Monthly Archives: June 2010

In the almost 50 years The Australian Ballet has been rehearsing, touring and performing, there’s invariably been a photographer on the sidelines.

Filed away in the archives of The Australian Ballet and beyond are tens of thousands of images, taken in dressing rooms, rehearsal studios, theatres, and on tour – backdrops are as magnificent as the Great Wall of China, as humble as the Ballet’s first home, a disused ladies college, and as unexpected as the ocean floor of Coogee Beach.

As our 50th birthday in 2012 draws closer, we’ll be sharing some of the best images on Behind Ballet, many of which have never been published before.

The question is, what’s your favourite image of The Australian Ballet? Leave a comment below!

Image: Artists of The Australian Ballet in The Lady and the Fool, 1962. Photography by Darryl Smythe.

30 June 2010

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On tour with Woody

By Behind Ballet

The Dancers Company

The Dancers Company’s touring truck driver might be ballet’s most enthusiastic fan. Woody of Doser Freight Forwarding drives his truck, loaded with tutus, scenery and props, for over 8,000km around Australia every year. In 2010 he is especially excited because the regional touring company will perform Don Quixote, his favourite ballet of all time. We caught up with Woody and asked him how much he’s looking forward to hitting the road.

How long have you been driving The Dancers Company truck?
This is my 13^th or 14^th tour.

Do you remember your first tour?
It was brilliant! I didn’t drive a semitrailer; it was a rigid truck. So it was smaller and didn’t bend in the middle or carry as much. So that made it easy. The first tour was great. I remember most of the places we went to.

Do you get a chance to see the ballet performances?
I do – I love it. I get to see them from all angles, and I get to stand backstage. And I go in the auditorium as well. It sounds funny – a truck driver enjoying ballet – doesn’t it?

And what’s the best ballet you’ve seen on The Dancers Company tour?
By far Don Quixote, which is what they’re performing this year. I love the characterisations. The first time I saw it David McAllister performed as a guest artist and I’ll never forget it. It was just brilliant.

How many kilometres do you travel on The Dancers Company?
Around 8,000km. (more…)

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The Ballets Russes and an artist in bloom

By Annie Carroll

Ballets Russes

Rupert Bunny’s paintings glow with the kind of luminous energy that could only derive from a young Australian residing in Paris at the turn of the 20^th century. His work is so sumptuous that at times it’s easy to forget his humble beginnings in 19^th Century St Kilda. At barely 20 years old Bunny left the brown earth of Victoria for a more cosmopolitan European culture, quickly aligning himself with the Parisian art scene. Bunny received the most recognition and critical acclaim of any Australian artist of his time and it’s not difficult to see why. Rupert Bunny: artist in Paris, currently showing at the National Gallery of Victoria, exhibits Bunny’s exquisite range of work, from delicate depictions of mythological sea-idylls to his vibrant and richly saturated danse chromatique series.

His early work displays atmospheric light that lends itself to strong poetic feeling. Pastoral demonstrates Bunny’s skill in creating large-scale mythological work. The dream-like quality of the painting is accentuated through the use of faded pastel tones and poppies (a symbol of sleep). In many of Bunny’s earlier works, red flowers can be seen scattered on the ground. The bright bursts of colour stand out from the peachy melons and soft turquoises he was using at the time. In Endormies, one of Bunny’s most ambitious works, light falls on the subjects like dappled sunlight shining through summer blooms.

In 1909, impresario Sergei Diaghilev collaborated with revolutionary artists such as Picasso, Stravinksy and Nijinsky, shocking the world with his dazzling new dance troupe the Ballets Russes. In 1913, Bunny, like everyone else, watched in awe at the profound affect the premiere of Nijinsky’s Rite Of Spring had on the Parisian public. Influenced also by Matisse and Gauguin, it was at this time that Bunny began to reinvent himself as a modern artist. (more…)

29 June 2010

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Ask Colin: flat feet

By Colin Peasley

Ask Colin

Dear Colin,
My daughter loves ballet and would love to be a professional dancer one day. However she worries her dream may never come true, because she has fallen arches (flat feet). She works very hard to correct them through strengthening exercises, wearing orthotics in her shoes, etc. Do you know of any professional ballet dancers who have this problem?
Kind Regards,
Kate Salmon

Dear Kate,
Yes, The Australian Ballet does from time to time have dancers with fallen arches. One of our current coryphée dancers wears orthotic supports in her street shoes and, like your daughter, works hard to strengthen her feet. Although it is a problem, she is now more aware of how she uses her feet at all times. I would think this is an advantage in the long run. So encourage your daughter to continue following her dream.
All the best,
Colin

You can email your ballet questions to Colin at hello@behindballet.com

Photography James Braund

28 June 2010

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Primary motivations: a Q&A with Stephen Baynes

By Behind Ballet

Edge of night, From the studio

Stephen Baynes’ ballets are famously beautiful, often exploring themes of memory, love and loss. In the ’80s, Dame Peggy van Praagh encouraged the Adelaide-born dancer to flex his choreographic muscle. Today, Stephen is The Australian Ballet’s resident choreographer and has worked with companies worldwide. Edge of night features two beloved works by Stephen. In the first of two interviews, we chat to Stephen about Rachmaninov, writers’ block and his achingly romantic At the edge of night.

You’ve used the Rachmaninov score to inspire your choreography in At the edge of night. Does the choreography come before the music or the music before the choreography?
Never the choreography before the music. It’s usually a matter of finding a piece of music or knowing a piece of music. Apart from a couple of commissioned scores where there’s been an idea, and the music has been written after that idea, the music is always the primary motivation for the choreography.

If you could ask Rachmaninov one question, what would it be?
I’d ask him how personal his Preludes [the music used in At the edge of night] are to him. Are they autobiographical in any way? I’m sure that’s not something he’d let on! There’s a certain dialogue in them; each of them paint a little picture and set a mood. I sometimes think about the way music assists film – it does the same for choreography. So you imagine a scene, a story, a mood or an atmosphere in the music.

What are the kinds of feelings you want the dancers to communicate on stage?
Each of the Preludes are a little different. The ballet is very oblique, and very cryptic. It’s about a woman looking back on her past. But it’s left open for interpretation; I left it open deliberately. It’s mostly pas de deux, so they naturally have a romantic feel about them. One pas de deux features a dancer who’s an idyllic youth, in the bloom of first love. Another is parting. And another is just a memory. So they have their own stories. (more…)

25 June 2010

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Flashback: a legendary pair

By Isabel Dunstan

Flashback, Peggy

After dancing together for the first time, Rudolf Nureyev dropped to his knees and kissed Margot Fonteyn on the hand during the curtain call. The audience roared. From this moment, Nureyev and Fonteyn became a celebrity dance partnership. In a documentary about the couple, Nureyev said they danced with “one body, one soul”.

As part of her five point plan for The Australian Ballet, founding Artistic Director Peggy van Praagh was determined to present the world’s best dancers to Australian audiences. In 1964 she invited Nureyev and Fonteyn to dance the title roles in Giselle. Fonteyn had performed in Australia in 1957 with the Borovansky Ballet but, for Nureyev, dancing on the Australian stage was a new experience.

In an article tracing the history of international ballet dancers visiting Australia, published in The Age in 1964, Geoffrey Hutton described Nureyev and Fonteyn as: “… probably the most highly priced dancers in the world; Fonteyn the pride of the British ballet who has queened it for a generation; Nureyev the sensational young male dancer from the Leningrad Kirov who has brought a new sense of excitement into the Western ballet.” (more…)

23 June 2010

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