Monthly Archives: April 2009

After the knock-out performance of Divergence, The Australian Ballet was invited back to So You Think You Can Dance to present a pas de deux from Nutcracker – The Story of Clara on the grand finale. Artistic Director David McAllister blogs about the experience.

Well, Sunday dawned and as can happen on a designated day off, I woke up early and filled with purpose to get domestic. With all of the appliances working for me (dishwasher, washing machine and vacuum with me attached) I was a whirlwind of Domestos, Windex and elbow grease to tidy up my Sydney flat. By 11:30am I had done a trip to the Supermarket (a Sunday morning ritual) and raced around the QVB and surrounding shops finding little gifts for Nutcracker opening night, and was on the train bound for Redfern and a day rubbing shoulders with the So You Think You Can Dance crew. (more…)

29 April 2009

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Flashback, Marilyn Jones 1962

By Jasmin Tulk

Flashback

Principal ballerina Marilyn Jones photographed by Darryl Smythe in 1962. Ms Jones will return to The Australian Ballet’s stages to perform the role of Clara the Elder in Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara, playing in Sydney from 28 April – 18 May and Melbourne from 5-18 June

27 April 2009

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A whole new Nutcracker

By Yosvani Ramos

From the studio

Principal Artist Yosvani Ramos talks about the particular pleasures of Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara

Being with English National Ballet for nine years, I did The Nutcracker every Christmas for almost a decade. It’s a big tradition in England, and even though I did two different productions in the course of those nine years, they were both pretty traditional. That’s why I’m so excited about performing in Graeme Murphy’s version. It’s completely different to any of the Nutcrackers I’ve danced before. Instead of dancing the standard Sugar Plum Prince, in this version I’m taking on the role of the Doctor/Solider/Lover. It’s fantastic, because the doctor is a very normal person, very human, but then you become the Soldier/Lover, which is much more balletic. There’s such a contrast.

Janet [Vernon] and Graeme really want the doctor to walk and act like a normal person. Funnily enough, I find this really hard because I’m used to walking on stage like a dancer – I will get it before the show!

The other thing that I love about Graeme’s production is the Australian flavour and of course the beautiful pas de deuxs. I’m suffering a bit at the moment because there’s some really tricky lifts, but rehearsals with Graeme and Janet have been great. They know what they want, and they know how to get it from you, but always in the nicest way so you want to give them your best. I’m really looking forward to the shows next week. It’s been hard rehearsing Nutcracker during the day and performing Firebird and other legends at night, but now Firebird has closed, I say bring on Nuts!

Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara opens in Sydney on 28 April and plays at the Opera House until 18 May. It then goes to Melbourne from 5-18 June

24 April 2009

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“Mama, mama, caviar, caviar!”

By Isabel Dunstan

Books

When George Balanchine was a child he would cry, “Mama, Mama, caviar, caviar!” But Russian caviar cost ten rubles a pound so poor George had to wait. Tanaquil Le Clercq, Balanchine’s former wife, remembers his favourite snack: the caviar sandwich. Take one-half of an untoasted Thomas’ English Muffin, cover it generously with sweet butter, say about a quarter of an inch, spread a layer of excellent black caviar over the butter, at least one inch thick, and cover with the other half of the muffin. “If you can’t afford lots of caviar,” he said, “better to forget the whole thing.”

Sir Frederick Ashton would often meet with Balanchine and Le Clercq in New York and share good food and fond stories. Tanaquil recorded Ashton’s favourite recipes, which varied from New York-style vichysoisse, to avocado and walnut sandwiches. Apparently he could have been famous for his beefsteak pudding if it had not been for ballet. To Sir Fred, choreography and cooking require a similar technical aesthetic. “A good ballet is only a good ballet,” he said, “when all the ingredients are right and, like a cake, unless there is enough baking powder it doesn’t rise.”

The Ballet Cook Book, 1966
By Tanaquil Le Clerq

Photography Jasmin Tulk

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All That Jazz (1979)

By Martyn Pedler

Film

With Beyoncé Knowles’ smash hit Single Ladies drawing inspiration from the legendary Bob Fosse, there’s no better time to revisit one of the strangest autobiographies ever committed to film. Fosse’s All That Jazz follows the last days his barely-veiled stand-in, Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), as he attempts to put on a major Broadway show while paying the price of cigarettes, amphetamines, and women.

Fosse happily mocks himself and his choreographic trademarks like splayed fingers, staccato movements, and an obsession with sexuality – especially during one hilariously smutty number. Other performances, however, are integrated casually into Gideon’s life story: sparring with his daughter as they improvise, or arguing with his ex-wife during her rehearsals.

Gideon’s inner landscape is depicted through a Felliniesque backstage, where he flirts with a cryptic blonde named Angelique (Jessica Lange) – who seems to be the Angel of Death. The fantasy sequences increase as Gideon’s health fails, reaching a spectacular peak as he directs his own hospital song-and-dance hallucinations during open heart surgery.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, All That Jazz is both audacious and indulgent, self-aggrandising and self-loathing in equal measure. Fosse once said that “I’ll have to be dead to find out if I’m any good.” Perhaps that’s why he sent out a fictional doppelganger to take the bullet for him.

21 April 2009

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Remaking Nutcracker

By Vicki Car

Costume

The Australian Ballet’s Head of Millinery, Vicki Car, investigates the curious case of the Nutcracker costumes

After weeks of sorting, cleaning, re-making, repairing, stretching up, padding down and what feels like endless, endless re-labelling, Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker has gone. Packed into touring crates and headed for Sydney.

It’s been quite an undertaking. A lot of what made Kristian Fredrikson’s designs so beautifully rich and detailed were the little bits and pieces that he had collected over the years on his travels. He would bring in a piece of antique jet or lace and it would find its way onto a coat or a hat.