23 August 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
The Nutcracker
Five artists of The Australian Ballet talk about dancing the lead roles in The Nutcracker
In Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker, Soloist Gina Brescianini steps into the shoes of the wide-eyed Clara, rides a flying goose, saves her Nutcracker Prince and travels to the Land of Sweets.
Clara is definitely one of my all-time favourite roles. She’s bright, inquisitive and wants to be involved in everything. It’s such a joyous role. From the moment the curtain goes up, you enter the stage and dance throughout the entire ballet. I love how much dancing you do, but also how magical the production is.
The Nutcracker is a magical journey from a child-like perspective, but with a range of complicated emotions as well. For me, when the nutcracker doll wakes up I think something awakens in Clara, too. She really thinks he’s dead, but he wakes up and they dance a beautiful pas de deux together. They have a real, loving friendship. Every dancer brings their own interpretation to the role of Clara but I think when a dancer is drawing their interpretation from a real place within them, and they’re expressing that, then the audience can really connect.
Damien Welch has a penchant for villainous characters. In 2009, Damien retired from the principal ranks of The Australian Ballet. This year he returns as a guest artist to play the shadowy magician Drosselmeyer.
The key thing Peter Wright told me about Drosselmeyer was that he needed to have a particular kind of authority, so that when he makes his very first entrance he’s already commanding the room. He’s been employed to entertain the kids and adults – in other versions of The Nutcracker he’s an uncle or a friend – but in this one he’s a professional musician, entertainer and storyteller. There’s even a scene where he gets paid for his services. He’s a man of complete confidence and he’s a little bit devious as well. Read the rest of this entry »
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2 July 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Peggy
Right now at the Arts Centre in Melbourne is an exhibition featuring photos and ephemera of ballet visionary Dame Peggy van Praagh. The exhibition covers the full breadth of Peggy’s career, including early charity performances at age six; performing and teaching with the Ballet Rambert, London Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Ballet; her artistic directorship of the Borovansky Ballet; and most notably her artistic directorship of The Australian Ballet. Thanks to the Arts Centre’s Performing Arts Collection, we’ve posted a few photos from the exhibition.
The Arts Centre’s Peggy van Praagh exhibition runs until 24 September 2010
Peggy! The Australian Ballet’s season dedicated to its founding artistic director plays until Monday 5 July
Main image:Peggy van Praagh as Juno in Pas des Desses, London Ballet, Arts Theatre, London, 1939
Photograph by Anthony Gordon
Peggy van Praagh Collection Gift of The Australian Ballet, 1998
Performing Arts Collection, the Arts Centre
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23 June 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
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.” Read the rest of this entry »
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15 June 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Edge of night, From the studio
Inspired by an ancient Greek myth, Tim Harbour’s brand-new ballet Halcyon explores weighty themes of life, death, pride, betrayal and transformation. We snuck into the studio recently to photograph rehearsals for Tim’s mainstage debut and caught up with him to find out how the work’s progressing.
Can you shed some light on Halcyon’s concept?
It’s based on a Greek myth. The allure of any Greek myth is that they’re always really simple. Even though this one is simple, it’s been a real challenge to get across the ideas in 25 minutes. As far as the narrative goes, it’ll be far more abstracted than Coppélia for example. Loads of imagery and symbolism; they’re the mechanisms I’ll be using to drive the story. Hopefully it’ll be an emotional drama.
Your work has never really been narrative-based. It’s always been quite poetic and abstract, correct?
Yeah, I’ve always tried to have a theme or some kind of poetic idea …
So why the change?
Ah, well, you’ve got to! This is a really big opportunity for me – it might be the only time I ever do something like this. I might as well try it. Even though this is a highly pressurised opportunity – a lot of people are going to see it; it’s The Australian Ballet, and there’s a lot of expectation – I do have the confidence of coming back to the dancers who I created my first choreographic works on. My time away has always been about coming back to this opportunity to try something bigger. So I’m confident in my Read the rest of this entry »
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8 June 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Flashback
Figure skaters carve pirouettes into a frozen-over swan lake and Catherine Littlefield, dressed in mittens, a fur coat, and blanket, stands by. She’s watching intently and scribbling notes in preparation for her production of ballet-infused ice skating, It Happens on Ice.
Littlefield had been pushing ballet’s boundaries for years, but her two-act It Happens on Ice was out of the ordinary for pointe shoe purists in 1940. After staging The Sleeping Beauty in 1937 – complete with 100 dancers and 85 musicians – she put dancers on bicycles in American Jubilee and her droll satire Ladies’ Better Dresses poked fun at America’s fashion industry.
