Bespoke Returns: Queensland Ballet’s Boldest Season Yet

Queensland Ballet’s acclaimed contemporary series Bespoke is set to return from 31 July to 9 August 2025 at the Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre. This year’s program is one of its most daring to date, showcasing bold new choreography and innovative collaborations that challenge the traditional boundaries of ballet.

Now in its eighth season, Bespoke continues to be a space for experimentation and fresh voices. The 2025 program features three world premieres by Amelia Waller, Yolande Brown and Robert Binet, each offering a unique artistic perspective.

Amelia Waller, a former soloist with Queensland Ballet and Leipzig Ballet, presents Curious Beings. Developed with acclaimed theatre-makers Dead Puppet Society, the work blends classical ballet technique with inventive puppetry. After its debut at the 2025 NOOSA alive! Festival, the piece arrives in Brisbane with a bold narrative that reimagines what ballet can be.

Canopy – Cool Burn by Yolande Brown draws on deep cultural knowledge and lived experience. A proud Bidjara woman and Bangarra Dance Theatre alumna, Brown has created a work that honours First Nations stories and Country. Developed with Butchulla Songman and composer Fred Leone, the piece is layered with movement, language and sound. “When you say the word traditional, it doesn't mean that it's stuck in the past. It is continually evolving,” says Brown.

Closing the program is Newborn Giants, a new creation by Robert Binet, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Fall for Dance North in Toronto. Developed with Professor Devon Healey, a theatre artist and academic in Disability Studies, the work includes Immersive Descriptive Audio (IDA). Designed to make the performance accessible for blind and low-vision audiences, the audio does more than describe — it becomes part of the sensory experience itself. “Both blindness and dance force you to engage with the sensorium in a really different way,” says Binet. “They encourage you to go beyond the assumptions of what you're seeing and really tap into imagination.”

Artistic Director Ivan Gil-Ortega describes the season as “a celebration of diverse choreographic voices. Bold, thought-provoking and unafraid to push boundaries.”

Bespoke is for audiences who are curious, adventurous and eager to experience dance from new angles. Tickets are available now through queenslandballet.com.au.