- Greg Horsman
West Australian Ballet (WAB) announced earlier this month that Greg Horsman, having left Queensland Ballet (QB) late last year, had joined WAB as rehearsal director. Horsman brings to WAB decades of world-wide experience in performing, teaching, leadership roles, and choreographing.
Horsman’s time with QB, which began when Li Cunxin was appointed director, saw the staging of several of his ballets, the most exciting to my mind being a reimagined version of La Bayadère. Bayadère is a ballet that has suffered somewhat in recent years, being thought of as unsuitable for presentation in this day and age because of its perceived treatment of various ethnic groups. But Horsman’s ballet scarcely fell into that category in my opinion. Read my review at this link.
But there were also others of his works that shone in the QB repertoire including a version, again reimagined, of Coppélia, which in fact was a co-production with WAB. He also held QB together until a new artistic director was found after Leanne Benjamin unexpectedly left her role as artistic director in August 2024.
Horsman gave a lot and his departure is significant loss for QB. But it is a definite gain for WAB! Here is a link to the WAB information.
- Australian Dance Party
Canberra’s Australian Dance Party (ADP), led by Alison Plevey and Sara Black, is celebrating its 10th year of existence. The celebrations include IMPULSE, a free improvised dance, music and visual art performance set in two of the city’s major town centres, Woden and Gungahlin. Audiences are invited to become part of the activities., which will take place on 14 March in Woden and 21 March in Gungahlin.
For more information see the ADP website at this link.
- Borobudur Dance Troupe
Canberra’s multicultural festival is an annual event taking place in the city and surrounds each February. It always has a strong dance component in its very varied activities and this year I noticed performances by a group called the Borobudur Dance Troupe. I had never seen performances by this group before, despite the fact that it was founded in 2017. But with fond memories of visiting the Borobudur temple in Java (some years ago now), I thought I should take a look. I saw only one of the items the troupe was presenting but didn’t catch the name of the dance.
My initial reaction was that it didn’t look to me like the traditional style of Javanese dance that I have seen before. There was a lot of quite broad smiling (not obvious in the image above but very obvious when watching) and I had always felt that Javanese dance was quite differently focused. Perhaps age is catching up with me and what I have experienced before is outdated? My companion suggested I should look at it as folk-oriented rather than as a classical item. Anyway, it was interesting to see the performance. The costumes were very intricate, and the dancers used the red cloth that was part of the costume quite beautifully.
I look forward to seeing the company again somewhere. We are lucky in Canberra that we have opportunities to experience such presentations.
- Force majeure
The Sydney-based company Force majeure (a major force in contemporary dance development in Australia) has just appointed Nick Power as its new artistic director and CEO. Force majeure was founded in 2002 by Kate Champion. Following Champion, Danielle Micich led the company from 2015 to 2025. More about Power, and about Force majeure, is available on the company’s website at this link.
- Creative Antarctica
An exhibition, Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South has recently opened at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). It runs until 2 May 2026 and includes a film made by James Batchelor with sound by Morgan Hickinbotham. The film was created by Batchelor during his participation in an expedition to the Heard and McDonald Islands in January 2016 on board the RV Investigator. Read about the exhibition and its location here.
Michelle Potter, 28 February 2026
Featured image: Portrait of Greg Horsman, 2026. Photo: © Photo: Frances Andrijich. West Australian Ballet website.
