

And then there’s Sydney Dance Company

Sydney Dance Company is celebrating 40 years in its current home: The Wharf at Sydney’s Walsh Bay. Check out the company’s website at this link. Read too the article in the Financial Review.

Coming in September …

As I scanned quickly through the dance events that were coming up next month, two productions immediately grabbed my attention. The first was Alice Topp’s exceptional take on Macbeth, a joint production between Royal New Zealand Ballet and West Australian Ballet (WAB), which I saw in Wellington earlier this year. It opens in Perth with WAB on 4 September. Read my review from New Zealand at this link. Don’t miss it if you happen to be in Perth. Dates at this link.

Alice Topp in Perth during rehearsals for *Macbeth*, 2026. Photo: © Andrew Ritchie/*The West Australian*

The second was All in, which will have a Canberra showing at the Belconnen Arts Centre. It comes from Dance Makers Collective (DMC), a ‘community unifier’ (according to current advertising) led by Miranda Wheen. Its Canberra showing features, as well as artists from DMC, input from local groups including Project Dust, Apsaras Arts Canberra, and Quantum Leap Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed All in in Sydney last year. Read my Sydney review at this link and for more information about the Canberra performances read here.

Press for August 2026

– ‘Diamond confronts ageing with unflinching candour.’ Review of Diamond, Liz Lea and colleagues. CBR CityNews, 7 August 2026. Online at this link

Michelle Potter, 31 August 2026

UPDATE 19 September 2026: Comments on this post have been closed due to a large number of attempts to comment from spam outlets.

Featured image: Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1927. Photo: d’Ora-Benda © Bildarchiv Austria/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.

Diamond. Liz Lea and colleagues

My review of Diamond was published online by CBR CityNews on 7 August 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 6 August The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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6 August 2026. The Q Theatre, Queabeyan

Diamonds are indestructible; people are not. No matter what media statements might and do say about the brilliance and dazzling complexity of womanhood, for me the idea of destructibility, and its opposite, lies at the heart of Liz Lea’s latest show, Diamond.

Diamond is the second part of a projected dance trilogy. The first was Lea’s 2012 show Red, which took us on a journey through Lea’s career as a dancer battling endometriosis. It had an exceptional reception both in Australia and overseas. Diamond takes us through a new, later stage in Lea’s life, one in which she struggled with the physical and emotional issues she encountered during and after menopause.

The dancing in Diamond was distinctively varied. The show opened with Lea standing centre stage in a sparkling costume—one from the series that has been used everywhere, over and over, as advertisement for the show. During this opening sequence, Lea moved slowly with expressive arms, which nevertheless suggested that age had diminished her ability to undertake complex choreography. She danced with stronger movements at other points throughout the show but much of her input involved sitting on a chair, in a simple, black, body-hugging costume, and speaking about her difficulties as she faced the inevitability of living with an ageing body.

Liz Lea explaining in words some of the issues she encountered during menopause. *Diamond*, Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

She pulled no punches as she explained those difficulties, with frequent reference to vaginal problems and the life consequences that developed as a result of such issues. From this point of view, Diamond was certainly a courageous show.

The most dancerly moments, however, came from the High Kix dancers from Canberra’s Born Funk studios. These dancers are comparatively young women and they looked fabulous in their blue, feathery outfits, and later dressed in white. They consistently moved beautifully, even with what was relatively simple choreography, and their role in the show allowed us to look back at Lea’s early career as a cabaret dancer.

High Kix dancers performing in *Diamond*, Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

Then, towards the end of the production, dancers from Canberra Dance Theatre’s GOLD company took the stage, adding dancers older than Lea to the situation. They moved around the stage making attractive groupings rather than dancing anything complex. They too looked fabulous in decorative black and white costumes, including somewhat startling hats. There were even two men involved.

Diamond was stunningly put together as a multi-faceted production. It had exceptional lighting by Karen Norris, as usually happens when Norris is involved. Her input into Diamond was engaging from the beginning, even on the empty stage before the actual performance had started, to the end where an object was placed on the floor and sent out diamond-like rays of light into the auditorium. The diamond rather than the person lives on.

