Dance Week 2025. Savour the program being presented by Ausdance ACT

A somewhat intriguing sentence appears on the website of Ausdance ACT as the organisation sets out to introduce us to its program for Dance Week 2025. The suggestion is, Experience a tasting plate of performances, workshops, and activities for all ages with a range of free classes and events. Within those three sections (courses?) on the tasting plate—performances, workshops, and activities for all ages—there is a diverse menu from which we can choose.

Dance in the ACT has a community focus, which in a variety of ways reflects Canberra’s multicultural population. It also has a focus on diversity with the area’s dance activities also being inclusive of a range of ages with, for example, the presence of groups such as Canberra Dance Theatre’s GOLD company, which consists of dancers over the age of 55, and the Blueberries Classes for children from two to four years of age (and their parents). Many of these community groups have strong professional connections, but there is also a range of fully professional organisations focusing specifically on dance.

Dr Cathy Adamek, Executive Director of Ausdance ACT is convinced that dance has a particularly strong and well-defined presence in the ACT. She notes:

I have examined statistics from AusfitNation, which comes through the Department of Sport and Recreation and, according to those statistics, there are more dance studios per capita in the ACT than anywhere else in Australia. We have very strong student and pre-professional training pathways in Canberra. Not only that, perceptions of dance have changed. Dance has become a more inclusive form of activity. It has also become something that can be done at any level as a hobby.

Ausdance ACT’s 2025 Dance Week program brilliantly puts on display the complexity and diversity of dance in the ACT. Looking at the ‘Performance menu’, for example, there are presentations from Folk Dance Canberra; the Stellar Company featuring the Chamaeleon Collective and Hilal Dance Australia; Canberra Dance Theatre; QL2 Dance; a solo show from independent artist Mia Rashid; and a street performance combining contemporary dance, Butoh and improvisation.

A scene from *Stars in 3D* from the Chamaeleon Collective. *Stars in 3D* will feature in Dance Week 2025. Photo: © Andrew Sikorski

The ‘Workshop menu’ is also hugely varied and includes a Burlesque Workshop from the Menagerie of Misfits, and a Dance Film Workshop to discover, with Peng Hsiao-yin from Danceology Taiwan, how to film an original and creative self-portrait video. Then there’s the Australian Dance Party’s Immerse Lab with Omer Backley-Astrachan, a choreographer and educator who has worked with a range of dance companies across Australia, and an improvisation event with Debora Di Centa at Mirramu Creative Arts Centre. And more.

As for classes that are available, many of which are free to participants, the variety is impressive. They cross a wide range of dance styles—ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, belly dance, street dance, fitness, and other styles—and they range from classes for young children, classes for those with a disability, classes for older people, and more. One has a fascinating name: ‘Loitering & Leaping in the Library with ZEST’. It takes place in the National Library of Australia and is led by ZEST Dance for Wellbeing.

A class for older dancers. Photo: O&J Wikner Photography

Cathy Adamek stresses that there is a very strong emphasis on participation and inclusiveness in this year’s program, along with what she refers to as ‘a real rise and engagement with a younger generation as well as connections we have been able to make with some independent artists.’

Dance Week, which is always held around the date of International Dance Day on 29 April, runs in Canberra from 28 April to 5 May. The tasting plate looks delicious.

Here is the link to the full program for Dance Week in the ACT. Watch or participate, or both. Dance is for everyone.

Michelle Potter, 23 April 2025

Featured image: Ausdance ACT media image. Dancer: Alana Stenning. Photo: © Lorna Sim

A Stellar Lineup, 2024. Liz Lea Dance

My review of A Stellar Lineup from Liz Lea working with a range of community companies was published online on 23 November 2024 by CBR CityNews. Read it at this link. Below is a slightly enlarged version of the review.

*******************************************

22 November 2024. Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra

The dance scene in Canberra has long had a strong community focus, with representation from multicultural communities, groups of senior artists, people living with physical issues, groups focusing on a distinct form of dance, youth organisations, and many other specific groups. Everyone wants to feel what dance can offer and what dance can express.

Canberra’s Liz Lea, director of A Stellar Lineup, has so often been at the forefront of developing and presenting community dance in Canberra. The 2024 presentation of A Stellar Lineup is, in fact, the third iteration of a production that brings together groups of dancers representing the range and strength of this community focus.

