How can you capture the essence of an emerald through dance? What about a ruby or a diamond? In their just-released 2023 program, The Australian Ballet has revealed it will attempt to do just this in its production of Jewels, a challenging, three-act ballet created by choreographer George Balanchine.
“It’s become a kind of rite of passage, I think, for any major company around the world,” says artistic director of The Australian Ballet, David Hallberg. “The first thing the Balanchine Trust asked me was: ‘Do you think The Australian Ballet is ready for this?’ Because it’s so big, it’s really complex, it’s really demanding. And, of course, the answer was ‘yes’.”
Coco Mathieson, Evie Ferris and Rohan Furnell from The Australian Ballet, dressed in clothing designed by Annette Sax and adornments created by Priscilla Reid-Loynes and Sarah Loynes.Credit:Justin McManus.
For The Australian Ballet’s 60th anniversary – appropriately, its diamond birthday – the program nods to the history of the company with classic works including Swan Lake and an adaptation of Don Quixote, a ballet production that was developed for the stage then immortalised in the 1973 film by Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Helpmann.
The 2023 production will use the same choreography as the original, but will be drawing from the “big and lush” aesthetics of the film for the set design. The film’s influence will be reflected in other ways, too.
“When the ballet starts, there’s this big, colourful, musical overture and we’re planning on having credits on a screen before the curtain goes up,” Hallberg says. “It’s a cheeky nod to the film version that has become so famous.”
Also on the program is Identity, a double-bill made up of two new works by Australian choreographers, one by Australian Dance Theatre’s Daniel Riley and another by the company’s resident choreographer, Alice Topp. Hallberg posed the question, “what does identity mean?” – with the response being delivered through dance.
Topp’s work looks at the identity of The Australian Ballet itself, and will bring together present day dancers from the company and dancers from the past. “For the ballet lovers, for the people that have really followed the company, there’s a lot of names coming back onto the stage,” says Hallberg.
Riley’s work, The Hum, takes a look at the artistic community. “He’s sort of asking himself what identity do we have in the theatre?,” Hallberg says.
The Hum will feature new music by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham and costumes by educator and designer Annette Sax.
Sax launched her clothing brand, wa~ring, this year at the Melbourne Fashion Festival and soon after that, Riley got in touch, having seen her designs on social media.
“I’m a Taungurung woman and we are the first peoples of the rivers and the mountains,” Sax explains. “We don’t see ourselves separate from the landscape, or our waterways; we’re into this interconnection.” Her clothes reflect this connection both in their structure and in the fabric itself. Some designs are screen-printed using paint mixed with ochre taken from Taungurung country, others from charcoal from fires on Wiradjuri country. She’s working closely with Riley and The Australian Ballet on the costumes for The Hum.
“There’s this overarching sense of collaboration with the artistic community, specifically the artistic community in Australia, because there’s so many fabulous creatives working in their respective fields that I think ping off each other when put together,” says Hallberg.
David Hallberg, artistic director of The Australian Ballet.Credit:Pierre Toussaint
While most of the shows in the program will tour, Melbourne and Sydney will each have exclusive events. In July, The Tokyo Ballet will make its Australian debut in a production of Giselle at the Arts Centre, while in November, The Dream and Marguerite and Armand will be performed at the Sydney Opera House.
For 2023, Hallberg says: “I am emphasising the ballet in our name.” Pointing to 2022 productions such as Kunstkamer and the upcoming Instruments of Dance, he reflects: “We do have this beautiful edge that we’re growing in repertoire and we’re pushing things further – but what I think needs equal spotlight is the fact that we are one of the world’s best ballet companies.”
The upcoming program asks a lot of the dancers, but he is excited about the challenge. “The repertoire is very demanding, very difficult, but I feel the dancers are ready.”
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