12 November 2025 (matinee). Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
The Australian Ballet is looking spectacular, if the dancing in Prism is anything to go by—Prism is a triple bill, with works from Jerome Robbins (Glass Pieces), Stephanie Lake (Seven Days), and William Forsythe (Blake Works V. The Barre Project). At the performance I saw the standard of dancing was technically close to perfection. As well, for the most part, connections from stage to audience were engrossing and quite thrilling.
The program opened with Glass Pieces, a work made by Robbins in 1983 to Philip Glass’ music from Glassworks and the opera Akhnaten. Robbins, in addition to his work with George Balanchine and New York City Ballet, is well known for his choreography for musical theatre, especially West Side Story. The choreography for Glass Pieces appeared to me to reference both dance genres, musical theatre and ballet. It was bright and full of vitality.
The corps de ballet were constant reminders of Robbins’ musical theatre background as they moved across the stage, often in lines and often as shadows in a black light (lighting by Jennifer Tipton). But there were several stunning pas de deux scattered through the work, all of which showed up Robbins’ deep understanding of ballet technique and its overall appearance. I especially enjoyed the performance by two dancers that the handout referred to as ‘Soloist Couple 1’. They were on the occasion of my visit Larissa Kiyoto-Ward and Mason Lovegrove. But all couples danced beautifully and made exceptional use of their arms and upper body and the space around them.
As for Seven Days, it made me wonder, once again, why David Hallberg removed Alice Topp from the position of the company’s resident choreographer and gave the role to Stephanie Lake. Lake is a contemporary dance choreographer and has, rightly, made a name for herself as one of Australia’s best in the field of contemporary dance. But for me contemporary ballet is not the same as contemporary dance.
Lake’s choreography dismisses the basic features of the balletic language—and I am not necessarily referring to ‘steps’ but to the intrinsic way the body is held, that is the body shape and line that grows from the way the spine is held, the way the head balances on top of the spine, the role the pelvis plays, and so on. In a comment on the Australian Ballet’s website one dancer said of Seven Days that it ‘Breaks the classical form.’ It does but it also breaks the wider balletic form. And this on a company that has the word ‘ballet’ in its name.
At least Seven Days, despite its moments of shouting and tossing of chairs around the stage, was a step ahead of Lake’s 2024 production for the Australian Ballet, Circle Electric. It was, thankfully, shorter and used fewer dancers although there was repetition of the ‘Lake variety’, which I think needs a rethink.
In contrast to Seven Days, William Forsythe’s Blake Works V, danced to music by James Blake, looked just fabulous as a work of contemporary ballet. The project to which Blake Works V belongs was created during the pandemic of the early 2020s when dancers needed to keep training when regular methods were unavailable. They used domestic furniture of various kinds as a barre on which to keep up classroom activities.
The work included a number of inclusions that are often part of a Forsythe production. The front curtain might descend unexpectedly then rise again, visual effects, such as film clips, may appear, and the collaborative element is strong. In this production a film clip of hands moving on and off a traditional barre took centre stage at one point. Choreographically Blake Works V also showed off Forsythe’s exceptional choreography—clearly balletically based but innovatively so in terms of how different parts of the body bent, twisted, turned and related.
Listening again at what dancers said on the company website, there were words about Blake Works V such as ‘Makes the dancers push themselves.’ And, looking at the short video interview with William Forsythe (see below), it is great to watch the dancers in rehearsal and to listen to Forsythe’s intelligent discussion of his process.
It is such a pleasure too to take in the image, with its beautiful balletic line, used as the featured image on this post. That’s Forsythe! (And Lilla Harvey and Kate Longley of course).
Michelle Potter, 15 November 2025.
Featured image: Lilla Harvey in a moment from William Forsythe’s Blake Works V (The Barre Project). Photo: © Kate Longley
I watched this performance as a member of the general public. My ticket cost $178.00