There was also some strikingly structured film input from cinematographer James Hiscutt. It included an absolutely absorbing section where Lea appeared on the backcloth/screen as autumn leaves fell around her body. It was beautifully related to a story Lea spoke about in relation to a request she had from a person who was using her house as a B&B guest. ‘May I sweep up your autumn leaves?’, he asked.

But as a whole Diamond was a production that opened up an area of a woman’s life that perhaps needs not to be made so public, or not with so much confronting speech. Dance can do it without words, or at least on this occasion with fewer words. Then perhaps I am ageing as I disliked the way the subject was constantly and unnecessarily frank in its text? Just dance!

Who knows what the third part of the trilogy will involve?

Michelle Potter, 7 August 2026

Featured image: Liz Lea in the opening moments of Diamond. Queabeyan, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

I was a guest of Liz Lea Productions at this performance.

Comments on this post have been closed due to a very large number of spam comments recently received.

Dance diary. July 2026

Patricio Revé

As the Royal Ballet moves into its 2026-2027 season, I can’t help reflecting on how lucky we were to be able to watch Patricio Revé, now a principal dancer with the Royal, grow as an artist during his time with Queensland Ballet. But nor can I help feeling how much we will now miss him (unless of course we can pop over to London every so often!). Revé was dancing as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet for several months after leaving Queensland Ballet in mid 2025. It is hard not to wonder why this move happened. It was of course a critical time for Queensland Ballet and the question of why Revé and others moved on remains something of a closely guarded secret at the moment. But Revé was offered an appointment as a principal with the Royal Ballet in January 2026 with the appointment to begin officially with the 2026-2027 season.

Revé was a stalwart member of Queensland Ballet from 2018. How smart was Li Cunxin to bring him from Cuba to dance in Australia? His performances were always memorable, and the Royal Ballet’s appointment is Australia’s loss. For more about Patricio Revé on this website, follow this link.

Watch below, too, to see Revé dancing in Cuba in March 2026 with Marianela Nuñez in the Act III pas de deux from Don Quixote. If you can take your eyes off Revé and Nuñez, the corps de ballet dancers working upstage are worth watching. Their actions and poses are often somewhat rustic, especially those of the men seated upstage centre. Cuba has a different take on Don Quixote from what we have frequently seen in Australia.

Beth Dean

Following on from my recent, brief item on Beth Dean in last month’s Dance diary, I received a comment from my colleague, Jennifer Shennan, about the role Dean had played in her life and as part of our dance history in general. The comment can be seen at the end of the Dance diary for June 2026.

Jennifer’s comment made me continue to think about what I had uncovered from the collection of items I discovered in the National Library of Australia’s manuscript collection. It was particularly interesting to read more of the background to Dean’s 1954 creation of Corroboree. She wrote of the role she, as a woman, needed to play during her participation in various Aboriginal ceremonies that led into her creation of her work:

Women do stay for certain periods of time, and when the bullroarers roar forth with the sound of thunder, we all ran out to a far distant stream bed which was dry, and we waited there while certain ceremonies were done, which showed blood or sacred red-ochre colourings or patterns that the women are not supposed to see because it would make then ill. It’s too strong a magic.

Dean’s husband, Victor Carell, was able to stay throughout the entire ceremony that Dean writes about and he was able to assist in the final outcome of the work. Dean herself danced the role of the boy initiate.

Study of Beth Dean as the boy initiate in *Corroboree*, 1954. Image: © Enid T Dickson. Collection of the National Library of Australia

As I noted in my earlier discussion, it is totally fascinating material, provided we look at it as coming from the 1950s.

Simone Forti (1935-2026)

Simone Forti, American dance innovator who worked with particular strength during the period that is now called postmodern, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 91 years. Forti briefly entered my academic life when I began research for my PhD, which focused on the visual artists, in particular Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, who collaborated with Merce Cunningham. Forti, an Italian by birth, took classes at the Cunningham studio and there was introduced to the work of John Cage. Her background is documented in some detail on Wikipedia.
Vale!
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Simone Forti speaking ay Beyond Baroque Library Arts Centre, Los Angeles 2007. Wikimedia Commons

Press for July 2026

– ‘Determined dancing on a knife’s edge.’ Review of Mettle, Quantum Leap Australia. CBR CityNews, 25 July 2026. Online at this link

Michelle Potter, 31 July 2026

Featured image: Patricio Revé in Rhapsody in Blue. Queensland Ballet, 2023. Photo: © David Kelly

Mettle. Quantum Leap Australia

My review of Mettle was published online by CBR CityNews on 25 July 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 24 July. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.

