Dance diary. December 2023

  • Li Cunxin’s farewell

Li Cunxin’s farewell as artistic director of Queensland Ballet was celebrated in a gala show over three performances on 12 and 13 December. Below is a tribute to Li from a range of people who worked with him, along with some terrific photos and footage from the decade of his directorship, and earlier. So worth a look!

See more about Li and his incredible input into the growth of Queensland Ballet at this link.

  • Leanne Benjamin and that outback photograph by Jason Bell

Early in her autobiography, Built for ballet, Leanne Benjamin talks about the circumstances surrounding the creation of the photo taken of her in outback Australia, which I have used on this website on occasions and which (not surprisingly) always generates comments of one kind or another.

Leanne Benjamin who describes this image with the words ‘flying across the outback in my red chiffon.’ Photo: © Jason Bell, 2006

Benjamin was in Australia in December 2006 as a participant in Advance 100 Leading Global Australians Summit, which she says brought together ‘a diverse group of 100 of the best international  minds in business, science, education, research and the arts’. A photo shoot with English photographer Jason Bell and his team, unrelated to Advance 100, followed. It was specifically for a Royal Ballet series called A World Stage in which artists were shown in images, and sometimes on brief film footage, reflecting their country of origin. Benjamin calls it ‘an advertising campaign … which emphasised the international character of the Royal Ballet, and the Opera House where it has its home.’ Her costume, which she describes as ‘a Chanel lipstick-red dress with a skirt that would flash out behind me as I moved, and catch the breeze if we were lucky enough to get one in forty-degree heat’, was made in London by the costume department of the Royal Opera House.

‘Jason’s idea,’ Benjamin writes, ‘was to go for the centre of the continent, where even the colour of the earth tells you that you are in Australia. We’d hoped to shoot in front of Uluru, the country’s most famous landmark, but we couldn’t get permission to film there. The previous day, the team had been to the iconic domed rocks of Kata Tjuta and I’d had a terrific time, going through my paces on a flat floor, surrounded by looming boulders. It was as if someone had built a perfect set for a shoot.

The next day—the day we actually got the photograph Jason had been dreaming of—the terrain was much rougher, and the weather more overcast. To my surprise, the team had organised for a local ‘truckie’ to drive an authentic Australian road train slowly back and forth behind the shoot for a few hours. ….. This was not a stunt photograph, it was me, launching myself into the sky, in touch with the red, red earth of my beloved country.’

Who can forget that image?

Quotes above are from Benjamin’s book Built for ballet. An autobiography (Melbourne: Melbourne Books, 2021) pp. 21–22.

  • Oral history interview with James Batchelor

My final National Library oral history interview for 2023 was with James Batchelor, Canberra-born performer and choreographer who works between Australia and Europe. Amongst the many topics addressed during the interview was a discussion of his choreographic process, including in relation to two of his most recent works—Event and Short cuts to familiar places—and some information about his trip to the sub-Antarctic, including how it came about and the developments that followed the trip. The interview, once processed, will be available for all to hear.

James Batchelor performing in the Mulangarri Grasslands, Canberra, 2021. Photo: © Andrew Sikorski

  • Stephanie Lake. New resident choreographer at the Australian Ballet

Alice Topp’s term as resident choreographer at the Australian Ballet finished at the end of 2023 and the newly appointed holder of the position is Stephanie Lake. Lake will present her first work for the Australian Ballet, Circle Electric, in Sydney in May 2024 and in Melbourne in October 2024. Circle Electric will share the program with Harald Lander’s Études, which explores the intricacies of the classical ballet technique. The potential is certainly there for audiences to experience two vastly different approaches to dance.

Two of Lake’s recent works (for companies other than her own Stephanie Lake Company), are reviewed on this website at these links: Auto Cannibal (2019) and Biography (2022)

  • Promotions at the Australian Ballet

There were a number of promotions announced as the Australian Ballet’s 2023 season came to an end. Seen below in a scene from Don Quixote are newly appointed principals Jill Ogai and Marcus Morelli.

In addition, Yuumi Yamada is now a senior artist, Maxim Zenin, Aya Watanabe, Katherine Sonnekus, Misha Barkidjija and Cameron Holmes have been newly appointed as soloists, and Montana Rubin, Evie Ferris, Saranja Crowe, Sara Andrion, Hugo Dumapit, Adam Elmes, Larissa Kiyoto-Ward, and Lilla Harvey have been promoted to the rank of coryphée.

Yuumi Yamada has constantly impressed me over recent years and her promotion is definitely worth celebrating, but congratulations to all who were promoted. I look forward to watching their progress in 2024.

  • Some statistics for 2023

In 2023 this website received 48,959 visits, that is just over 4,000 per month. The top five 2023 posts in terms of number of visits were, in order, ”Talking to Martin James … about teaching’, ‘Swan Lake. The Australian Ballet (2023)’, ‘Strictly Gershwin, Queensland Ballet’, ‘Alice Topp’s Paragon’, and ‘David McAllister. An exciting retirement opportunity’. Of posts relating specifically to dance in New Zealand the top five posts accessed, again in order, were ‘(m)Orpheus. New Zealand Opera and Black Grace’, ‘Lightscapes. Royal New Zealand Ballet’, ‘Myth and Ritual. Orchestra Wellington with Ballet Collective Aotearoa’, ‘Platinum Royal New Zealand Ballet’ and ‘Ballet Noir. Mary-Jane O’Reilly and Company’. Top tags accessed, some used largely it seems for research purposes, were Mary McKendry, The Australian Ballet, Vadim Muntagirov, Graduation Ball, and Bodenwieser Ballet

Unfortunately Google Analytics, from which my data is obtained, has changed its format and the ability to access the number of visits from particular cities is limited to just one week prior to the period of each visit! But of overseas cities, London and New York appear every week.


