Romeo and Juliet. The Australian Ballet (2022)
…rs. The music The well-known music by Sergei Prokofiev, with the orchestra under the baton of the new Australian Ballet conductor Jonathan Lo, sounded just brilliant. Filled with such a diversity of thematic material and so much emotion, it was used to great effect by Cranko. The carnival scene in the marketplace of Verona (Act II, scene 1) Although I found the costuming for this scene a little overly decorative, the dancing was exciting to watch:…
The Merry Widow. The Australian Ballet (2011)
…pavilions and so forth. And as I took my seat at the Sydney Opera House my companion said, from the perspective of someone whose parents were brought up in 1920s and 1930s Vienna, that she wasn’t looking forward to ‘Viennese schmaltz’, referring in particular to the Franz Lehar music. So I was surprised and delighted to discover that I actually enjoyed the performance (and so did my companion). Much credit for the way the production sped along goe…
Dance diary. August 2021
…e being permitted to enter Queensland. As the featured image indicates the committed dancers of the company did just that in the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility. I managed to see Sandsong in Sydney and got back to Canberra just before the Delta variant struck Sydney with a vengeance. Here is a link to my review. Dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre in Sandsong, 2021. Photo: © Daniel Boud The Australian Ballet Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, t…
The Darling Portrait Prize, 2020
…e Theatre in Adelaide, which she led from 1965 to 1975, and 30 years ago founded Mirramu Creative Arts Centre and Mirramu Dance Company located at Lake George, near Bungendore, NSW. Her energy seems inexhaustible, an aspect of her personality which was recognised by da Silva in her portrait, and commented on by Karen Quinlan, director of the Portrait Gallery: Anthea da Silva’s Elizabeth 2019 is a gentle, beguiling portrait that reveals the fragile…
Ty King-Wall to direct Royal New Zealand Ballet
…dancers is fuelled by his own experiences in recovering from a major injury that kept him from dancing for some time. All these activities and interests (and others) will feed into a new approach to the development of RNZB. I am especially looking forward to seeing the repertoire that Ty King-Wall will develop over the coming years. For more about Ty King-Wall as featured on this website, follow this tag. The official media release is here. Michel…
James Batchelor. Dancing in the Antarctic
…complete immersion in a foreign world, where new systems of navigation and communication are constantly being constructed and deconstructed.’ Also aboard the RV Investigator is visual artist Annalise Rees, currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Tasmania. Rees and Batchelor will collaborate on a new work, set to premiere in 2017, based on their experiences and knowledge gained as part of the expedition. All photos James Batchelor on board…
Season’s greetings and the ‘best of’ 2023
…he Australian Ballet, past and present, with great input from design and sound collaborators, and with exceptional, visually stunning choreography from Topp. It was an experience, too, to see some of the Australian Ballet’s dancers from past decades return to the stage and to be reminded of their contribution to the art form. My brilliant career. (Brisbane. Queensland Ballet, June) Cathy Marston’s examination of Miles Franklin’s novel, My brillian…
Sylvia. The Australian Ballet
…in stark contrast to much of the rest of the ballet. The story was a very complex one and difficult to follow, especially in Act I when the scene was being set for what was to follow. Maybe it’s just one of those ballets that one has to see many times before any strength it has can be understood? Both Hendricks and Linnane danced well especially in the various pas de deux that unfolded between them. Dana Stephensen as Artemis was also a strong pe…
David Hallberg. The charming Prince
…space, and that’s even before we get to the orchestra pit, which is partly underneath the stage and is the bane of musical directors and orchestral players. Ratmansky’s Cinderella looked cramped in Sydney compared with the magical and mesmerising effect it had on the bigger Melbourne stage. However, it perhaps would not have made a difference had Hallberg danced in Melbourne. Space was not the major issue. Hallberg gave his last show in Sydney o…
Vicki Attard. A new role
…experience to Canberra for this workshop series. Not only does she have sound dance knowledge and her own incomparable artistry to share, she has recently launched a program called My Pointe. She realised that it was not always possible for dance teachers to spend as much time as was needed on the specialised teaching of pointe work for girls and so began to develop a series of tutorial exercises for this very purpose. After 10 years of fine tuni…