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24 July, 2026. The Vault, Dairy Road Precinct, Fyshwick (Canberra)

‘It’s time to test your mettle,’ says media advertising for the latest production from Quantum Leap Australia. Mettle, the production, had choreography by the current director of Quantum Leap Australia and Jack Ziesing, with a soundscape by Sascha Budimski, visuals from Creswick Collective and lighting from Holland, Zeising, Ninian Donald and Owen Davis.

The venue was The Vault, located in the Dairy Road Precinct in Fyshwick, an industrial area of Canberra. The Vault is often referred to as a ‘cave’ or ‘concrete bunker’ as a result of its somewhat vast, windowless space without any theatrical trappings. In fact, it was originally a space used to store coins, and later beer, and it has become an ideal space for immersive productions with the audience usually surrounded on three sides by various aspects of the production.

But rather than having a strongly felt immersive aspect to it, the production of Mettle was more like watching dancing on a knife’s edge. While the soundscape, the lighting and the changing visuals were there to be noticed, the focus was more on what would happen next. How would the dancers manage what seemed from the beginning to be a challenging situation for them?

Thirteen dancers of varying ages began quietly in a line at the back of the performing space and walked slowly forward. But one by one they fell to the floor and began twisting and turning, standing and falling, separately and then together in various combinations. The choreography was highly complex and mostly fast-moving with some sections quite acrobatic and others, such as movements of the fingers, quite small but clear and intense.

Groupings in the early stages looked unstructured as bodies seemed to fall on top of each other in a jumble. Some of the connections between dancers, such as a duet between the two male members of the cast, even looked full of hostility.

A group of dancers in *Mettle,* Quantum Leap Australia, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

As the work moved along, however, there were moments when the jumbled look gave way to a structure that was more ordered and even a little symmetrical. As the end approached, the choreography continued its speed and power and, after a solo by one dancer, a stillness as we had seen at the beginning returned. Had the mettle been tested and had resilience emerged?

Solo dancer in *Mettle*, Quantum Leap Australia, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

Costumes by Aleisa Jelbart were the strongest collaborative element. Jelbart had created thirteen different designs, one for each dancer. They consisted of black and grey items—tops, pants (some short and tight, some long and loose), socks and leggings, arm coverings and other elements. Some items of costuming looked grungy and torn, others fashionable in a present-day style. They added an excellent element to the production and to the diversity of the dancers, a diversity of age, size and experience.

Mettle was a production that must have been quite exhausting for the dancers. It was an hour of almost continuous movement from every dancer. They attacked the choreography, with its continuing and spectacular twists and turns, and its ongoing interpersonal connections, with determination and skill. They demonstrated clearly that dancing on a knife’s edge has a strength and ultimately an influence on an audience.

Michelle Potter, 25 July 2026

Featured image: A moment from Mettle, Quantum Leap Australia, 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

I was a guest of Quantum Leap Australia at this performance.

Return of the Peggy van Praagh and Keith Bain Fellowships

Ausdance has announced the return of two fellowships, the Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship and the Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship. Ausdance initiated the fellowships some years ago but closure was necessary during the COVID outbreak. They have just now been reinstated and, as before, are worth $10,000 each.

(Left) Peggy van Praagh teaching at the Australian Ballet, 1965. Photo: © Keith Byron, Australian News and Information Bureau; (Right) Keith Bain as the Pied Piper in a Bodenwieser Studio recital, 1954. Photo: © Eric Cuckson

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Peggy van Praagh (1910-1990) and Keith Bain (1926-2012) were major figures in many aspects of dance in Australia and their input spanned several decades. It was especially strong in the mid-20th century but continued until their respective deaths.