It Happens on Ice was a commercial project for Littlefield while she took a hiatus from choreographing for American ballet companies. However, she applied the same enthusiasm to the winter spectacular as she did to her previous works. Littlefield was initially nervous about replacing dancers’ pointe shoes with ice skates in her staging of Swan Lake in the first act, and with good reason, too. She quickly realised that the combination of basic ballet steps and slippery ice could turn the dancers into a pile of fractures, dislocations and torn ligaments. Ballet positions would be lost in the whip-fast spins or, worse, enforcing the basic port de bras on an ice dancer mid-air would result in a crash landing. Littlefield made certain her dancers were conscious of elegant ballet lines, group composition, and able to adapt their spins into ballet turns and their jumps into long ballet leaps.
The second act in It Happens On Ice captured Littlefield’s knack for comedy. So What Goes, a riotous send-up about a day on the old skating pond, featured naughty boys tripping up sunny pig-tailed girls, gliding governesses and young lovers drawing a perfect figure eight.
In his article about It Happens on Ice, Walter Terry of the New York Herald Tribune commented: “You will be convinced, I think, that Catherine Littlefield is becoming a theatre figure of the first rank, a girl who is leaving her mark in the revue, in the ballet, and on ice.” And he was right. Catherine Littlefield went on to become a pioneering force in American ballet, ice dancing, and was one of the first inductees into the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Dance.
Image: Betty Aikinson makes a turn during the butterfly appearing in It Happens on Ice at the Radio City’s Center Theater, circa 1941
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14 May 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Ballet V Fashion, Bodytorque, Costume
Bodytorque choreographer Damien Welch set out to create a ballet about the relationship between personality and clothing choice. “I have my own love-hate relationship with fashion”, Damien says. “Birthday Suit comes from my belief that we would be happier (and colder) if we all just stayed naked.” For fashion designer Georgia Clark, Birthday Suit gave her the perfect opportunity to observe the various ways in which people express their identities in their day-to-day existence. We caught up with Georgia to talk about her interest in industrial workwear, and the everyday things that inspire her.
Tell us about your first meeting with Damien; did you find you were on the same page in terms of creative concepts?
Damien had a clear idea of the costumes at our first meeting, I liked his ideas and we went from there.
Your designs for Bodytorque are inspired by the way everyday people express their identities through clothing. Did you conduct stealth research on Melbourne’s streets?
I wanted to know what people were wearing under their clothes. So I conducted some of my research through conversations with retail sales staff in high street stores. Department store staff members are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the current tastes and trends of all types of people. Read the rest of this entry »
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29 April 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
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Ballet V Fashion, Bodytorque, Costume
Georgia Lazzaro is currently in New York on an internship with Narciso Rodriguez and Calvin Klein and Crystal Dunn works for Melbourne-based label MATERIALBYPRODUCT. Early in the year Georgia and Crystal came together to design costumes for Alice Topp’s Trace, an intimate pas de deux performed by Vivienne Wong and Calvin Hannaford for Bodytorque.à la mode. We spoke to Georgia and Crystal about how they transformed basic hosiery into costumes fit for the ballet stage.
What has it been like working as the only design duo in Bodytorque?
We’ve really enjoyed working together, and have found that our thinking has been in sync the whole way through. It has been so great to have another person to bounce ideas off and get ideas from.
Do you find your ideas complement one another?
The Trace costumes are almost a perfect intersection of our ideas and ways of thinking. We are both fascinated by gesture; the motions of garments; the actions of bodies; the way the two relate to each other. We are both very interested in the language of fashion, and in the way fashion, objects, images and events relate to the living body.
Have you worked as a partnership before?
Not really, although at uni we spent time critiquing each others’ work. We will definitely work together in the future, though!
How did you respond to Alice’s choreographic concept during the initial stages?
When we read Alice’s outline of her concept for the piece – an intimate pas de deux exploring the traces of moments and memories – we were very excited as we felt it fit so perfectly with ideas that we had already been exploring for the Bodytorque promotional images, which we styled. Read the rest of this entry »
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23 April 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Ballet V Fashion, Bodytorque, Costume
Considered the first female dandy, the Marchesa Luisa Casati was muse to a list of painters, photographers, fashion designers, writers and European thinkers. She was photographed by Man Ray, dressed by Paul Poiret, and directly inspired Cartier’s ‘Panthere’ jewellery series. In the streets of Paris at midnight the Marchesa, with wildly teased hair and kohl-blackened eyes, could be seen taking her pet panthers for a stroll. The Marchesa Casati was – in her prime – the most scandalous and daring woman of her day. Bodytorque choreographer Timothy Brown is the latest artist to to draw inspiration from the Marchesa for his new ballet Nocturnal Phantasm. Bridie O’Leary, the costume designer for Timothy’s work, chatted to us about how she recreated the Marchesa for the ballet stage. The sketch above is from Bridie’s last millinery collection.