The 2024 presentation focused on the Olympic Games, and not just on the relatively recent 2024 Paris events. We were told through dance, with a background of film, still photographs and spoken and printed words projected onto a backcloth, of events that have stood out, often focusing on Canberra-based stars across the history of the Games, and sometimes on Olympic funding issues.

Groups represented in the 2024 Lineup included the Indian community with several turbaned Sikh members of that community standing out; the now well-known GOLD Company of senior dancers; Fresh Funk representing breakdancing, which was included as a sport for the first time in the 2024 Paris Games; The Deaf Butterflies; ZEST Dance for Wellbeing; the Chamaeleon Collective, Lea’s relatively recent addition to Canberra’s community groups; a large gathering of very young dancers (including two babies carried in slings) from Project Dust, a First Nations’ contemporary dance group led by Emma Laverty; and various other organisations.

The dancing itself was, unsurprisingly, varied in terms of performance strength. For me the breakdancing from Fresh Funk stood out. Their section, Moment 4 Life, was fast-paced, and filled with energy and surprising moments of spectacular movement. Every single dancer gave his or her very vibrant best and, despite a few predictions, or perhaps suspicions, by colleagues before the show opened, as far as I could see there wasn’t a reference to Raygun and her controversial input in Paris. The Raygun performance was the last thing on my mind as I watched Fresh Funk performing.

Dancers from Fresh Funk in ‘Moment 4 Life’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

The GOLD dancers also showed their strength, especially in their ability to engage the audience with their physical and emotional engagement with the choreography. They are now an experienced and well trained group and are always worth watching.

Dancers from the GOLDs in ‘Game, Set, Match’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

I was also impressed by Rachel Hilton, who paid homage to her mother, Daphne Hilton, with a simple, but beautifully lyrical solo. Daphne Hilton was a Canberran and Australia’s first female Paralympian to medal. Then there was a homage to the legally blind cyclist Lindy Hou, and then to Louise Ellery a Paralympian in the track and field area. Towards the end of the show there was an engaging performance, The Silent Spirit of Deaf Sports!, from The Deaf Butterflies, which had the audience using deaf applause. And more…

An Acknowledgment of Country opened the evening and was also a highlight given that it was a choreographed acknowledgment from a stage filled with performers of various abilities. Indigenous input into the Games was also strongly acknowledged with an amusing section from Project Dust with appearances from some of the youngest performers of the evening, including those two babies carried in slings. It featured an Aboriginal flag, whose colours were matched by the red, black and yellow costumes of the performers.

Dancers from Project Dust including the babies in slings in ‘Eye of the Tiger’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

We can but admire Liz Lea’s determination to present community dance to Canberra audiences. Similarly, the strength and determination of members of the community groups that have developed over the years is also admirable, and a strong and definite addition to dance in Canberra. Dance is for everyone.

Michelle Potter, 23 November 2024

Featured image: Dancers from ZEST Dance for Wellbeing in ‘I used to Run a Marathon’ from A Stellar Lineup. Photo: © Jen Brown

Dance diary. October 2024

West Australian Ballet in 2025

I was interested to hear the latest from West Australian Ballet (WAB), perhaps in particular that David McAllister will continue to direct WAB for another year. The media information says that he will work with the Board on the search for a new artistic director, and that he will also help develop a new strategic plan for WAB for the next five years as well as programming the season for 2026. McAllister was brought up in Perth, home city of WAB, before moving to Melbourne to join the Australian Ballet School and then the Australian Ballet in 1983. It is hard not to wonder whether McAllister’s current role at WAB will become permanent?

But in addition, it was good to see that Alice Topp will present Butterfly Effect, a new commission from WAB and a new take on the opera Madame Butterfly. Topp’s Butterfly Effect will premiere in Perth in September and will recontextualise the well-known narrative as a ‘story for modern audiences, weaving together threads from the old and the new, through themes of love, loss, and shattering betrayal, and Puccini’s classical score.’ I will be especially interested to see where the work is set (if indeed it is set in a specific country?).