Michelle Potter, 31 December 2023

Li Cunxin, 2023. Farewell image from Queensland Ballet. Photographer not identified.

Leanne Benjamin. New artistic director of Queensland Ballet

The news has finally been released! Leanne Benjamin, AM OBE, is to take over from Li Cunxin as artistic director of Queensland Ballet. Rockhampton-born and trained, and former principal dancer with London’s Royal Ballet and other major ballet companies, Benjamin will take up the directorship early in 2024. Her autobiography, Built for Ballet (written in conjunction with Sarah Crompton), was published by Melbourne Books in 2021.

My reviews of productions in which I have had the pleasure of seeing Benjamin perform have been filled with superlatives, beginning in 2002 when she visited Australia with the Royal Ballet then under the direction of Ross Stretton. But I recall in particular her performance in London in 2010 in the first movement of Balanchine’s Symphony in C when I wrote, ‘She was beautifully self-assured, a ballerina always aware of her audience with a technique that shone from the moment she stepped onto the stage.’ And of her autobiography I wrote,  ‘an engrossing read’ and ‘honest to the core’. 

Since her retirement from the Royal Ballet in 2013, Benjamin has coached dancers and companies across the world, and has engaged in a variety of dance-related activities. Everything suggests that she will make a committed director and will constantly interact with a range of dance communities in a variety of ways.

I guess my major interest at present, however, is in the kind of repertoire Benjamin will bring to Queensland Ballet. The 2024 season has already been announced and has been curated by Li Cunxin so we won’t really have an idea of how Benjamin will approach repertoire until the 2025 season is announced. It is very clear from changes to directorship here in Australia and elsewhere that artistic directors have their own specific interests and I am under the impression that they (perhaps rightly) feel the need to step away from previous approaches and be themselves. Sometimes this works, sometimes not to any great extent. I wonder in particular whether she will continue Queensland Ballet’s encouragement of Australian choreographers, both established and emerging (side by side of course with the classics from across the decades/centuries)?

Time will tell but the outlook seems positive! It is a more than interesting appointment and Benjamin is even the first female artistic director of Queensland Ballet.

Below is the photo of Benjamin that accompanied the official announcement of the appointment.


But of course I could not have any other featured image than the amazing shot of Benjamin in the outback, which I have used before on a number of occasions. Both photos are by Jason Bell.

Michelle Potter, 20 December 2023

Featured image: Leanne Benjamin dancing at a location outside of Alice Springs. Photo: © Jason Bell, 2006

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Queensland Ballet (2023)

25 October 2023. Canberra Theatre

Unmissable!

After all the drama surrounding the life of choreographer Liam Scarlett, leading to his death by suicide in April 2021, what a thrill it was to see a restaging of his exceptional work, A Midsummer Night’s Dream—a joint production between Queensland Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet. It was first seen in New Zealand in 2015 and then in Brisbane in 2016. How lucky we are that Li Cunxin has seen fit to have it staged again by Queensland Ballet.

Scarlett’s work, somewhat rearranged from the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, juxtaposes two worlds—that of a fairy realm led by Oberon and Titania as King and Queen, who are squabbling over a changeling child; and a mortal world inhabited by rustics and a group of ‘explorers’ (so to speak) who enter a forest clearing inhabited by the fairies. The love lives of the ‘explorers’ become a little muddled when Oberon’s apprentice, Puck, receives instructions from Oberon to help with his squabble with Titania.

The forest setting is spectacularly designed by Tracy Lord Grant with strings of lights, stylised flora, a bridge among the tree tops, exotic tent-style dwellings for the fairy folk, and then some down-to-earth tents for the explorers. She is also responsible for the remarkable and beautifully coloured costumes. The work is lit with style by Kendall Smith.

Scarlett’s choreography is quite individualistic. It is beautifully musical with individual steps that are sometimes so small and fast that it is almost ‘blink and you miss them’. Then he invents lifts that are unlike anything we have seen before; he combines turns and jumps in unusual ways; he creates group movements that seem just perfect for the moment; and his choreography always matches the nature of the characters in the work. On this last mentioned issue, the group choreography for the rustics is a perfect example—it is, well, just rustically unsophisticated!

Victor Estévez as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Queensland Ballet, 2016. Photo: © David Kelly

The dancers of Queensland Ballet danced brilliantly, as we have come to expect these days. Victor Estévez was a rather solemn Oberon but I loved seeing him lurking in the background (often on the treetop bridge) keeping an eye on what Puck was doing. Lucy Green handled the role of Titania with ease and the pas de deux between her and Estévez at the end of the work, when their differences had been resolved, was full of love and even a bit of sexiness. The four ‘explorers’, Mia Heathcote as Hermia, Alexander Idaszak as Lysander, Georgia Swan as Helena and Vito Bernasconi as Demetrius, engaged our attention throughout, while Rian Thompson as Bottom was memorable especially after the spell linking him and Titania had been broken and he struggled (choreographically) to understand what had happened.