Van Praagh’s major contribution to dance in Australia was as founding artistic director of the Australian Ballet, a position she held from 1962 to 1974 and again in 1978. She shared the position of artistic director with Robert Helpmann from 1965 until 1974. But she was prominent in many other ways including as, briefly, artistic director of the Borovansky Ballet and as a teacher with various organisations.

Keith Bain had a distinguished career in a variety of dance areas including performance, choreography and teaching. He danced with the Bodenwieser Ballet for example, and choreographed for Ballet Australia and taught and lectured at NIDA. In his book, The Principles of Movement (2013), his approach to movement is explained in detail

The Peggy van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship
A Choreographic Fellowship of $10,000 awarded to a mid-career choreographer.

Peggy van Praagh working with Kathy Hourigan at the National Capital Ballet School, ca. 1980s. Photo: © Don Gallagher

After van Praagh’s death in 1990, the Trustees of her Estate made a donation to Ausdance National for the establishment of the Peggy van Praagh Fellowship, an initiative to support choreographers.

See the details of the award at this link.

The Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship
The Keith Bain Choreographic Travel Fellowship supports travel and experiences by emerging choreographers across any dance genre.

Keith Bain and Coralie Hinkley in a section from Gertrud Bodenwieser’s *Central Australian Suite*, 1957. Photo: © Max Dupain

See details of the award at this link.

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Guidelines and application details at these links:
Peggy van Praagh Fellwship
Keith Bain Fellowship

Applications close at 5 pm on 31 July. Don’t miss out!

Michelle Potter, 15 July 2026

Dance diary. June 2026

Lucy Guerin moves on

Lucy Guerin, director and founder of the Melbourne-based contemporary dance company Lucy Guerin Inc, will step down from her position at the end of 2026. Guerin established her company 25 years ago and, while 25 years is a more than commendable time to have been at the helm of a dance company, the news came as something of a shock. Guerin said of her decision:

After 25 years, I have decided to step down as Artistic Director of LGI to explore new directions in dance. I founded the company in 2002 to support the making and touring of my productions, but over the years it has become so much more than that. It is now a centre for choreography, discussion, learning, connection and ideas and there are so many who have worked incredibly hard to support this organization. I am deeply grateful to all of them

Guerin will continue to lead the company until the end of 2026 and will perform a solo work in October before relinquishing her role as director. The LGI Board will begin a search for a new director in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see who will be selected to take on the position vacated by Guerin, and what new role Guerin will take on in the future.

For posts about Lucy Guerin on this website follow this link.

Adelaide College of the Arts

I had the pleasure of being in Adelaide recently where I saw a performance by dance and design students from Years 2 and 3 at the Adelaide College of the Arts. The evening consisted of two original dance works, Made to_ by Singaporean guest choreographer Ru Ma, along with there & gone by Peter Sheedy, lecturer and course co-ordinator for the dance program at the College.

The students performed exceptionally well in both works although I especially admired the Sheedy work. It was a thoroughly abstract work making great use of onstage objects that were moved around the stage at various times. It also had the dancers constantly regrouping in various ways and was in fact an exceptional way of introducing students to the various possibilities of choreography. A great training piece although the dancers performed like professionals rather than students in training.

News from Loughlan Prior

Loughlan Prior’s production of Hansel Gretel, made originally for Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2019, has just recently been performed in Las Vegas by Nevada Ballet Theatre. It was really well received there and was described in one review as a ‘spectacular, surreal imagining’ of the well-known story with ‘stunning visual design’ and ‘high energy choreography’.

Read Jennifer Shennan’s review of the work as seen in Wellington in 2019 at this link, and also her review of the 2023 return season at this link.

Prior is currently working in London on a new show, The McRae/Vassiliev Project, in collaboration with director Natalie Abrahami, dancer and choreographer Steven McRae, musician Vasko Vassilev, and dancer Sarah Lamb. Inspired by the work of violinist Niccolo Paganinit, it will premiere in September in the Linbury Theatre at London’s Royal Opera House.

See more about The McRae/Vassiiev Project at this link.

