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
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,
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
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, 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
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.
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
by Jennifer Shennan It’s always a pleasure to mark the end of the year with a rear vision reminder of the dance highlights we saw. 2024 had the best of the old and the new, with RNZB delivering a triumphant trio of seasons. After some important readjustments into new directions in management, the Company’s year opened with Tutus on Tour’s
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
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
5 December 2024. Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane I have had the good fortune over the years of seeing two spectacular productions with choreography by Derek Deane—Strictly Gershwin in two presentations from Queensland Ballet, one in 2016 and the second in 2023; and an English National Ballet production of Deane’s Swan Lake in 2011. Both left me staggered