While it is a hard task to single out individual performers in a show where the standard of performance is so high, Kohei Iwamato as Puck needs a special mention. Apart from the fact that he danced with spectacular leaps, great turns and detailed choreographic focus, the facial and physical expression that he used to give depth to his character was remarkable. I also found Georgia Swan truly engaging as the slightly crazy Helena. There was a lovely moment, after she and Demetrius had come together, when Demetrius took out a pair of glasses to show Helena that he too wore glasses.

This was my second look at Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream after seeing it in Brisbane in 2016. As often happens with dance productions, the second viewing brought out things that I hadn’t noticed to such an extent the first time. Apart from the comic angle which hadn’t seemed so obvious before, I was entranced by the way every single character had an individuality, even when dancing as a group. The fairies and the rustics brought this out really well.

A truly unmissable show and I look forward to another viewing.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream continues at the Canberra Theatre until Saturday 28 October. If you miss it in Canberra, it is part of Queensland Ballet’s 2024 season and plays at Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Playhouse from 12–27 April. See this link for more information about that 2024 season. It will also be restaged by Royal New Zealand Ballet 24 October–14 December beginning in Wellington. See this link.
Update: Here is a link to my second viewing in Canberra.

Michelle Potter, 26 October 2023

Postscript: At the post performance event following the opening night of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Canberra both Alex Budd, director of the Canberra Theatre Centre, and Li Cunxin mentioned in their speeches the move currently underway to build a new and enlarged theatre space for the Canberra Theatre Centre. Both spoke of the size of the current main stage and the difficulties associated with staging some performances on it. The size of the Canberra stage has been an issue for some time now and a new stage is a terrific development. But I have to say that Li Cunxin managed to fit Midsummer onto the current stage just brilliantly even though he admitted there had to be some adjustments. He said when asked that he never says ‘No I can’t do it.’ He always finds a way. Well that’s Li. He succeeds where others can’t be bothered trying.

Li also seized the opportunity to speak about another important issue—government funding for Queensland Ballet, which he says is minimal compared to funding for other major dance companies in Australia. This is a situation that needs to be changed. Under Li Cunxin and Mary Li the company has grown in size; has become more adventurous than ever; has built new and hugely responsive audiences; has brought major sponsors on board, has built a new home for Queensland Ballet (including a theatre), and now the company has a standard of performance that is hard to beat anywhere. That it has been unable to garner funding that recognises its place as a world class company is outrageous. We need to lobby those who are in a position to bring about change.

Featured image: Queensland Ballet in a moment from Liam Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2023. Photo: © Nathan Kelly

Queensland Ballet in 2024

Queensland Ballet has unveiled its plans for 2024 and those plans suggest that the year will be a magnificent parting gift to audiences from outgoing artistic director Li Cunxin AO. The works come from a range of choreographers, including Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Ben Stevenson and Liam Scarlett, along with the company’s own Greg Horsman and Matthew Lawrence and a number of other Australian artists, including Jack Lister and Wakka Wakka/Kombumerri choreographer Katina Olsen.

Perhaps the most intriguing work in the season is Coco Chanel. The Life of a Fashion Icon, intriguing perhaps because its choreographer, Belgian-Columbian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, is not so well-known in Australia, despite the fact that she has worked for a myriad of companies in the northern hemisphere. It will be seen in Brisbane from 4–19 October and is described by Queensland Ballet as ‘transporting audiences back to Jazz Age Paris’ and as ‘a full length narrative ballet steeped in realism and beauty.’

Yanela Piñera as Coco Chanel in a study for Coco Chanel. The life of a fashion icon. Queensland Ballet, season 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

Li Cunxin remarks that he has been an admirer of Ochao’s work for some time. He has seen her works in many situations and on many companies and especially recalls being thrilled watching one of her productions in rehearsal in Cuba on a visit there a few years ago. At my suggestion that Chanel was often a controversial figure, he says, ‘I am familiar with how Annabelle shapes and layers her works and Coco Chanel explores more than Chanel’s career as a fashion designer. But it does not glorify her work and is more a reflection of the times in which she lived.’ Li also admires her approach to collaboration saying, ‘She is daring when it comes to collaboration and is always seeking new talent in different areas.’

Coco Chanel is a joint production between Queensland Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. Others of the 2024 offerings are also joint productions, including a much-anticipated revival of Liam Scarlett’s astonishing and truly beautiful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (12–27 April), ‘brimming with mischief and mayhem’ as the media release rightly says; and Greg Horsman’s Australianised production of Coppélia (7–22 June).

Li is enthusiastic about the advantages of of joint productions. ‘It’s a win/win situation,’ he says. ‘It is a sharing of costs and it also develops the spirit of collaboration with artists being exposed to different practices, different approaches.’