Loughlan Prior and Laura Saxon-Jones performing with artists from the New Zealand School of Music, 2019. Photo: © Stephen Gibbs

Beth Dean

I quite accidentally came across a small manuscript collection of material about Beth Dean held in the National Library in Canberra (MS 10011, received 2004). I was always under the impression that her collection was held in Sydney at the State Library of New South Wales, and indeed there is a substantial collection there. But somehow a small number of items found their way to Canberra. It was a thrill to find some early photographs of Dean, which I had never seen before.

Beth Dean in Cleveland, Ohio, 1935. Photo: © Harry A Cole

But especially interesting, given that several years ago now (and without being aware of the NLA material), I had given a paper on dance in Australia in the 1950s. My talk focused on Australian themes and my mention of Dean included a brief discussion of her choreography for an Australia focused work called G’day Digger danced to a score by John Antill. So, I was especially interested in Dean’s writings in the NLA collection regarding her extensive research for her production of Corroboree, also danced to an Antill score and created especially for presentation during a visit to Australia in 1954 by Queen Elizabeth II. Of her approach to the story of her Corroboree Dean wrote:

The story of my “Corroboree” was about a young boy and his initiation, and his facing of himself and of the chimeras of our fears and our imagination. The Dreamtime stories of his ancestors are shown to him, as they were when we sat in the red dust with those people during all their ceremonies.

And of her background research she wrote:

For my version of the ballet I had spent those months [on which she elaborates at length elsewhere in the papers] living with the Aboriginal people studying their mythology, but even more finding the beauty and the depth of their discipline.

It is totally fascinating material, provided we look at it as coming from the 1950s.

Press for June 2026

– ‘Opera Gala (Snow Concert Hall ).’ Review of Opera Gala. Limelight Magazine, 1 June 2026. Online at this link.

– ‘Physicality fuels Sydney Dance Company’s engine.’ Review of Engine, Sydney Dance Company. CBR CityNews, 25 June 2026. Online at this link

Michelle Potter, 30 June 2026

Featured image: Portrait of Lucy Guerin. Photo: © Amber Haines

Engine. Sydney Dance Company

My review of Engine was published online by Canberra City News on 25 June 2026, following its opening performance in Sydney on 24 June. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the City News post. Follow this link to the City News review.

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24 June 2026. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House

Sydney Dance Company’s latest production, Engine, is a triple bill with works from Canberra-trained Melanie Lane, with a return of her acclaimed work Love Lock; Berlin-based, Spanish choreographer Fran Diaz, with the Australian premiere of The Mass Ornament; and Rafael Bonachela, artistic director of Sydney Dance Company, with a new work, The Journey Itself is Home.

The evening opened with Love Lock, which I first saw back in 2024 when it was part of Sydney Dance Company’s Twofold program. Then I was transfixed by the notion and nature of the love lock (a padlock that represents everlasting love), and its role in people’s connections with those who share their life. This time I was able to focus more on the choreography, which was like nothing I have seen from any other choreographer. Lane’s approach to movement was quite eccentric with its angularity from individual dancers set beside unity of groupings of bodies.

Costumes were by Akira Isogawa. He started out with plain black pants and tops in various lengths and shapes, but his exceptional additions made across the course of Love Lock eventually contributed to the individuality that characterised the work. A pounding score from [Chris] Clark, which he describes as ‘a dense collage of percussion/cello/synthesisers/voices/flutes’, and atmospheric lighting from Damien Cooper, also made exceptional contributions to the production.

Dancers from Sydney Dance Company in a scene from *Love Lock*, 2026. Photo: © Wendell Teodoro

After a brief pause while the stage was being reset, Fran Diaz’s The Mass Ornament, with very plain costumes in dark green satin-like material, also designed by Diaz, took us into a world that focused on a new look at, or changed approach to, popular music hall entertainment. With its relatively simplistic use of movement and groupings, it reflected a certain unison characteristic of early popular entertainment. But it nevertheless embodied an individuality from the dancers and suggested we look beyond superficiality at inherent emotional connections. The Mass Ornament was not my favourite work on the program, but was interesting as perhaps an example of an early German Expressionist approach to art? Then, after some thought, I accepted the title of the work, especially the Ornament aspect of that title, as being a subtle comment on the nature of popular entertainment.

