This morning Principal Artist Kirsty Martin announced her retirement. Her last performance will be in Melbourne, 4 July, dancing the title role in The Merry Widow.

The role of Hanna Glawari, one of ballet’s great glamourpusses, is a fitting farewell for one of The Australian Ballet’s most elegant artists. That the role also demands great emotional depth, and has been danced by some of the world’s greatest ballerinas, is also fitting for a dancer who made roles like Manon and Giselle her own.

As well as being the quintessential classical ballerina, Kirsty, who danced for several years with Nederlands Dans Theater I, is a stunning contemporary dancer. Those who saw her perform in the plangent pas de deux that ends Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain^© will not soon forget her.

As Artistic Director David McAllister says, “Her luminous performances will be remembered fondly by all those who have watched her over her career.” For all those who have, we give you this wonderful gallery of Kirsty highlights.

Share your favourite Kirsty performance with us!

As the world waits to see whether or not Natalie Portman will score an Oscar for her portrayal of an obsessive ballerina in Black Swan, we celebrate the scintillating black swans of The Australian Ballet in versions of Swan Lake by Dame Peggy van Praagh, Anne Woolliams and Graeme Murphy.

As we get closer and closer to opening night of Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly, excitement builds. Our Butterflies and Pinkertons are hard at work in the studio, throwing themselves into the lyrical choreography and plangent emotion. Photographer Jess Bialek captured them in action.

image: Juliet Burnett
photographer: Thuy Vy
makeup and hair: Olivia Still
styling: Nadia Barbaro