The Australian Ballet School: The Snow Queen -
Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse, 14 December -
An abundance of freshness and verve was evident from the young dancers in the Australian Ballet School's graduate performance of The Snow Queen. Since 1993, Petal Miller-Ashmole's ballet has been seen regularly and provides a vehicle for senior students to attack a full-length work. Filled with everything you could expect from a fairy-tale ballet, students were given a chance to interpret various roles and put their technical prowess on display.
Final year students made the most of their performance opportunity and were featured in leading roles. These roles highlighted contrasting 'types' in the traditional ballet format, from young sweethearts separated by a cruel enchantment, to the cool, elegant Snow Queen herself and the lively and colourful Robber Girl. Emma McFarlane was sweet and crisp in her interpretation of Gerda and a pleasure to watch. She also showed tenderness in her delicate presentation. Her Kai, Simon Plant, was strong, purposeful as well as playful. The Snow Queen as danced by Sasha Moffat was suitably icy and composed and had a good, commanding presence. She demonstrated lovely balances and purity of line. The Robber Girl is a nice, meaty role for a dancer to unleash her attack and show some cheeky flourishes. Kirby Selchow brought all of the necessary feist to the part and was particularly impressive in her jumps and turns. The role of the reindeer, although having some importance in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale is realised awkwardly in choreographic terms. Samuel Pereira none the less managed to display some elegant technique in spite of the oddness of the movement style used.
Ensemble work from levels 5-7 as townsfolk, gypsy robbers and ice men and maidens was beautifully executed and very well disciplined. Gerda's friends (predominantly level 8) were precise and charming; gypsy robbers, fun and dramatic. The ice maidens were clean and lovely to watch while imps were suitably mischievous. The female townsfolk looked well capable of dancing on pointe but I am sure that there was a good reason for having them on demi-pointe. Costuming was generally effective and interesting with the 'real' and the enchanted characters starkly contrasted.
The Snow Queen is now a standard in the ABS repertoire and has a lineage of its own. It is an appropriate and pleasant ballet rather than an exciting or astonishing one. Having said that, it is a piece that facilitates a showing of students in their traditional classical practice. As such, The Snow Queen is a fitting and celebratory valedictory for the graduating dancers.
- SUSAN BENDALL