Tell us about the design brief that Tim gave you …
The brief was very extensive. It not only included his design brief, but a biography on fashion muse Marchesa Luisa Casati, a detailed description of the music, and notes on his style of choreography. The general idea was to explore the eccentric, macabre and dramatic traits of the Marchesa. The broader themes were based on the antiquity of the fashions and social high-life of the early 20th century art scene, including the artwork of Erté. The suggested colour palette included the use of monochrome greys and silvers – inspired by the silver screen – with particular attention to the textures and shine of the fabrics. Most of all, Tim wanted to create a sense of drama and tragedy.
And how have you interpreted his ideas?
Firstly, I got a hold of as much as I could on Marchesa Casati and Erté; in particular, paintings of the Marchesa and Erté’s illustrations. The idea was to represent the dramatic glamour and grotesque beauty of the Marchesa’s character that was represented in famous paintings and illustrations, and photos taken of her during her wealthy years, through to her downfall and ultimate poverty. I decided that it was imperative to emphasise the creation of the silver screen. The grey, black and silvery hues and textures would help to capture this. The dancers surrounding the Marchesa loosely reference the Belle Époque style of the period while exaggerating a kind of eeriness and keeping that neo-Gothic edge. I decided red was an excellent colour to use as a highlight not only for its striking appearance on stage but also as an ode to Marchesa’s flame-red hair. The trick was to balance the decorative and excessive qualities in the designs with a modern and minimal style … so as not to hinder the dancers, or overpower the choreography. Read the rest of this entry »
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16 April 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Ballet V Fashion, Bodytorque, Costume
When Bodytorque.à la mode choreographer Robert Curran and fashion designer Ryan Euinton met for the first time to brainstorm costume designs for Fold, they were on the same page. Robert wanted to explore ideas of flesh, layers, and touch; Ryan’s work had explored these themes before (pictured above). Ryan let us in on how he approached the costume designs for Fold.
Tell us about the design brief you were given for Fold …
Robert Curran spoke to me about the ideas, feelings, colours and textures of the piece. From the very start we knew the title of the work – Fold – and that it would involve an exploration of skin and the body. Bodytorque 2010 focuses on fashion so, naturally, we wanted the piece to stand alone as a product of fashion.
Your RMIT graduate work centered on ideas of covering and uncovering the body; have these ideas filtered into your Bodytorque work?
Yes, definitely. As a group of designers working on the various ballets within the programme, we all remarked how there was piece almost waiting for each of us.
What are some words that were flying around your head when you were designing this piece?
Corsets, legs, flesh. Read the rest of this entry »
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31 March 2010
By
Isabel Dunstan
filed under
Ballet V Fashion, Bodytorque, Costume
Melanie Bower has swiftly become one of Australia’s most exciting breakthrough designers. Her autumn-winter collection (pictured above), fresh off the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival runway, straddles the stylistic extremes of austerity and hedonism. For the upcoming season of Bodytorque.à la mode Melanie has designed costumes for Daniel Gaudiello’s new ballet South of Eden, a piece about female escorts working in a hotel, waiting for the right man to come along and take them away. We chatted to Melanie about what inspires her work and the experience of designing for dance.
Can you tell us a little about the work you’ve designed for Daniel Gaudiello’s South of Eden?
In keeping with Daniel’s inspiration for the piece, the costumes are very body conscious and rely heavily on textural fabrics and cut-outs to abstract and sometimes fetishise the dancers’ bodies.
What is it about the work of Helmut Newton that has inspired your designs for this ballet?
For me, Helmut Newton’s work was a great influence because of the way he explored the relationship between sex and power.
What are you hoping to bring to the ballet stage?
I hope my preoccupation with fashion will allow me to bring something fresh. If nothing else, I think, as newcomers, the costume designers for this season of Bodytorque will break conventions, because we don’t know them all!
What has it been like designing for dance?
It has been exciting and challenging. I’ve had to rely heavily on the expertise and knowledge of the amazing wardrobe department at The Australian Ballet.
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