Horsman’s production of Coppélia was first staged in 2014 and is a joint production with West Australian Ballet. I didn’t see it in 2014 but Li tells me it is an innovative work that connects to Australia’s migrant history. Set in Hahndorf, South Australia, in the late 19th century, it tells the story of a German migrant—he represents Dr Coppélius—who has lost his daughter on the boat trip from Europe and who tries to recreate her in Australia. But, Li tells me, ‘Greg is respectful to the Coppélia we all know and keeps a number of the classical parts of the original choreography.’

Lucy Green in in a study for Coppélia. Queensland Ballet, season 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

Queensland Ballet’s seventh Bespoke season will take place 25 July–3 August and will comprise works by Katina Olsen, Milena Sidorova (a Ukrainian-Dutch choreographer), and Jack Lister, while the company’s Queensland Ballet on tour will be expanded to include Queensland Ballet at home. The ‘at home’ season is a new initiative given that the company now has its own home in the Talbot Theatre. It will feature a work by the current ballet master, Matthew Lawrence, with the somewhat surprising title of Tchaikovsky Mash. Lawrence’s work was first shown at the Noosa Alive Festival 2023 and Li speaks enthusiastically about it saying that Lawrence has creative ideas and is very musical. The ‘at home’ show will include Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes, the pas de deux from Le Corsaire and Horsman’s A Rhapsody in Motion.

The year will conclude with the Christmas favourite Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker. But as a bonus extra Queensland Ballet is presenting Derek Deane’s The Lady of the Camellias performed by Shanghai Ballet in Brisbane 5–8 December.

Artists of Shanghai Ballet in The Lady of the Camellias

Li’s replacement as artistic director has not yet been announced but the news of who it will be is likely to be known in the not too distant future. Of the future of Queensland Ballet Li has remarked: ‘I look forward to witnessing the journey of this aspirational company as it continues to share the beauty of dance with as many people as possible throughout Queensland and beyond.’

For full 2024 season information see this link.

Michelle Potter, 23 October 2024

Featured image: Chiara Gonzalez. Queensland Ballet, Season 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

Li Cunxin honoured

Li Cunxin AO, shortly to retire as artistic director of Queensland Ballet, has been honoured by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner, with Keys to the City for his exceptional contribution to the arts in Brisbane. It would be hard to think of a more deserving recipient. Li has completely transformed Queensland Ballet since he took over the directorship of the company almost eleven years ago. For me it is a truly remarkable organisation and I regularly come away from performances full of admiration, pleasure, even astonishment sometimes, at what the company puts before us. Nor can I fail to be impressed by the repertoire that we have seen over the past ten years, which often reflects Li’s early career in the United States, or connections he has made elsewhere in Europe, but which also includes plenty of examples of new work from Australia choreographers—Greg Horsman, Jack Lister, Natalie Weir and others.

Clare Morehen in Natalie Weir's We who are left. Queensland Ballet, 2016. Photo: © David Kelly
Clare Morehen in Natalie Weir’s We who are left. Queensland Ballet, 2016. Photo: © David Kelly

An excerpt from the City of Brisbane media release reads:

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said Li had left an indelible mark on Brisbane’s arts scene and his achievements would be celebrated at a ceremony later this month. 

“Li has extended the dignity, grace and elegance of ballet into every aspect of his life,” Cr Schrinner said.

“Like me, I’m sure many people were saddened to hear of Li’s retirement after 11 years at the helm of Queensland Ballet.

“On behalf of Brisbane, I feel it’s appropriate to acknowledge the talent, passion and vision that has enriched our creative scene and inspired generations of dancers.”

Among his long list of national and international achievements, Li has been pivotal in the growth of the Queensland Ballet, doubling the ensemble, creating a world-class Academy at Kelvin Grove State College and a home for ballet and the arts at the Thomas Dixon Centre in West End.

“For many years, we’ve enjoyed the great privilege of witnessing Li’s achievements come to life both on and off the stage,” Cr Schrinner said.

“The Keys to the City are awarded to those who embody the ideals of Brisbane, and few people have had such a significant and enduring impact on Brisbane’s art scene.

“I can’t think of a more worthy recipient of the Keys to the City.”

“As the curtain closes on this chapter of his life, I thank Li for a lifetime of artistic excellence. It has been a true privilege to watch.”

The full release can be read at this link. See also this tag for more about Li on this website.

Li Cunxin rehearsing dancers for Swan Lake, 2018. Photo: © David Kelly

Of course, there is still plenty to look forward to ‘before the curtain closes’. I am especially looking forward to the return of Strictly Gershwin, which opens later in September in Brisbane and to a revival of Liam Scarlett’s highly rewarding production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Queensland Ballet is bringing to Canberra in October.

I also have many fond memories of seeing Li perform while he was with the Australian Ballet. Standing out from those performances for me is Li’s dancing in Jiří Kylián’s Sinfonietta, which was part of a 1997 triple bill called Quantum Leaps. I can still see that stunning entrance he made at the very beginning of the work. ‘His impressive soaring entrance’ and ‘His enthralling jumps and and superbly controlled turns’, I wrote in a review for Dance Australia. He was a brilliant dancer!

It was also a great experience to see the exhibition Mao’s Last Dancer the Exhibition: A Portrait of Li Cunxin, which opened in Brisbane but was also seen elsewhere (Melbourne in 2018 when I saw it). In that exhibition Li’s career was shown through a variety of items and it was also a rare look at his early life.

