2 March 2010
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Fashion
Boutique street label Alpha60 have built a cult following with their wry, witty T-shirts. The brother-sister duo mine the 20th century for influences which figure both directly (patron saint Jean-Luc Goddard presides over their growing empire) and indirectly in their collections. Ballet was bound to make a cameo sooner or later.
These photographs from Alex and Georgie Cleary’s Fitzroy studio find them hard at work on – what else? – a T-shirt for The Australian Ballet Shop. The limited-edition run of 100 (each with a hand-numbered swing tag) is technically Alex’s second foray into ballet – he worked for the company’s merchandise department in the very early days of Alpha60. “We are really pleased to have been asked to do something for The Australian Ballet,” he says. “We love what the ballet does and we were excited to put an Alpha spin to it.”
The T is classic Alpha60 – monochrome, unisex, irreverent. Four businessmen – staid and bespectacled – stalk a Parisian avenue, but one sports a tutu and pointe shoes along with his briefcase. “We really wanted to create an image that put the ballet in a different environment,” says Alex. “I love the contrast between the serious suits and the pointe shoes – the expressions on their faces look like they are in on the joke and trying not to show it.”
The Ballet V Alpha60 T-shirt is available exclusively through The Australian Ballet Shop
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27 November 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Concord, From the studio
Prince, peasant, artist, cad, student, swashbuckler – there’s no role Damien Welch hasn’t performed in his 18 years as a dancer. This Monday 30 November he’ll take his final curtain call as a Principal Artist with The Australian Ballet.
The son of Australian dance legends Marilyn Jones and Garth Welch, and the younger brother of choreographer Stanton Welch, Damien started ballet classes at the relatively late age of 15. He quickly made up for lost time, joining The Australian Ballet in 1992 and reaching the top rank of Principal in just six years. Dancing countless ballets both at home and overseas (often cast opposite his on-and-offstage partner, fellow Principal Artist Kirsty Martin), he’s worked with some of the world’s leading choreographers, and had numerous roles created on him, switching effortlessly between classical and contemporary works.
In recent years Damien has worked behind the curtain as well, restaging Stanton Welch’s masterwork Divergence and documenting new works. Earlier this year, he made his choreographic debut with a piece called Chemical Trigger for the Bodytorque 2.2 season, for which he also composed the score. The sight of Damien wandering the hallways of The Australian Ballet between rehearsals, guitar slung from his shoulder, will be sorely missed. He’ll return as a guest artist in 2010 and continue his long relationship with the company, but for now we bid farewell to an extraordinary talent.
Damien takes his final bow on the closing night of Concord in Sydney
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26 November 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Fashion
At Behind Ballet we love comments. We LOVE comments. So we’ve decided to award a juicy ballet prize to the best reader comment on the blog every month.
This time around we’re giving away a copy of our 2010 calendar, à la mode: ballet & fashion (reckoned by The Sydney Morning Herald “the world’s most beautiful calendar … a celebration of sexy bodies and sumptuous couture”) along with a box set of postcards from Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake. You don’t have to do anything to enter except jump onto Behind Ballet and have your say. It doesn’t matter if you’re commenting on an old or a new post, we’d love to hear from you. We’ll select the best for December just before Christmas and contact the lucky winner. Happy posting!
Image: Daniel Gaudiello, Amber Scott, Lana Jones and Kevin Jackson from à. la mode: ballet & fashion. Photography Justin Smith
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25 November 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Fashion, Flashback
The Australian Ballet recently unearthed a series of photographs taken in its very first year of existence, 1962. The black and white images abound with youth and promise, not just of the dancers but the young company too. This snap of Leonie Leahy perched outside The Australian Ballet’s first home in East Melbourne, a disused ladies college, recalls the easy grace of Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. Hepburn, who trained as a dancer, was instrumental in popularising the ballet flat, and owned hundreds of pairs of the slipper named in her honour by Italian label Salvatore Ferragamo. Over 50 years since the ‘Audrey’ first debuted, ballet flats remain hugely popular amongst the sartorially discerning, inflicting none of the tortures of high heels – or pointe shoes.
