The Australian Ballet launched its 50th anniversary last week with a program that both acknowledges its past as well as peeks into the future.
The past will be represented with a number of ballets that are regarded as landmarks in the company’s development. A triple bill called Icons, held in Melbourne and Sydney, will include The Display (choreographed by former artistic director Robert Helpmann in 1964), Glen Tetley’s Gemini (a world premiere in 1973) and Beyond 12 (one of Graeme Murphy’s most beloved and quintessential Australian works).
John Cranko’s dramatic ballet Onegin is another highlight, and will be performed in Sydney in May and Melbourne in June/July.
Two other major classical works will be presented. Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet, which was presented in Melbourne and Sydney this year, will be performed in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. And a new version of the traditional Swan Lake, created by artistic director David McAllister and resident choreographer Stephen Baynes, will premiere in Melbourne and Sydney.
Looking to the future, a triple bill of new works by Graeme Murphy, Gideon Obarzanek and Stephen Page is scheduled for Melbourne in March and Sydney in April.
No ballet anniversary is complete without a gala, and the AB is having two. The first, to held in June in Melbourne, is an inclusive affair, sharing the celebration by having guests performing from dance companies from other states. The West Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre, Dance North, Expressions Dance Company and Tasdance will all make an appearance, while the AB will present a new work by Tim Harbour.
The second gala, held for five nights only in Melbourne in November, will include international guest artists from companies “who have been allies over the years”, says McAllister. These are still to be confirmed, but will include the National Ballet of China, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Royal Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet. The AB will perform one-act showcase, Etudes, by Harald Lander.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the AB will also tour to New York in June, taking Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake and a triple bill.
“The AB is always being referred to as young, energetic, and new on the world stage, and there’s always this imagery around youth,” McAllister says. “And I actually think that at 50 you can’t call yourself new and evolving. At some stage you have to put your stake in the ground and say, we’ve been here for 50 years and we have a maturity and a really clear sense of who we are.”