News from James Batchelor

James Batchelor, who works between Australia and Europe, has been in Australia recently teaching at the Victorian College of the Arts and Sydney Dance Company. In addition, he has been developing new works, in particular a piece he is calling Resonance, which grew out of an invitation by the Tanja Liedtke Foundation, and which examines how Liedtke’s work has impacted the course of contemporary dance in Australia. (Dancer and choreographer Tanja Liedtke died in Sydney in 2007 following a road accident. She was the incoming director of Sydney Dance Company but never had the chance to take on the role).

James Batchelor at Mulligan’s Flat, 2024. Photo: © Akali (Yao Yao) Guan. Mulligan’s Flat is a wildlife park in the north-east of Canberra.

Batchelor will be back in Europe for the last several weeks of 2024 where Shortcuts to Familiar Places will have a season in Italy, and where, in Berlin, he will continue to work on the development of Resonance. He will then head back to Australia for projects in January.

A Stellar Lineup—Olympic Edition

Liz Lea continues her development of community dance in Canberra with a presentation of A Stellar Lineup—Olympic Edition. She writes:

We are thrilled to bring you another stunning lineup of Canberra’s most engaging community dance companies, celebrating the power of inclusion and imperative for excellence. This year we return to Belco Arts to mark the Olympic Games and the sporting achievements of our many performers including Olympians and Paralympians. Our program features Project Dust, Dance4Me, Taylor Mingle, ZEST Dance for Wellbeing, the GOLD Company, Deaf Butterflies, Rachael Hilton, Fresh Funk and the Chamaeleon Collective.

Dancers from *A Stellar Lineup*, 2024. Photo: © O&J Wikner Photography

Performances of A Stellar Lineup—Olympic Edition will be presented at the Belconnen Arts Centre, 22-23 November 2024. Further information is at this link.

Forgotten Impresario. Discovering Daphne Deane

Back in 2022 I posted a note about a beautifully researched e-book, Forgotten Impresario. Discovering Daphne Deane, by John Anderson. The book followed the diverse theatrical career of Queensland-born Daphne Deane, a career that Anderson rightly believed had been largely ignored. Recently, Anderson updated aspects of his book to include more information about Deane’s experiences during World War II; her trial in France for a ‘contractual breach of trust’, which brought aspects of her career to an end; and her connections with Marie Rambert.

The revised edition is available to read, at no cost, at this link.

Farewell to Ruth Osborne

Ruth Osborne at Gorman Arts Centre, 2024. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography

In October a large gathering of Canberra’s dance community said farewell to Ruth Osborne as director of QL2 Dance. The farewell event was held at Gorman Arts Centre, home of QL2 Dance (and a variety of other arts focused organisations), and featured speeches from some of those who had been associated with Osborne over the years. Speakers included Richard Refschauge, current Chair of the Board of Ql2 Dance, who gave an outline of Osborne’s career and input into the development and growth of QL2 Dance, and Daniel Riley, former student at QL2 Dance and current artistic director of the Adelaide-based Australian Dance Theatre, who spoke about his experiences as a young, emerging dancer at QL2 Dance and his resulting dance career.

The afternoon also included two performances from QL2 dancers, which were performed in one of the beautiful courtyards of Gorman Arts Centre. One was choreographed by Alice Lee Holland, and consisted of extracts from her work Earth, which we saw recently as part of the Elemental program. The other was one of Osborne’s works from the past repertoire of QL2 Dance.

QL2 dancers performing extracts from *Earth* in the courtyard, Gorman Arts Centre, 2024. Photos: © Michelle Potter

Press for October 2024

– ‘Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon (Queensland Ballet)’. Limelight, 6 October 2024 . Online at this link. (And in a slightly enlarged form here.)
– ‘Chaos, a dance project of highs and lows.’ Review of Elemental. QL2 Dance, Chaos Project. CBR City News, 19 October 2024. Online at this link. (And in a slightly enlarged form here.)

And it’s Halloween again …

Michelle Potter, 31 October 2024

Featured image: Publicity image from WAB for Alice Topp’s Butterfly Effect. Photographer not identified.

Dance Week 2024. Ausdance ACT

Ausdance ACT prides itself on having Australia’s most extensive program for Dance Week, and the ACT branch of Ausdance has, in fact, been building up its approach for over 30 years (if I remember correctly). This year’s program, which runs from 29 April to 5 May, illustrates the quite extraordinary diversity of dance that characterises Canberra these days.