Keys to the City, a terrific initiative from Brisbane’s Lord Mayor!

Michelle Potter, 11 September 2023

Featured image: Portrait of Li Cunxin, 2020. Photo: © David Kelly

Trilogy. Queensland Ballet

22 June 2023. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane

Queensland Ballet’s latest triple bill, Trilogy, is quite simply an extraordinary collection of dance works. It consists of Jack Lister’s A Brief Nostalgia, a co-production with Birmingham Royal Ballet, first staged in Birmingham in 2019; Christopher Bruce’s Rooster danced to songs by the Rolling Stones and first staged in 1991 in Geneva; and the world premiere of Cathy Marston’s My Brilliant Career, a ballet based on Miles Franklin’s novel of the same name.

If we take what is in the printed program as a starting point, Lister’s A Brief Nostalgia was inspired by a short poem that begins with the line ‘Even the most fleeting moments can cast great shadows’ and for much of the work we watched what was unfolding onstage through dark-ish lighting by Alexander Berlage. Often the movement was reflected as shadows cast on white screens.

Occasionally there were ‘fleeting moments’ when we saw more than shadows. Groups of relatively brightly-lit dancers performed in various combinations, sometimes small, sometimes large when the full cast of twelve danced together. Lister’s demanding choreography focused often on swinging, swirling arms and extraordinary lifts performed to a quite strident and percussive score by Tom Harrold.

The pattern was broken at one stage by a duet, danced at the performance I saw by Georgia Swan and D’Arcy Brazier dressed in black rather than the grey outfits worn by others. It seemed to have a love interest embedded in it and was danced smoothly and gently in a haze of smoke.

But in general, there was huge physical energy on display. It was fast-moving and often actions happened and then disappeared before our eyes. Those ‘fleeting moments’ were truly on display.

A Brief Nostalgia was followed by Christopher Bruce’s Rooster. It is a work for ten dancers, five male and five female, and is performed to eight songs from the Rolling Stones. It looks back to the nature of male/female relationships of the 1960s. The men strut around often doing a ‘rooster strut’ especially in the opening section danced to ‘Little Red Rooster’. They preen and show off a feeling of self-importance. The women accept, for better or worse, the way they are treated. But as Bruce himself has said, ‘There is a kind of sexual war going on.’

Dance-wise the movement is a brilliant collection of ideas from across the board. While most obviously it is the rock/jive style popular in the era of the Rolling Stones but there are references to ballroom, and older court dances, as well as contemporary style choreography using the floor for rolling and spinning movements. Red and black predominate in the varied style of the costumes by Marian Bruce and are reflective of the era. For the women the costuming includes feather boas, scarves and mini skirted dresses. For some in the audience it is pure nostalgia. For most it is just huge fun to watch. And stylishly danced by the cast.

My favourite part of Rooster was the section danced to ’Ruby Tuesday’, which began with a solo for a female dancer but which developed further when four male dancers interacted with her. I saw Sophie Zoricic as the soloist and her performance was sublime. She filled the space with expressive and lyrical movement, and I loved the moments when she was tossed in the air by the four men and executed (no doubt with the assistance of the men) a tour en l’air in a horizontal position as she rose up into the space above them. Shades of Sancho Panza in Don Quixote (except better!) Then, when she was partnered by Kohei Iwamoto, the dancing became extraordinarily thrilling. Two terrific artists there.

It has been a while since I read Miles Franklin’s novel My Brilliant Career so I wondered how, or if I would be able to follow Cathy Marston’s version of what is a complex story. Marston’s work closed the evening and, as it turned out, I think she did a brilliant job, although it was good to have read the synopsis in the program as a lead-in. Every character was very clearly drawn choreographically. The movements chosen to elucidate the nature of the characters were often small, individualistic movements of the feet or the hands, or we understood the nature of the character by the way they sat or walked. But it worked brilliantly and was a remarkable achievement from Marston.

Then there was Marston’s development of the leading character of Sybylla by splitting the role between two dancers, one called Syb, the other Bylla. On the surface it sounded like an odd thing to do but again it was remarkable work from Marston and was executed with remarkable performances from the dancers. I saw Lucy Green as Syb and Sophie Zoricic as Bylla. At times I couldn’t take my eyes off Green, at others it was Zoricic I looked at, so the two sides of the young woman, one searching for a world without borders, one that was seeking something else, were clearly developed.

There is much more to say about this work. The different men with whom Sybylla came into contact, her grandmother (strongly performed when I saw the show by Georgia Swan) whose house and culture she moved into for a temporary time, the children in her family, the circumstances that led to her final realisation of what path her life should take, the set design that so easily could be moved to offer new locations. But as a final comment, a huge highlight came with the commissioned score from Matthew Hindson. It was so closely entwined with the choreography that at times I wondered whether I was listening to the choreography and seeing the music. Amazing work from Hindson who managed to describe the characters in his music as Marston did with her choreography.

I need to see My Brilliant Career again and to have the occasion to write in more detail. I hope it has further seasons.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the evening was the wonderfully diverse approaches to choreography we saw. Ballet doesn’t have to be a bunch of arabesques and pirouettes (although of course they have their place). All in all, another exceptional triple bill program from Li Cunxin and Queensland Ballet. May it continue.

