Louise Bezzina’s swan song for her tenure as Artistic Director for Brisbane Festival has brought LA Dance Project’s contemporary ballet trilogy, Gems, to the QPAC Playhouse Theatre stage. Choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, LA Dance Project’s Artistic Director, known for his choreography of Black Swan and the ‘sandwalk’ in Dune, Gems is a 21st century reimagining of the ideas behind Balanchine’s iconic work Jewels. In collaboration with and supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, the very same jewellers who helped birth Balanchine’s Jewels, Gems triptych is presented together in its full glory for the first time on the QPAC stage: quite an honour for Brisbane Festival.
The first act, Reflections, inspired by Rubies, opens with a quiet duet. This is an ambitious way to open a full-length work, but the dancers, especially Daphne Fernberger, captivate us. The quiet, solo piano, with its embraces of silence paired with stillness on stage, transported us from the grand proscenium arch of the Playhouse Theatre to a small, intimate black box, where we could hear the dancers breathe and the sound of their feet on the tarkett, which displayed the instantly iconic visual concept by Barbara Kruger. Movements of solos and duets, some to silence, most to the simple, beautiful piano composition of David Lang, culminated in the full cast of five exploring themes of tenderness and relationships. The mood of this act was simple and tender, although it could be said that there was not enough energy in the choreography to sustain its length.
Unfortunately, during the matinee performance on Saturday, the 6th of September, one of the dancers was injured, and it was announced in the first interval that the remainder of the show would be a modified version. Despite this, the dancers did exceptionally well. We were later informed in the post-show Q&A that we missed out on two duets; however, this was not noticeably lacking, a testament to the beauty of the choreography that was presented.
Act 2, Hearts & Arrows, was inspired by Diamonds, and featured a string quartet from Camerata, Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, playing music by Philip Glass. The curtain opened to a set of old theatre lights, embracing an industrial aesthetic. The choreography was reminiscent of a work that New York City Ballet might present, with bright energy that sparkled like a diamond. Short divertissements were divided by blackouts, each one increasing the sharpness of its movement until the legs and smother were flown out and the entire stage was revealed, a la In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and formations took on the shape of an exquisitely cut diamond.
The third act, On the Other Side, closed out the performance with its inspiration from Emeralds, with piano music again by Philip Glass. If one word could describe this act, it would be beautiful. The dancers were petals being tossed on the breeze. The backdrop, by Mark Bradford, transported us to a spring day, with evocative lighting by Masha Tsimring that emotionally guided us to that day. The jewel in the crown of On the Other Side was a solo by Courtney Conovan, which ended in the full cast coming together in synced breath like a field of clover in a spring breeze. This act also featured a tender male-male duet, and a sensitive, playful female-female duet.
It was refreshing to see contemporary dance that embraced the line and linear aesthetic that the human body is capable of. Similarly, it was also refreshing to see ballet that embraced our humanity and a grounded gentleness. Contemporary ballet allows this exploration of linear balletic aesthetic without the boundaries of needing to impersonate a prince, princess, or apparitional being. The dancers could simply be human, with all the beauty and entanglements that this entails. This modernisation of the balletic aesthetic is not often explored and developed in new works in Australia, where our major companies are often forced to focus on retaining audiences with the safety of well-explored styles and stories. It is a privilege that Brisbane Festival has imported a contemporary ballet work that explores this aesthetic, so we, as Australian audiences, are still connected to the rest of the world.
As the flagship dance show of the 2025 Brisbane Festival, it is unclear whether Gems successfully built on the legacy of the iconic historic work Jewels. However, I do agree that expanding on this 20th century work with a 21st century contemporary ballet form is a valuable goal.
As aesthetically pleasing as this work was, with its balletic sensibilities, one could argue that, in this age, art needs to be more than just aesthetic for aesthetics' sake. However, Gems makes a fine argument that the enjoyment of aesthetics and the pleasure that this brings is enough. Sometimes art doesn’t need to solve the world’s problems; sometimes art can simply be about disappearing into a theatre and enjoying something beautiful. Is this enough to retain and sustain our audiences of today?
-Caitlin Halmarick