Dancers from Sydney Dance Company in a scene from *The Mass Ornament*, 2026. Photo: © Wendell Teodoro

The evening concluded with Bonachela’s brand new The Journey Itself is Home danced to a score by Bryce Dessner and lit by Damien Cooper. Compared with the other two works, Bonachela’s choreography looked quite unusual, or at least more like Western contemporary dance as we tend to know it. The work certainly showed Bonachela’s choreographic fluidity and approach to connections between dancers. A section that was basically a series of duets, one duet replacing the previous one, was admirable.

Dancers from Sydney Dance Company in a duet from *The Journey Itself is Home*, 2026. Photo: © Wendell Teodoro

But what stood out for me in this work was the manner in which Bonachela had used unison dancing and had made it quite fast-paced. It carried the work forward in an unexpected manner.

Before the show began, I wondered why the program had the somewhat unusual title of Engine. It was quite clear, however, from Lane’s opening piece that the title referred to an intensity of movement seen in the full-on, engine-like physicality that characterised all three works. The triple bill format is always an intriguing arrangement and opens up a wealth of possibilities. This program opened up one very clear aspect of the evening’s presentation: the powerful manner in which dance can deliver its inherent physicality and connectivity.

But an engine-like visual effect was just one aspect of what we saw onstage. For a start, the dancers were breathtakingly brilliant in every work. Then the costumes and lighting were outstanding in the way in which they contributed to the different approaches of each of the three choreographers—from the idiosyncratic nature of Lane’s work, through the hard-core expression from Diaz, and on to the more gentle and predictable nature of Bonachela’s contribution.

Engine was a stunning show and well deserving of the standing ovation and loud cheers and exclamations that concluded the evening.

Michelle Potter, 28 June 2026

Featured image: Dancers from Sydney Dance Company in a scene from Love Lock, 2026, with a view of some of Akira Isolgawa’s additions to the costumes. Photo: © Wendell Teodoro

I was a guest of Sydney Dance Company at this performance.

The comment from Clark about the music for Love Lock comes his notes on the work as published in the program for Engine.

Opera Gala. Snow Concert Hall

My review of Opera Gala was published online by Limelight Magazine on 1 June 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 29 May. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the Limelight post. Follow this link to the Limelight review.

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For many, a gala is a large-scale event. Opera Gala, however, was a performance by just three artists, soprano Cathy-Di Zhang, mezzo-soprano Helen Sherman, and pianist Thomas Victor Johnson. It was curated and presented by Ana de la Vega, artistic director of Canberra’s relatively new, exceptionally designed Snow Concert Hall.

The program consisted of arias and duets from a range of operas including Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville, Rossini), Cosi fan tutte (Women are like that, Mozart), Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly, Puccini), Carmen (Bizet), Rusalka (Dvorak), and La clemenza di Tito (The clemency of Titus, Mozart). In addition, the aria fromMadama Butterfly was preceded by a short solo from the pianist. He played the Prelude to Act III of Madama Butterfly.

While Sherman and Zhang both sang beautifully throughout the evening, two items stood out for me. Zhang gave a moving rendition of ‘One Fine Day’ from Madame Butterfly. There was no extravagant acting as she sang, just a feeling of hope for the return of the man she loved, US Naval Officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, which we in the audience knew would not happen. It was an extremely poignant performance.

Secondly, I enjoyed the duet from Norma in which two female characters, Norma and Adalgisa, interact with each other when Norma learns she has been betrayed by her lover. But Norma and Adalgisa pledge solidarity with each other and there was strong interaction between the two women, which drew me into the story very easily.

I was also especially impressed with the work of pianist Thomas Victor Johnson. From his approach to the music of the first aria, Una voce poco fa from The Barber of Seville, to the final moments of the gala, an encore, his expressive playing filled the auditorium and added beautifully to the unfolding of the singing. He wasn’t simply an accompanist but a thrilling part of every aria and duet.

