The idea of collaboration is at the very heart of dance. Today The Australian Ballet and dance innovators BalletLab announced they will join forces on a project to encourage dialogue between classical and contemporary dance. The end result? A new work, Aviary, choreographed by BalletLab Artistic Director Phillip Adams and danced by artists of both companies, including The Australian Ballet’s Rohan Furnell, Noah Gumbert and Jarryd Madden. The collaboration is made possible by a $30,000 grant from the Australia Council, with the finished work expected to premiere in 2011 after an 18-month gestation.
Adams first collaborated with The Australian Ballet in 2006 when he created a piece for Bodytorque. “This project is based on a structured studio exchange that articulates these relationships through practice with dancers from both companies,” he says. Here, Adams shares his early vision for his ‘Aviary’.
“The Aviary, and the eclectic menagerie which inhabit it, reflect my vision for creating a dance work for the caged bird (both real and metaphorical) set to music and sound influenced by the works of French composer Oliver Messiaen. Aviary is an homage to birds, feathers, flights and fantasy. The gilded birdcage is a rather magical setting, existing somewhere between reality and fantasy and never quite what it seems.
“Aviary’s choreographic narrative is presented in a fictitious Victorian Regency period that includes: the interior of a furnished English apartment, a forest and a shooting gallery inhabited by a dandy community of birds. The work is designed around a cyclorama of backdrops depicting aviary interiors and a multi sound installation of Messiaen’s recordings.
“Our project is a courageous extension into Melbourne’s vibrant dance community sure to offer curiosity and delight to a broad cross section of dance loves from both the classical and contemporary scene.”
