Giselle. Queensland Ballet
…Nevertheless, while I stand by my criticisms, I have to add that I loved seeing this production and have nothing but praise for those who made it happen. Michelle Potter, 15 April 2023 Featured image: Three Wilis in Giselle Act II. Queensland Ballet, 2023. Photo: © David Kelly Another personal note (gripe): One thing that I find particularly annoying is the way Queensland Ballet audiences applaud at what I think are inappropriate times. It means t…
Dance diary. March 2016 … from foreign lands*
…ross: Tina Sutton, The Making of Markova. Diaghilev’s Baby Ballerina to Groundbreaking Icon (New York: Pegasus Books, 2013). The author is a journalist without a dance background (and admits in the preface that she ‘knew nothing about Markova’ before she began her project), so there are some explanatory passages and slabs of text that those with some dance knowledge may find a little irritating, or unnecessary. Some frustrating repetition too and…
That ‘triple threat.’ The Australian Ballet in 2012
…ct them to excel in this triple bill? I am a little amused at the idea of being threatened by them or by what they come up with, but quite honestly I’d rather be challenged, excited, enthused, or any number of other more appropriate expressions. The use of ‘triple threat’ is a gimmick in my opinion and takes its place alongside those images of dancers in costumes representing no ballet and taking poses from no ballet, which the Australian Ballet i…
Shadow Aspect. Ballet Cymru
…collapsing in on themselves. It reminded me a little of William Forsythe’s comments that he was interested in researching what the body can do, although the outcome in Podesta’s case was quite unlike Forsythe. Podesta rarely pushed the body off its central (classical) axis, as Forsythe was prone to do, hence the static feeling I got. Nevertheless, the dancers of Ballet Cymru executed Podesta’s challenging moves with strength and determination. Pod…
Anna Volkova Barnes. Vale
…nes, the last remaining dancer living in Australia from the Ballets Russes companies who visited between 1936 and 1940, has died aged 96. She danced her way out of this life on 18 August. An obituary is in process [now available], but in the meantime below are two non-dancing images that I especially like from Volkova’s dancing years in Australia and later in South America. Anna Volkova (second from left) with colleagues Serge Ismailoff, Oleg Tupi…
About Jennifer
…d where she danced in seasons by Auckland Repertory Ballet. She went on to undertake a Bachelor of Arts and then a Master of Arts at Auckland University. Her Master’s thesis on Maori dance resulted in the publication in 1984 of Maori Action Song—no whea tenei ahua hou? In Auckland she also performed and choreographed with various companies and studied dance anthropology and kinetography Laban (with Professor Roderyk Lange), Balinese and Indian dan…
The Oracle. Meryl Tankard
…ny years on set and video design, created an opening video sequence to a soundscape of whistling and other mechanical sounds and a recording of Magnificat by the Portuguese composer of the baroque period, João Rodrigues Esteves. This sequence picked up on aspects of the choreography and on images of White and manipulated both to explore a different view of the human body. It seemed also to set up a dance of its own that moved from the figurative t…
The Golds. A film by Sue Healey
…hy they joined GOLD and what their backgrounds have been. Thus The Golds becomes a mini documentary. There are the expected responses to questions posed (off camera and not heard by the viewer). ‘It’s good exercise for an ageing body’, ‘I want to stay active’ and other similar remarks. But there are also some surprises. ‘No I can’t do the splits, but is it necessary? I don’t think so’, or ‘I was attracted by the word disgracefully in the name’. Di…
Hannah O’Neill. ‘First dancer’
…Paris Opera Ballet. Follow this link for the results of the competitive round for female dancers, which took place on 3 November. O’Neill danced the set piece, Spring from The Four Seasons by Jerome Robbins, and her chosen piece, the variation from Act III of Nureyev’s production of Raymonda. This is an absolutely astonishing feat given that O’Neill graduated from the Australian Ballet School only four years ago in 2011. Her seasonal contract wit…
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Australian Ballet
…k of taste on the part of the creative team. Leave that kind of mucking around to the Trocks, when it is funny. I really don’t want to see it on the Australian Ballet, and I especially don’t want to see Amy Harris, who played the Queen of Hearts, lying on her stomach, head pointing upstage, legs spread-eagled to the side, and bottom lifted off the ground and pointed directly at the audience. All we needed was the noise. Hideous! I am sure Alice’s…