“Dancers are made to be on-stage,” said West Australian Ballet’s artistic director Aurélien Scannella at the company’s 2020 launch, and his program for next year certainly reflects that sentiment, with the company introducing a sixth season to its annual program. A seventh, in the form of a tour to China, is on the cards, subject to funding.
Entitled “State”, the new season will take place at WA’s State Theatre Centre in June. The theatre is known for its contemporary dance seasons, and in keeping with that theme, the program will be a contemporary triple bill, headlined by Graeme Murphy’s Air and Other Invisible Forces. Garry Stewart’s Reincarnation, created for WAB and Co3 for 2019’s Quarry season, will be remounted for this season, with a new duet Galatea and Pygmalion, by Hong Kong duo Justyne Li Sze Yeung and Wong Tan Ki, the program’s third work.
As always, WAB’s year will kick off with Ballet at the Quarry. This year’s contemporary mixed bill is called “Light and Shadow” and features the Australian premiere of Krzysztof Pastor’s In Light and Shadow, a new work by Dutch choreographer Wubkje Kuindersma (named by Dance Magazine as one of the "Top 25 to watch in 2019"), and a twenty minute excerpt from Murphy’s Air and Other Invisible Forces.
The ever popular dancer-choreographed season “Genesis” will follow in March, before May brings the Australian premiere of Javier Torres’ Sleeping Beauty. Remaining close to Marius Petipa’s 1890 version of the ballet, this work will contrast the two contemporary mix bills.
September will see the return of Krzysztof Pastor’s Dracula to His Majesty’s Theatre. Finally, the company will round out 2020 with a dual season that includes just 12 performances of Nutcracker that run alongside a Gala of excerpts from the company’s repertoire of classical, neoclassical and contemporary works.
For more info head to https://waballet.com.au/
Pictured top: Polly Hilton. Photo: Frances Andrijich.