The program for 2024 includes studio classes, workshops, and activities for all, including a range of free classes. At the end of this post there is a link to the complete program, but this post will highlight just a few of the events.

The activities begin on Monday 29 April, International Dance Day, a celebratory day that was initiated by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute in 1982. The date, 29 April, was chosen as it is the birth date of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), esteemed teacher and historian who is regarded by many as the creator of modern ballet. Ausdance ACT’s opening event, which will be addressed by Minister for the Arts, Tara Cheyne MLA, will feature a performance of Co_Lab:24 from Canberra’s professional dance company, Australian Dance Party (ADP). This is a 2024 iteration of an event that has been part of ADP’s repertoire for a number of years. The idea behind Co_Lab is one of collaboration and experimentation with a diverse range of artists. The 2024 version will feature dancers Alison Plevey, Sara Black and Melanie Lane and musician Alex Voorhoeve (cello), with sound/voice from Sia Ahmad and visuals from Nicci Haynes.

In addition to being featured at the opening celebration, Co_Lab:24 will have two public performances at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre on 30 April and 1 May.

Olivia Wikner and Alison Plevey in a *Co_Lab* performance. Photo: © Andrew Sikorski

Also as part of the opening program there will be the opportunity to watch some short dance films from Dance.Focus and Danceology, along with the premiere of the film Hillscape. As a live work, Hillscape was given just one performance, and that was a year ago as part of the 2023 Canberra International Music Festival. It was performed outdoors in the amphitheatre of the National Arboretum and I am hoping that, with a film version, we will have the opportunity to get a closer view of Ashley Bye’s choreography. See my review of the live show at this link.

Scene from the live performance of *Hillscape*, 2023. Photo: © Peter Hislop

There is also an astonishing number of workshops and classes to try over the week. They include a workshop with Jazida exploring dancing with silk fan veils; an adult beginner ballet class with Matthew Shilling (former dancer with Sydney Dance Company now director of MAKS Ballet Studio); taster classes in the ZEST: Dance for Wellbeing program; an open class in hip-hop with Fresh Funk; an outdoor performance SHOW US YOUR FACE in Garema Place from the Jam Cabinet (a street dance community); and lots more.

Dance for Wellbeing Class. Photo: © Lorna Sim

Delve into what’s on this year at this link where you will find dates, times and how to RSVP or apply (necessary for some but not all events). There is something for everyone.

Michelle Potter, 21 April 2024

Featured image (cropped, full image below): Promotional image for a workshop to be held on 4 May 2024, ‘Fabulous Fan Dancing with Jazida’. Photo: © Captavitae Photography

Philip Piggin conducting a class. Photo Lorna Sim

Talking to Philip Piggin

Back in 2017 I spoke to Philip Piggin, then working as Creative Program Officer at Belconnen Arts Centre in Canberra, and at the time a recipient of an honour from People Dancing, a major community dance organisation based in Britain. An article focusing on that interview appeared in The Canberra Times and is still available, at the time of posting this news item, in an online version at this link.

Since then, Piggin has moved on from Belco and is now working freelance, with particular emphasis on the program ZEST Dance for Wellbeing, as well as teaching at Canberra Dance Theatre where he also holds life membership. It was time to talk again, in particular about the ZEST program in which movement classes are designed, as the website says, ‘for adults who want to keep their body and brain active and healthy, regardless of their mobility, skill or age.’

As the image below shows, ZEST classes start sitting on a chair but there is an option to stand and I was especially interested to ask Piggin to talk a little about his interest in teaching dance to people of different abilities. He spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about this aspect of his work:

A class in the ZEST program. Photo: © Art Atelier

Teaching people of different abilities, young and not so young, has been a long-time component of my dance practice. It was ignited in my early days of dancing in the UK, and in particular with one company of deaf and hard of hearing dancers with whom I worked for several years. It was full of fun, challenge, laughter and learning.

This really opened the door to me of the power of dance to provide unique opportunities for everyone to discover the creative potential of our bodies and our imaginations. And all this while having fun with other people! I found this to be a richly rewarding, physically fascinating and joyously affirming part of my dance journey. Dance as an art-form can be accessible to everyone, and challenges and activates the brain and the body in so many different ways.

