The new Melbourne City Ballet opened its second season for 2015 last night – a presentation of new choreography named “Exhale”.
The varied program consists of four works by company members. The first, Ciranda, by the company’s ballet mistress, Iona Marques, pays tribute to her Brazilian heritage, and is performed in saucer-like tutus to a collage of traditional Brazilian music and percussion. This is followed by a pas de deux called Arachnid, choreographed by MCB artistic director Michael Pappalardo, exploring the fatal relationship between the Black Widow spider and her prey. Students from Melbourne City Ballet’s Finishing Year are showcased in a more contemporary work, Grind, jointly choreographed by Pappalardo and Yuiko Masukawa. This is followed by Caruso, which uses the voice and actual footage of the legendary singer as the backdrop to a neo-classical suite of dances, choreographed by Brendan Bradshaw.
MCB has only been around since 2013, evolving out of the Melbourne City Youth Ballet into a full-time company with premises in inner-city Brunswick. The ensemble presently consists of 10 professional dancers and two trainee artists, with an additional 11 Finishing Year students. The company is entirely self-funded, and has secured an impressive number of sponsors and business partners.
Despite its youth, MCB has a packed schedule for 2015. It has already performed Coppelia and will next perform a reimagined version of La Boutique Fantasque. In August it will present A Midsummer Night’s Dream and another yet to be announced production. It is also taking its version of Carmen on tour to Victorian regional centres. In addition, the Youth Ballet is performing Alice in Wonderland in July.
Exhale runs until May 17 at the Metanoia Theatre, Mechanics Institute, Brunswick.
For more details see here.
Photo: Kealy Fouracre in 'Arachnid'.