For those who were not familiar with the specific narratives that surrounded the arias and duets, Zhang and Sherman took turns in outlining the role played in each opera before performing each musical number. There was also a lovely moment following one of the arias from Cosi fan tutte when Zhang mentioned the reason why Mozart had given the aria such a wide pitch range. It had to do with Mozart’s interest in the way the singer, for whom the aria was originally created, moved her head in relation to varying sound. The audience loved the story! It was also interesting to see a different side of the singers as they explained what each song was about.

Over the four or so years of its existence the Snow Concert Hall, with its excellent acoustic properties, has become an exceptional Canberra performing venue. I can only say congratulations to Ana de la Vega for her magnificent ongoing curatorship, for which Opera Gala was a more than worthy item.

Michelle Potter, 1 June 2026

Featured image: Helen Sherman (left) and Cathy-Di Zhang with Thomas Johnson at the piano. Opera Gala, Snow Concert Hall, 2026. Photo: © Dalice Trost

Dance diary. May 2026

Alice Topp goes to Houston

In January 2026 Alice Topp lost pretty much everything in a devastating bushfire in Harcourt, the small town in regional Victoria where she lived. The rebirth of the town led to her latest work, Sisu, a Finnish word meaning, as Topp explained in an article in Houston Chronicle, ‘finding hope when you can’t see the light’. Sisu was premiered by Houston Ballet on 28 May 2026 and a reviewer for Houston Chronicle, Adam Castaneda, wrote:

Houston Ballet’s triple bill An Evening with the Stars opened Thursday night [28 May 2026] with a powerful and introspective world premiere of Australian choreographer Alice Topp. Sisu proved to be an evocative exploration of human responses to adversity, and how people survive through community, connection, and confluence.

In the circumstances that led to the development of Sisu, I am simply staggered that, in just under two months after the fire, Topp managed to produce her amazing production of Macbeth for Royal New Zealand Ballet. And now Sisu!

Beau Dean Riley Smith: a fellowship

Recently announced was the establishment of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship funded by the New York-based Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation. The fellowship, which grew out of the development of a relationship with the Foundation by Shaun Parker, offers the astonishing amount of $100,000 per year to support the development of significant dance works by leading choreographic artists.

It is an absolute delight to hear that the inaugural recipient of the award is Beau Dean Riley Smith, who will receive the fellowship over two to three years and will, in due course, present the world premiere of a work created on the dancers of Shaun Parker & Company.

Beau Dean Riley Smith at the Bennelong Photoshoot, Photography Tiffany Parker, 2017 — Beau Dean Riley Smith. Photo: © Tiffany Parker, 2017. Photo taken at a photo shoot for Bangarra Dance Theatre’s work *Bennelong*

Beau Dean Riley Smith is a Wiradjuri and Gamillaraay man from Dubbo NSW, raised on Yuin Country in Culburra Beach, Nowra, now living on Gadigal land. For more about Beau Dean Riley Smith on this website see this link.

Back in 2017 Shaun Parker was interviewed for the National Library of Australia’s oral history project. Listen at this link.

The Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation is a private foundation based in New York. It supports education, philanthropy, voluntarism, and Human Services, primarily in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Reading in May

Some years ago now I was given a book that a colleague had found in a book sale, which I have only now got around to reading. The book is Twin Journey and is an autobiography by Beth Dean and Victor Carell.

I am somewhat shocked I have to say at the appalling way in which the book was edited. There are just so many typographical errors, including one in which Beth is spelled Bth! Not only that there must have been something wrong with the printer as at times the printing is quite black whereas at other times it is much lighter. Nor is there any evidence that a designer was employed as the pages are without any form of pleasing spacing. And I could go on ….

It’s just as well the subject matter is quite interesting and certainly gives a different take on what Dean and Carell accomplished.

Press for May 2026

– ‘Sphere turns industrial Vault into living stage.’ Review of Sphere. Australian Dance Party. CBR City News, 15 May 2026. Online at this link.

– ‘Sheltering (Bangarra Dance Theatre).’ Review of Sheltering. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Limelight Magazine. 25 May 2026. Online at this link.

Michelle Potter, 31 May 2026

Featured image: Alice Topp and Artists of Houston Ballet rehearsing Sisu. Photo: © Alana Campbell, 2026. Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

Sheltering. Bangarra Dance Theatre

My review of Sheltering was published online by Limelight Magazine on 25 May 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 23 May. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the Limelight post. Follow this link to the Limelight review.