When working in regional NSW this also came to fruition when I suggested to the Department of Education Regional Arts team that as well as a dance camp for mainstream school children, how about we deliver one for children with various abilities across the Riverina? And it happened—and was so special.

I believe so strongly that everyone has the right to have access to and engage with quality arts experiences—whatever our ability, mobility, age, gender, background, etc. Excitingly, more and more artists across all art-forms are becoming aware of this, and with training are providing quality programs for all. Surely this is a reflection of an aware, developed and inclusive society that values every individual.

And he spoke a little more about teaching older adults.

My practice now focuses primarily on delivering dance to older adults—and this is certainly a growing practice across the world as many societies enjoy a longer life span. I think we are all aware of how important it is to keep exercising for our long-term health and wellbeing—and again dance offers the perfect vehicle. A fun and challenging workout for the body, the brain, our creative spirit, and all within a group of like-minded peoples. The perfect package I reckon!

So much research nowadays affirms the value of dance to healthy ageing, and I am certainly seeing this being increasingly recognised by health organisations who often fund such programs across our nation.

Our ZEST Dance for Wellbeing program, that now delivers over 12 weekly classes across Canberra, is funded by a variety of health organisations and private donors, and this is proving essential to the sustainability of the program as arts funding is increasingly challenging to access.

Over my career I have had the privilege and opportunity to teach so many different groups, on both sides of the Equator—and it provides a constant and exciting challenge to my practice, which I believe ensures I am constantly learning, evolving and expanding as an artist. It is definitely a two way exchange!

Read more about ZEST at this link where you will find a little about the history of the program (including reference to SPARK classes for people living with Dementia), as well as details of the extensive range of classes on offer. The link will also take you to brief biographies of three other teachers who work with the ZEST program—Jacqui Simmonds, Jane Ingall and Debora Di Centa.

With thanks to Philip Piggin.

Michelle Potter, 24 April 2023

Australian Dance Week, 2023. Ausdance ACT

Audiences in Canberra are being offered a wide range of dance events during the week beginning 29 April. That day is International Dance Day and the week of festivities, hosted by Ausdance ACT, will officially be opened on that very day by the ACT’s Minister for the Arts, Tara Cheyne MLA. The range of events is extraordinary and highlights the growing strength of dance, both professional and community, in the city and surrounds.

As a precursor to the week, Australian Dance Party, Canberra’s professional dance company, will present Hillscape at the National Arboretum on 28 April. Hillscape, choreographed by Ashlee Bye and co-commissioned by Ausdance ACT and Canberra International Music Festival (CIMF), will feature as part of a CIMF program called Seeds of Life. Seeds of Life marks the tenth anniversary of the National Arboretum and the twenty years that have passed since the disastrous bushfire season in Canberra in 2003. Hillscape, with an original score by Dan Walker, celebrates regeneration.

Yolanda Lowatta, Pat Hayes-Cavanagh and Ashlee Bye in *Hillscape*, 2023. Photo: © Olivia Wikner

But on International Dance Day itself audiences will be able to see two of Canberra’s professional, independent dance artists in a one-off performance, Batchelor & Lea, at the Canberra Theatre. James Batchelor will present his Shortcuts to Familiar Places, a solo work that premiered recently in Europe and that focuses on Batchelor’s examination, over an extended period, of how dance styles are transferred across generations of performers. Liz Lea will reprise her outstanding production, Red. Red was first seen in Canberra in 2018. Since then the production has toured extensively overseas.

(left) James Batchelor in an early iteration of *Shortcuts to Familiar Places*, 2022. Photo: © Morgan Hickinbotham; (right) Liz Lea in a study for *Red*, 2016. Photo: © Nino Tamburri

Liz Lea in a study for a forthcoming show, 'RED'. Photo: © Nino Tamburri — (left) James Batchelor in an early iteration of *Shortcuts to Familiar Places*, 2022. Photo: © Morgan Hickinbotham; (right) Liz Lea in a study for *Red*, 2016. Photo: © Nino Tamburri

The choreography of both Batchelor and Lea will feature elsewhere during the week. Batchelor’s new work for Canberra’s mature-age dancers, the GOLDs, is Leaning Rippling, Breathing. It will be featured at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) on 7 May as a pop-up experience in relation to the NPG’s current exhibition ‘Portrait 23: Identity’. This new, short work is accompanied by an original sound design by Morgan Hickinbotham. It will also be seen in the break between the two works on the Batchelor & Lea program.

