West Australian Ballet will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2027 with a tribute to founder Madame Kira Bousloff OAM, three West Australian premieres and the Australian premiere of Scottish Ballet’s The Snow Queen.
“Our 75th anniversary is about honouring our past without being held by it. I don’t see it as a collection of ballets, I see it as a conversation across generations. It’s about taking everything that is wonderful about this company, its history, its resilience, its sense of place, and celebrating the extraordinary people who will take it forward from here,” says Artistic Director Leanne Stojmenov.
The year opens with Ballet at the Quarry: Kira at the Quarry Amphitheatre, City Beach, from 5 to 27 February. The program includes Les Sylphides, Bousloff’s favourite ballet, which she staged for the company’s first Perth Festival appearance in 1955, three years after founding WAB. Alongside it is the West Australian premiere of Stanton Welch’s Divergence. Welch brings another connection to the company’s history: he is the son of former WAB Artistic Director Garth Welch.
Two further West Australian premieres follow in The Dream & Forgotten Land at His Majesty’s Theatre from 14 to 29 May, with West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Sir Frederick Ashton’s one-act adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be presented as part of the international Ashton Worldwide 2024–2028 festival. The double bill pairs it with Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land, in the year of the choreographer’s 80th birthday.
The company’s season of new choreography, Genesis, moves to Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia from 24 June to 3 July. Having outgrown its original home at the West Australian Ballet Centre and moved to Dolphin Theatre in 2026, the program will take its intimate, experimental work to a wider audience at the new venue.
Greg Horsman’s Coppélia returns to His Majesty’s Theatre from 3 to 18 September, with West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His Australian setting takes the classic comedy to 19th-century Hahndorf, South Australia, complete with mechanical dolls, mistaken love and AFL. The ballet has a long history with WAB: Bousloff commissioned a version in 1956, while Chrissie Parrott’s 1998 interpretation included pink barbecues.
The anniversary year closes with The Snow Queen at His Majesty’s Theatre from 19 November to 12 December, accompanied by West Australian Philharmonic Orchestra. Created by Scottish Ballet Artistic Director Christopher Hampson, the production draws on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, which also inspired Disney’s Frozen. It will be the first Scottish Ballet production presented by WAB.
Executive Director Lauren Major says the anniversary also recognises the people who have supported the company over its 75 years.
“Seventy-five years is an extraordinary achievement, and one that belongs to everyone who has played a part in the company’s story,” Major says.
Season packages go on sale on 14 October 2026, with single tickets available from 28 October. For details, visit West Australian Ballet.