Michelle Potter, 23 June 2023

All photos: © David Kelly

Featured image: Sophie Zoricic in ‘Ruby Tuesday’ from Rooster. Queensland Ballet, 2023. Photo: © David Kelly

Li Cunxin to retire

20 June 2023

Li Cunxin, artistic director of Queensland Ballet for the past 11 years, today announced that, due to ill health, he will retire at the end of the 2023 season. At the same time, his wife Mary Li, also with health concerns, will retire from her role as ballet mistress and principal repetiteur with the company.

Li’s contribution to the growth of Queensland Ballet has been quite exceptional. His input has included a doubling of the number of dancers in the company, which now stands at 48 artists; the development of a young artists’ scheme with the Jette Parker Young Artists Program; the growth of an Academy situated at Kelvin Grove State College; the development of the Thomas Dixon Centre as home to Queensland Ballet with the inclusion of a very accessible small theatre; the expansion of company activities to the Gold Coast; and the growth of philanthropy, touring and community activities.

His choice of repertoire has been of exceptional significance too. I have admired in particular his triple bill programs, which always give audiences a varied understanding of the range of styles and subjects that ballet can encompass. Li’s Choice in 2022 was outstanding and I described it as ‘an absolute cracker of a triple bill [showing] Li as a great director’. He has encouraged the work of Australian. choreographers, both established and emerging, and has also staged works from a range of overseas-based choreographers whose productions have not often (if ever in some cases) been seen in Australia. It is hard to forget, for example, A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Liam Scarlett, which was created in conjunction with Royal New Zealand Ballet while that company was under the direction of Ethan Stiefel, and which will tour to Canberra in October.

Yanela Pinera as Titania, Queensland Ballet 2016
Yanela Piñera as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Queensland Ballet 2016. Photo: © David Kelly

But perhaps more than anything, Li (and his staff of teachers and coaches) has developed the performance standard of the company to a new level of excellence. His dancers perform with such a love of dance and such a desire to give to the audience. They show a strong and visible engagement with all aspects of a production and it is simply heartwarming to watch them.

Speaking of his retirement Li said:

I am tremendously proud of the company I see before me today. Queensland Ballet stands proudly on the world stage in performance, pathways and participation. I will never be far away but as I take this time and the organisation continues to thrive, I know I am leaving the company in a strong position. While I am very proud of the company’s growth, the major projects we have undertaken and the dreams we have fulfilled, I’m mostly proud of the fact that Queensland Ballet is completely set up for success. Our foundations are stronger than ever and I’m proud to be a part of that legacy.

Queensland Ballet will begin a search for a new director shortly.

Personal recollections
I have many fond memories of Li in various of his roles from performer to artistic director. In particular I am pleased that I had the opportunity to record an oral history interview with him for the National Library of Australia in 2019 (TRC 6989 currently needing written permission to access). Vivid in my mind too is LI’s astonishing leap onto the stage in the opening moments of Jiří Kylián’s Sinfonietta with the Australian Ballet in 1997. ‘A soaring entrance,’ I wrote in Dance Australia, followed by the words ‘enthralling jumps and superbly controlled arms’. But perhaps my strongest recollection goes back to c. 1996 when Maina Gielgud was artistic director of the Australian Ballet and was extraordinarily generous in allowing me to watch company classes. I recall on several occasions Li would stay in the studio after class was officially over and practise manège after manège of spectacular grand allegro steps. He would always finish right in front of me, kneeling, and with a flourish of the arms to second position—always a showman.

Li will never retire from being a dancer at heart and I wish him and his wife every happiness in the future.

For more about LI on this website follow this link.

Michelle Potter, 20 June 2023

Featured image: Portrait of Li Cunxin following his award of Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2020. Photo: © David Kelly

The best of … 2022

In 2022 I managed to see more live performances than I did in 2021. I was even able to get to New Zealand to see Loughlan Prior’s Cinderella. There were still a number of online offerings to add to the year’s viewing of course, and online watching has become part of my life I think.

As I did in 2021, I have chosen just five performances as my highlights for 2022, and the pluses and minuses experienced in 2021 were pretty much the same in 2022: difficulties resulting from choosing such a small number, but the advantage of having to focus strongly on what defines for me an outstanding work.

Below are my ‘top five’ productions for 2022, arranged chronologically according to the date of performance. I have included a link to my review in each case and have simply included in this post the main reason why I chose each work. All posts refer to live performances.

LESS (Canberra. Australian Dance Party, March)

LESS was a brilliant collaborative endeavour, and an outstanding site-specific work, the ongoing focus of Australian Dance Party.
Here is the link to the review.

(As a Canberra-based writer I also chose LESS as my highlight for 2022 for Dance Australia and my comments should appear in that magazine soon).

Kunstkamer (Sydney. The Australian Ballet, May)

Kunstkamer was an outstanding work that showed the Australian Ballet and its dancers in a totally new light.
Here is the link to the review.

Li’s Choice (Brisbane. Queensland Ballet, June)

Li’s choice showed the exceptional diversity of Queensland Ballet’s dancers and the equally exceptional directorship of Li Cunxin and his support staff.
Here is the link to the review.

