Ballet at the Quarry: Incandescence presented by West Australian Ballet
Quarry Amphitheatre
Saturday 7 February 2026
With four new works programmed by former guest artistic director David McAllister, West Australian Ballet’s Ballet at the Quarry: Incandescence is both an exciting and risky proposition.
First up is Once and Future, a contemporary ensemble ballet, by Melbourne-based choreographer Tim Harbour, exploring the idea that the past is present in our lives. At its centre is a hetero-couple (Alexa Tuzil and Juan Carlos Osma), haunted by the ghost of the female half’s past (Nikki Blain), who hovers at the edges of her alter-ego’s consciousness, occasionally propelling her way to the foreground.
Once and Future unfolds as a series of unsettling, dream-like vignettes, against appropriately discordant synthesised orchestral layers, created for this work by composer Ulrich Müller.
With no synopsis I found this plot-heavy work puzzling at times, but appreciated the sculptural pas de deux – beautifully danced by Osma with Tuzil or Blain – which arch and ripple with animal-like intensity. Reminiscent of modernist-machinery, the ensemble’s many filmic tableaux were also intriguing, interspersed with driving allegro phrases, and danced with verve.
Past and present collide once more in Paper Moon, a neoclassical work by WAB dancer Polly Hilton, which delves into our childhood dreams and the way these inform our path through life.
Reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s paper cut illustrations, with shadow puppetry evocatively lit by Damien Cooper, Paper Moon is inhabited by seven fairytale-like characters. As in Once and Future, this work appears to have a plot, but no synopsis, and again I found the storyline somewhat confusing.
The fragments, however, are whimsically entertaining. Set to Andrew Hewitt’s mechanical-sounding track Jill Tate, a crinoline-clad Kassidy Thompson captured the clockwork-nature of a solo that seems to be referencing Coppélia. In the role of a jester-like character, Adam Alzaim charmed, as always.
Designed to play with colour against the expansive night sky that completes Perth’s bush-framed Quarry Amphitheatre, WAB dancer Chihiro Nomura’s short classical work for five, Night Symphony Colours, felt like a palette cleanser ahead of the headlining finale.
To the orchestral pomp of turn-of-the-century composer Alexander Glazunov, Joshua Ballinger burst onto the stage in a stream of jetes, pas de chats and pirouettes. Resplendent in royal blue he was closely followed by Lucas McLean in purple, and together they were exhilarating to watch.
In hot pink and emerald green respectively, Asja Petrovski and Jack Whiter’s opening pas de deux was performed with the glamour of a Hollywood classic, while Indi Drew channelled bird-like speed and accuracy in her entrance.
Together, this ensemble gave a joyful performance of a work that feels like a celebration of classical ballet. Night Symphony Colours isn’t innovative, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for with vibrancy.
As one might expect, it was the headline work, Incandescence, that proved to be the program’s highlight, metaphorically but also visually.
Choreographed by internationally-renowned London-born choreographer Ihsan Rustem, Incandescence is an abstract contemporary ballet that takes as its starting point the concept its title describes – the play of light in space. Slicing the air with two illuminated diagonal lines, Damien Cooper’s light installation glows and pulses throughout.
From Declan Daines’ fluid opening solo, which morphs into a duet with Mayume Noguromi whose undulations are matched by David Lang’s choral arrangement, every moment of this work is mesmerising, in terms of both choreography and performance.
To the cool tones of Tori Amos Bells for Her, Dayana Hardy Acuña and Heath Kolka’s duet had an origami-like quality, with lifts composed of complex and precise folds.
An audience favourite was Charles Dashwood and Ludovico Di Ubaldo’s sensually pouring and rolling duet to Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.
And when the ensemble of 20 come together, to the minor key Crabtree Remix of Blondie’s Heart of Glass that distills the original pop classic into a heartbreaking lament, the effect somehow remains stripped back. The dancers morph from small ensemble vignettes that collapse and reform, into unison movement that slices and trickles.
Incandescence ensures that Quarry audiences will walk away glowing.
-Nina Levy
Ballet at the Quarry: Incandescence continues at the Quarry Amphitheatre until 28 February 2026.