Since joining The Australian Ballet 15 years ago, Principal Artist Olivia Bell has performed many powerful lead roles: Clara’s dream ballerina the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, the warrior-like Flavia in Spartacus and the duplicitous Manon. After a short hiatus, Olivia returns to The Australian Ballet to perform the leading lady in red in Stephen Baynes’ At the edge of night. As she prepares for the role, Olivia shares some of her favourite performances to date.
The Nutcracker, Sugar Plum Fairy
Tchaikovsky’s score makes this magical ballet a favourite of mine. The Sugar Plum Fairy solo in act two is one of ballet’s most recognised pieces of music and, for me, epitomises the music of mystical dancing fairies. I have one particularly special memory of performing this role at the Sydney Opera House with my family in the audience as I was promoted to principal artist and presented flowers on stage by my husband, Nicholas. A moment I hold close to my heart.
Other Dances
This is a pas de deux choreographed by Jerome Robbins originally for Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, two of my all-time favourite dancers. I was plucked from the corps de ballet to perform this ballet. It contains all the elements I love about dancing. The dance gradually builds up in intensity and technical complexity until it finally explodes in a flourish of fluid and luxurious movements. It also combines subtle Russian undertones that reflect my heritage. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the beginning of August, and you all know what that means: another comment of the month giveaway! Leave a comment on any blog piece throughout August and go in the running to win a copy of former Principal Artist Lynette Wills’ gorgeous book of candid photographs taken in rehearsal studios, dressing rooms and side of stage.
Congratulations to Katherine who responded to Robert Curran’s top pas de deux with fascinating thoughts on how emotions are conveyed through classical dance. You’ve won a poster from The Australian Ballet Shop!
“Pas de deux are the best part of my job. Dancing with someone, together, is a kind of special that words cannot describe.” Robert Curran
A steamy seduction between young lovers. A tragic duet ending in death and love lost. A powerful partnership in which dancers reach monumental heights of physical ability. Pas de deux, French for ‘dance for two’, come in many forms and Principal Artist Robert Curran can’t dance enough of them. In no particular order, these are three of Robert’s favourites. The duet above is from Kenneth MacMillan’s smouldering ballet Manon. Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve made it half way through 2010, and we’re celebrating with another comment of the month giveaway! Comment on blog articles during the month of July for your chance to win a poster featuring Luke Ingham in full flight and Vivienne Wong en pointe wearing adorable sporty shorts.
Comments flooded in during the month of June, but we can’t go past Behind Ballet regular Alice who shared how much she is looking forward to Tim Harbour’s mainstage debut. Congratulations, Alice!
Luke Ingham and Vivienne Wong. Photograph by Jean Francois Campos
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.
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 13th or 14th 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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Principal Artist Rachel Rawlins declares, “Success is the best revenge,” revealing that as a ten year old she was told: “you’re too short to be a dancer”.
Rachel’s revelation during a scheduled Q&A session opens the floodgates to a stream of anecdotes at Hamilton Island’s qualia resort on the eve of the spectacular Pas De Deux in Paradise, a showcase of some of the most beautiful classic and contemporary pas de deux in a unique and breathtaking outdoor setting.
Rachel wasn’t the only one sharing thoughts, fears and aspirations with a captivated crowd that listened while devouring a divine dinner of smoked mackerel, lamb loin and layered Valrhona chocolate with caramel candied almonds. Principal Artists Lucinda Dunn and Robert Curran and Senior Artist Andrew Killian were also fielding questions, perched on stools at the resort’s Long Pavilion restaurant.
Lipstick, perfume and a Tic Tac are Lucinda’s three pre-performance must-haves. Andrew describes the painstaking hours spent pinning up his shoulder-length hair before each performance for five years. “Since I’ve cut it, better roles have come along,” he grins. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the first of June, which means another Comment of the Month competition on Behind Ballet! Just leave a comment on any Behind Ballet piece throughout June, and you’ll go in the draw to win a copy of our new Divergenceposter signed by Coryphée Robyn Hendricks. We’ll announce the winner here on 1 July.
Last month saw an explosion of comments on Behind Ballet, which made choosing May’s winner very difficult indeed, but we loved Steve’s rumination on Coppélia’s tricky Mazurka. Congratulations, Steve!
Image: Robyn Hendricks in Stanton Welch’s Divergence. Photography Tim Richardson. Poster available for sale through The Australian Ballet Shop
Melbourne-based film duo The Apiary have been busy producing The Australian Ballet’s latest mini doco. Featuring dancers Vivienne Wong and Calvin Hannaford, the doco follows Bodytorquechoreographer Alice Topp, and designers Georgia Lazzaro and Crystal Dunn, as they come together to create a steamy pas de deux. Trace focuses on the elasticity and malleability of everyday undergarments; the dancers carve the air with their limbs and shed the fabric as if it were an extension of their very flesh.
Watch the video, then take a peek at the photo gallery capturing the doco in the making.
Behind Ballet is the blog of The Australian
Ballet. Looking at dance through the prism of
fashion, music, art and literature, we unravel
the stories behind our productions and mine
ballet’s juicy past to find the new in the old and
the old in the new.
