Signature Works
The Regent Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday 28th February 2026
La Bayadere (Petipa); Flames of Paris (Vainonen); This Moment (Masukawa); Grand Pas Classique (Gsovsky); Morpheus’ Dream (Goecke); Grande Tarantella (Bourke); Ballet Imperial (Balanchine).
Signature Works marked the return of The Australian Ballet to The Regent Theatre for the year. Featuring seven different pieces spanning the classical, neo-classical, and contemporary spectrum, Signature Works showed off the diversity of the company's repertoire, its range of talented dancers, and the stylistic breadth of ballet today.
The program opened with “Kingdom of the Shades”, an excerpt from 19th-century Russian choreographer’s Marius Petipa's La Bayadere. “Shades” is a notoriously challenging corps de ballet piece, requiring absolute formal and rhythmic synchronicity while still maintaining ghostly softness. The Australian Ballet corps rose to this challenge well, listening to each other's movements and fighting for moments of perfect group unison. The pas de trois of Katherine Sonnekus, Precious Adams, and Rina Nemoto was graceful, technical, and perfectly in sync. Davi Ramos as Solor and Dimity Azoury as Nikiya were strong in their interpretation of the principal couple. Ramos’ smooth power was captivating, gliding across the stage with aplomb and luxuriously extending developpés to their furthest point. Azoury, having just returned to the stage post maternity leave, was every bit the ethereal and poised ballerina.
Following was Flames of Paris, a gala favourite I’m familiar with from Varna and YAGP Youtube videos but had yet to see offline. This was a fun addition to the program, and Yuumi Yamada and Cameron Holmes brought energy and excitement to the stage. While Yamada’s technique was flawless, her precise movements lacked the cheeky bravado needed to activate the choreography. Holmes, on the other hand, relinquished technical control in favour of playful pyrotechnics - an invigorating approach which prevented the classical piece from drifting into dusty territory.
The newest choreography of the evening came from Melbourne-based choreographer Yuiko Masekawa, whose dreamy visual concept for This Moment was a program highlight. Costume, lighting, and movement quality were so beautifully married that the work felt like a tapestry of rippling fabric. Dancers Henry Berlin, Jeremy Hargreaves, Amy Ronnfeldt, and Alexandra Walton seamlessly interwove forms, melting and folding into one another in continuous poetry. The work's tonal scheme of cream, dusty pink and stoney grey created a melancholic fantasy.
Offering peak glittery orthodoxy was Grand Pas Classique, a pas de deux from 1949 by Russian emigré Victor Gvosky, performed in Signature Works by Benedicte Bemet and Chengwu Guo. Bringing together imperial ballet tradition with French post-war bombast, the piece is so saturated in poise, drama and virtuosity as to border on the camp. Both Bemet and Guo rose to the occasion, meticulously tackling the work’s technical demands. However, the performance felt almost academic, perhaps allowing concentration to overtake the frivolity at the heart of such a glamorous work.
The choreographic highlight of the evening was the excerpt of Marco Goecke’s Morpheus’ Dream, a recent addition to the company repertoire. Mio Bayly and Matthew Paten excelled in this challenging and highly abstract work. Imbuing angular and violent movement with poetry, both artists revealed the emotional depth of Goecke’s controlled choreographic forms.
Closing the first half of the program was Grande Tarantella. Created by former principal artist Walter Bourke and immortalised by David McAllister and Elizabeth Toohey, Tarantella is an important piece in The Australian Ballet’s history and an enjoyable peasant pas de deux. Whilst performed well by Samara Merrick and Harrison Bradley, the placement of this work at the end of an already long first act, following the experimental Morpheus’ Dream, was jarring and confusing. Until that point of the evening, I had appreciated the oscillations between historical and contemporary, but the sharp shift from Goeke to Bourke left a strange taste in the mouth that lessened the impact of both experiences.
Bookending the evening was Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, a homage to Petipa and Tchaikovsky and a suitable conclusion for a program that opened with Petipa’s La Bayadere. Unsurprisingly, Balanchine’s tribute to regal Russia did not disappoint - choreography was complex and intricate, the corps de ballet bourréd gracefully through shifting collective forms, and principal couple Robyn Hendricks and Joseph Caley danced with poise and self-assuredness.
Overall, Signature Works was a program full of sparkling classicism, technical virtuosity, experimental forms, and sophisticated artistry. However, despite the program’s strengths, an emphasis on technique over presence was felt throughout the evening, with a focus on formal correctness foregrounding ballet’s stiff academic tendencies over its potential for emotional impact. In establishing themselves as an internationally acclaimed company, it would be much more interesting to see the skilled dancers of The Australian Ballet lean into the magic of performance and sacrifice a perfectly executed step for a deeply felt moment. Nonetheless, Signature Works demonstrated the excellence in technique and artistry the company is pursuing and set the bar high for the year to come.
-Belle Beasley
Signature Works played at The Regent Theatre from February 28th till March 1st, 2026. Opening on March 12th is Flora, by Francis Rings. Tickets available here.