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23 May 2026. Canberra Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre

Sheltering, Bangarra Dance Theatre’s latest show, set out to present the audience with a reminder of the social and cultural issues that connect people and place. The three works that made up the program spanned just over ten years of Bangarra’s production history. The opening work, Keeping Grounded, with choreography by Glory Tuohy-Daniell, was first shown as part of a Dance Clan program in 2023; the middle piece, Brown Boys, a short film from Daniel Mateo, was also first shown in a Dance Clan program this time in 2024; and the final work, Frances Rings’ Sheoak, was first presented in 2015.

Keeping Grounded stood out largely as a result of the set by Shana O’Brien. It consisted of a large net, fishing-style, with a series of quite large holes scattered across its surface. The net hung from the flies but moved and spread itself out at times, and was manipulated in various ways by the cast of eight. There were moments when the dancers climbed onto the net and walked across it, and they often moved through the holes in an attempt to touch the floor area, which represented their need and efforts to stay grounded. The visual effect was powerful and added a clear understanding of the aim of this work.

The net from *Keeping Grounded*. Photo: © Daniel Boud. (Image from Dance Clan 2023)

The six minute film, Brown Boys, was performed by Daniel Mateo and co-directed by Mateo and Cass Mortimer Eipper. It focused on the stereotypes and stigma that often directed the feelings of acceptance, or non-acceptance, of First Nation’s male youth as they transited through life. It was somewhat confronting, although Mateo says in program notes that he was ‘offering [the work] as a gift to Brown Boys in the hope of supporting them on their journey of becoming.’ It was challenging nevertheless given some aspects of the film, in particular the strong, loud words spoken by Mateo and the close-up images that seemed to crowd out towards the audience as the film unfolded.

The final work, Sheoak from Frances Rings, represented the resilience of First Nation’s people as they engaged with the world in this 21st century. Rings used the symbolism of the endangered sheoak tree to examine the need to protect the culture of her people. Back in 2015, in a review of the program in which Sheoak was first presented, I wrote:

The sheoak tree, the grandmother tree in Indigenous lore, is endangered and, in the opening scene, we see pyramid of dancers gradually collapsing. The metaphor of the tree in Aboriginal society continues, and the keeper of the place in which the tree grows mourns its loss. Societal dysfunction results and the community faces the challenges of operating in a new environment.

A moment from *Sheoak* from its original presentation in 2015. Photo: © Jeff Tan

Sheoak also had a strong visual effect with dancers holding and wielding large sticks representing tree branches, and with its final moments depicting the birth of a spirit portraying hope for change and ongoing development. Jennifer Irwin’s costumes were arresting, especially in the final section when long, diaphanous skirts were decorated with quite intricate, rope-like elements.

Costumes by Jennifer Irwin for the final section of *Sheoak*. Photo: © Daniel Boud

But what continued to plague my thoughts throughout the show was the choreography. Bangarra has always had an exceptional collaborative aspect to its work and Sheltering was no exception given the powerful visual aspects of each of the works. But the choreography varied little from work to work. I began to wonder whether Bangarra had deliberately pursued the development of a particular Bangarra style similar to, say, the way some well-known contemporary choreographers had created a personal style to which they constantly moved: Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham for example. What I saw from Bangarra on this occasion, especially in the opening work, was movement that was highly grounded and filled with upturned feet and bent arms, often along with static or non-fluid moments. I have no objections to such a style but sometimes something more fluid or less angular and jerky would have worked well.

Sheltering was a program honouring David Page, whose contribution to the development of Bangarra was largely but not exclusively through his sound scores. The score for Sheoak was in fact from David Page. This Page brother died in 2016 and the presentation of Sheltering thus marked the tenth anniversary of his death. The printed program contained a double page spread outlining the extent of his contribution. Remarkable really.

David Page discussing his music for *Sheoak*, 2015. Photo: © Tiffany Parker

Michelle Potter, 26 May 2026

I was a guest of Bangarra Dance Theatre on this occasion.