The GOLDs in a study for *Leaning, Rippling, Breathing*, 2023. Photo: © James Batchelor/Zander Porter

Lea’s Stellar Company, a multi-arts dance company working in an inclusive, intercultural. intergenerational capacity, is presenting an online version of its earlier program, A Stellar Lineup (2022), over a 24 hour period. Check the Dance Week calendar (link below) for further details.

The focus on inclusivity by Batchelor and Lea in Leaning, Rippling, Breathing and A Stellar Lineup highlights the strength of community dance in Canberra and there are a number of community activities included during the week (see below for calendar link). One major community feature will be the free classes being offered by ZEST Dance for Wellbeing. ZEST offers a movement experience for adults who want to keep their body and brain active and healthy, regardless of their mobility, skill or age. A leading teacher for the ZEST program, and in many ways responsible for the existence of Dance for Wellbeing programs in Canberra, Philip Piggin, spoke to me about his interest in pursuing these projects stressing the importance of giving everyone a chance to experience the benefits of dance to mind and body.

ZEST Dance for Wellbeing class. Photo: © Art Atelier

Included in the Dance Week lineup are many other open classes in a variety of techniques from a variety of dance schools and organisations including a Hungarian folk dance workshop from Compagnie József Trefeli and a Bharatanatyam workshop from Vaidehi Subfamanyan. For information about classes and a number of events not mentioned in this post, see the full Dance Week calendar at this link (with apologies for non-inclusion of a number of exciting initiatives).

Michelle Potter, 19 April 2023

Dance diary. December 2021

Season’s greetings

Thank you to all those who have accessed this website over 2021. Your loyalty is much appreciated and I look forward to your visits, and comments, in 2022. Happy New Year and here’s hoping there will be more live performances for us to see in 2022.

Dance and disability

Canberra has long had a strong and diverse dance program for those with a disability. Nowhere was this more clear than on 3 December, the International Day of People with a Disability—Australia. An event held at the National Portrait Gallery, led by Liz Lea, presented short works by various Canberra-based groups including ZEST—Dance for Parkinsons, the Deaf Butterflies Group and Lea’s new group, Chameleon Collective. As a particular highlight, a group of dancers from Canberra’s company of senior performers, the GOLDS, along with dancers from QL2 Dance and elsewhere also gave a performance as part of ON DISPLAY GLOBAL, a ‘human sculpture court’ initiative that began in 2015 in New York as part of a now-world-wide event celebrating the occasion.

A moment from the Canberra contribution to ON DISPLAY GLOBAL, 2021. Photo: Michelle Potter

‘In remembrance of times past’

When writing my post The Best of 2021 I used the phrase ’in remembrance of times past’ (a common translation of Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu). I used the phrase in a specific sense, one relating to changes in the way newspapers report (or don’t) on the arts these days. But shortly after using that phrase in my post, I chanced to come across some images taken in 2010 during a day spent in Auvers-sur-Oise in France. At the time we were there—just for a day to see the town where Vincent van Gogh spent his final days—a community dance group from Brittany was visiting. Here are some photos that date back to that day.

Breton dancers, Auvers-sur-Oise, France, 2010

That controversial ballet

Not so long ago I received a message in the contact box for this website about La Bayadère. In my Dance diary. July 2021 I had posted a piece about the ballet and the issues that were arising around the world, in particular in the United States, about the Indian context of that work. Well it seems that similar issues are now arising in Australia. The contact box message came from a member of the Hindu community in Australia and was similar in content to the comments that were circulating elsewhere in the world. In part the message I received said, ‘Hindus are urging “The Australian Ballet” to discard “La Bayadère” performance from its “Summertime Ballet Gala”; scheduled for February 17-19, 2022 in Melbourne; which they feel seriously trivializes Eastern religious and other traditions.’

I am, of course, curious to know if anything will eventuate, but I think it is important to add that it is The Kingdom of the Shades scene that is being presented in Melbourne, not the full-length Bayadère.

Michelle Potter, 31 December 2021

Featured image: Sulphur-crested cockatoos enjoying seeds in a Cootamundra Wattle tree, Canberra 2021