Vito Bernasconi and Lina Kim in We who are left from the triple bill Li’s Choice. Queensland Ballet, 2022. Photo: © David Kelly

Galileo (Parramatta. Sydney Choreographic Ensemble, June)

Francesco Ventriglia skilfully demonstrated how choreography can convey a huge range of ideas and while doing so make a totally absorbing and focused work.
Here is the link to the review.

Veronika Maritati and Zachary Healey in a scene from Galileo. Sydney Choreographic Ensemble, 2022. Photo: © Daniel Asher Smith

Cinderella (Auckland. Royal New Zealand Ballet, August)

Loughlan Prior gave his Cinderella a setting and storyline that was a courageous and totally unexpected look at a well-worn story,
Here is the link to the review, and another link to an interview with Loughlan Prior in which he talks about Cinderella.

Laurynas Vejalis as the Royal Messenger and Clytie Campbell as the Queen in Cinderella. Royal New Zealand Ballet, 2022. Photo: © Stephen A’Court

Michelle Potter, 30 December 2022

Featured image: Dancers of Australian Dance Party in LESS, 2022. Photo: © Lorna Sim

Li’s Choice. Queensland Ballet

10 June 2022. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane

Li Cunxin has been at the helm of Queensland Ballet for close to ten years and the company’s latest production, an absolutely mind-blowing triple bill called Li’s Choice, is in celebration of those ten years of masterful leadership on Li’s part.

The program opened with Greg Horsman’s Glass Concerto, a work for six dancers performed to a violin concerto by Philip Glass. I saw this work in 2017 and, while I loved parts of it, especially what I called the ‘technical fireworks’ of the choreography for the third movement, it left me uninspired in other parts. Not this time. The opening moments were danced by all six dancers and the choreography was filled with beautifully rehearsed classical partnering for the three couples. From there the choreography unfolded to show the dancers in different groupings with some solo sections before it reached the so-called (by me) fireworks. Mia Heathcote caught my eye, as she usually does, in this case for her exceptional ability to add that tiny extra bit of expression (both facial and in the body) that makes her work stand out. But every dancer showed an inspired approach to Horsman’s choreography. They just looked spectacular, all of them.

Patricio Revé in Glass Concerto. Queensland Ballet, 2022. Photo: © David Kelly

Costuming by Georg Wu was, on the surface, quite simple—a black leotard-style garment for men and women with a more masculine look to the lower section for the men. But the detailing was quite beautiful—a bit of sparkle here, a cut-out section there, and with opaque sections contrasting with more translucent areas. All together Glass Concerto was a terrific opener.

The middle work was Natalie Weir’s very moving We who are left, which I also saw earlier from Queensland Ballet.* I was just as moved this time by a work that I think is a masterpiece from Weir. On the surface, We who are left is a simple story about five men who leave for a war zone, their activities in the war zone, the fate of the women they leave behind, and the return of one of the five men. But the emotion that Weir injects into the choreography takes the work to a truly inspiring level. This time I was especially taken by the choreography for the men when at war. While this section began in somewhat of a militaristic style, as the war continued the choreography became more fractured, more twisted, more death-like.

But still the highlight for me was the section ‘She who was left’, danced on this occasion by Lucy Green. The woman is joined by the man (Patricio Revé) who left her to go to war. He was one of those killed and returns in spirit to the woman. The pas de deux between them is just a brilliant piece of choreography. They dance together but never touch, although the emotional connection, the memory, is there in full. And what a different feel this pas de deux has from another in the same work, ‘Memories of love’, when a physical connection between Lina Kim and Vito Bernasconi is at the heart of the pas de deux

Lucy Green and Patricio Revé in We who are left. Queensland Ballet, 2022. Photo: © David Kelly

We who are left is complemented by a stunning lighting design by David Walters (revived by Cameron Georg), It delivers an emotional setting from beginning to end.

The closing work was Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, performed to music from Scott Joplin and other ragtime-style composers, with the chamber orchestra, Camerata, playing on stage. Nigel Gaynor conducted and was pianist for the orchestra.

Elite Syncopations is a series of routines featuring characters in a dance hall of some kind. There is not a storyline as such but the characters flirt amongst each other and vie for attention from others in the dance hall. Stand-out performances came from Neneka Yoshida, in a fabulous white costume with strategically placed red stars (costume design by Ian Spurling); Mali Comlecki as a suave character who seemed to want to put himself above everyone else; Luke Dimattina, who played a guy somewhat on the outskirts of the group but who wanted to be part of it; and Victor Estévez whose character seemed to be in competition somewhat with that of Comlecki.

Elite Syncopations gave everyone in the cast a chance to let their hair down and clown around a bit. The funny thing was that, having seen this work performed by the Royal Ballet, on whom it was originally made by MacMillan in 1974, I thought Queensland Ballet brought a new insight to the work. Somehow it seemed quite ‘Ocker’ in comparison the the Royal version! I loved it.

Apart from the breathtaking performances across the board, what really struck me was that this triple bill showed us what dance can transmit to an audience. We had a peek at the vocabulary of classical ballet and the beautiful athleticism and lyricism that dancers trained in the style can achieve, we saw how dance can transmit hugely emotional feelings about life and its many and varied aspects, and we were treated to the notion that dance is fun, joyous and often hilarious. While each of the three works was focused largely on one of these three ideas, there were traces of all in each.

The evening curtain call rightly included Li and the presentation to him of a huge bouquet of red roses. Justly deserved! Li’s Choice was an absolute cracker of a triple bill and shows Li as a great director. It also shows the Queensland Ballet staff as brilliant collaborators and teachers and the company itself as one of the best, perhaps even the best, we have in this country.

Michelle Potter, 11 June 2022

Featured image: Mali Comlekci and Neneka Yoshida in Elite Syncopations. Queensland Ballet, 2022. Photo: © David Kelly

  • My original review of We who are left appeared in 2016 on the UK site DanceTabs. DanceTabs no longer exists but the review I wrote then is available at this link now.

Dance diary. May 2022

  • The Johnston Collection. On Kristian Fredrikson

My talk for Melbourne’s Johnston Collection, Kristian Fredrikson. Theatre Designer Extraordinaire, will finally take place on 22 June 2022 just one year later than scheduled. No need, I am sure, to give a reason for its earlier cancellation. I am very much looking forward to presenting this talk, which will include short extracts from some of the film productions for which Fredrikson created designs, including Undercover, which tells the story of the founding of the Berlei undergarment brand.

Further information about the talk is at this link: The Johnston Collection: What’s On.

  • Australian Ballet News

The Australian Ballet has announced a number of changes to its performing and administrative team. In May, at the end of the company’s Sydney season, ten dancers were promoted:

Jill Ogai from Soloist to Senior Artist
Nathan Brook from Soloist to Senior Artist
Imogen Chapman Soloist to Senior Artist
Rina Nemoto from Soloist to Senior Artist
Lucien Xu from Coryphée to Soloist
Mason Lovegrove from Coryphée to Soloist
Luke Marchant from Coryphée to Soloist
Katherine Sonnekus from Corps de Ballet to Coryphée
Aya Watanabe from Corps de Ballet to Coryphée
George-Murray Nightingale from Corps de Ballet to Coryphée

George-Murray Nightingale and Lucien Xu in Graeme Murphy’s Grand. The Australian Ballet, 2018. Photo: © Kate Longley

In administrative news, the chairman of the board of the Australian Ballet has announced that Libby Christie, the company’s Executive Director, will step down from the position at the end of 2022, after a tenure of close to ten years.

But the Australian Ballet will also face a difficult time in 2024 when the State Theatre at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, where the Australian Ballet performs over several months, and which it regards really as its home, will close for three years as part of the redevelopment of the arts precinct. Apparently David Hallberg is busy trying to find an alternative theatre in Melbourne. But then the company faced similar difficulties a few years ago in Sydney when the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House was unavailable as it too went through renovations. It was perhaps less than three years of closure in Sydney but the company survived then and I’m sure it will this time too.

  • And from Queensland Ballet

Queensland Ballet’s Jette Parker Young Artists, along with artistic director Li Cunxin, a group of dancers from the main company, and Christian Tátchev from Queensland Ballet Academy, will head to London any day now. The dancers will perform in the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House from 4-6 June as part of a cultural exchange between Australia and the United Kingdom. They will be taking an exciting program of three works under the title of Southern Lights. Those three works are Perfect Strangers by Jack Lister, associate choreographer with Queensland Ballet and a dancer with Australasian Dance Collective; Fallen by Natalie Weir, Queensland Ballet’s resident choreographer; and Appearance of Colour by Loughlan Prior, resident choreographer with Royal New Zealand Ballet.

In addition to the performances, Li will be joined by Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare and dancer Leanne Benjamin for an ‘In Conversation’ session, and Tátchev will conduct open classes for dancers from the Royal Ballet School

  • Not forgetting New Zealand

The Royal New Zealand Ballet has also announced a retirement. Katherine and Joseph Skelton will give their last performance with the company in June. It has been a while since I saw Royal New Zealand Ballet perform live but I have especially strong memories of Joseph Skelton dancing the peasant pas de deux with Bronte Kelly in Giselle in 2016. Both dancers are mentioned in various posts on this website. See Katherine Skelton and Joseph Skelton.

RNZB is filming the pair in the pas de deux from Giselle Act II and the film will be made available on RNZB’s Facebook page on 1 June.

  • Street names in Whitlam (a new-ish Canberra suburb)

There has been discussion at various times about naming streets in Canberra suburbs after people who are thought to be distinguished Australians. There was quite recently discussion about abandoning the process completely with complaints being made that the process was not an inclusive one, and that in particular men outnumbered women (along with several other issues). Well not so long ago I joined Julie Dyson and Lauren Honcope in helping the ACT Government select names of those connected with dance to be used as street names in the new-ish suburb of Whitlam. The suburb was named after former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and the decision was to name the streets after figures who had been prominent in the arts (given Whitlam’s strong support of the arts). I looked back at what was eventually chosen (and it was for an initial stage of development of the suburb), and its seems to me that the argument that diversity was lacking is not correct (at least not in this case). The names selected for this stage included men, women, First Nations people, and people known to belong to the LGBTI… community. Some have a lovely ring to them too—Keith Bain Crest, Laurel Martyn View, Arkwookerum Street for example. I’m looking forward to what the next stage will bring.

Michelle Potter, 31 May 2022

Featured image: Still from Undercover, Palm Beach Pictures, 1982