Image & text from The Australian Ballet’s 2010 calendar, à la mode: ballet & fashion, now available from The Australian Ballet Shop
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20 November 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Concord
The Ballets Russes were citizens of the world. Born in Paris, they performed in countless countries, propelled by a fast-beating Russian heart. It makes perfect sense, then, that Wayne McGregor’s Dyad diptych, honoring the Ballets Russes, premiered in two cities about as far away as cities can be: Melbourne and London.
Dyad 1909, which recently opened at Sadler’s Wells, was in some ways a more literal realisation of McGregor’s Antarctic preoccupations. Two dancers, dramatically muzzled in Swarovski Crystal masks, appeared alongside the fur-wrapped figure of an explorer. What unfolded was a dense and invigorating work, video, movement and music colluding to disarm and intoxicate. The lush and appropriately chilly score was composed and conducted by Icelandic prodigy Olafur Arnalds (snake-hipped, floppy haired, wearing a natty burnt-orange cardigan), who presided over a five-piece ensemble from his keyboard, occasionally unleashing a computerised vocals in the ‘Fitter, happier, more productive’ vein. Conjuring shifting icebergs, cracking glaciers and, occasionally, oblivion, the music was both beautiful and terrifying, the perfect accompaniment to the shape-shifting videos and the thrusting, seeking movements of the seven dancers from Random Dance.
Images:
In the Spirit of Diaghilev
A Sadler’s Wells Production
Wayne McGregor
Dyad 1909
Photography Hugo Glendinning
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14 September 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Fashion, From the studio
As The Australian Ballet prepares to launch its 2010 season, we look back on 2009 and the images that defined our year. The 2009 ‘Elevation’ photo shoot was a collaboration between 3 Deep Design, photographer Tim Richardson, fashion designer Toni Maticevski and of course the dancers, who were superimposed over seas, skies, dissolving sunrises and mountainous peaks. We chatted to Tim, Toni and 3 Deep’s David Roennfeldt about capturing art in motion.
Did you know very much about ballet before you shot the company?
Tim Richardson: I had photographed The Australian Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet a few years back and had also known the 3 Deep guys for a while (since college). Dance in all its forms has always interested me. The discipline of the dancers – their ability to control their physiques – has always inspired me.
Toni Maticevski: I love the ballet. I have been to many performances. I don’t know too much about certain stories but have been learning more about the technique all the time.
David Roennfeldt: We had been working within the contemporary dance arena for four years prior to establishing the relationship with The Australian Ballet. We really immersed ourselves into the culture of the dance landscape at that time which no doubt informed us about the landscape of dance within Australia. Our experience with The Australian Ballet over the past six years has meant that our understanding of ballet as an art form has expanded considerably and we are constantly learning, researching and experiencing ballet. Read the rest of this entry »
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7 September 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
From the studio
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.”
Photography Justin Smith
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20 July 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
From the studio
Senior Artist Marc Cassidy recently retired from the stage after 16 years with The Australian Ballet. He remembers some of his favourite moments on stage.
Jerome Robbins’ A Suite of Dances
In February of 2008 three dancers made the journey to New York to rehearse Jerome Robbins’ A Suite of Dances. Right from the initial learning stages, I had a personal connection with this piece. The steps seemed to make perfect sense to me as they flowed beautifully from one movement to the next – all very naturally. On stage it was just me, a cellist and an audience of 2500 people. Read the rest of this entry »
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3 July 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Concord
*APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED – THANKS TO ALL WHO CONTACTED US.*
The Australian Ballet is recruiting one emerging writer, one emerging photographer and one emerging video maker to document the creation of our upcoming Concord season for Behind Ballet. What’s in it for you? Opening night tickets to Concord in Melbourne, $300 to cover your costs, fantastic exposure for your work, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see The Australian Ballet creating work behind the scenes.
What is Concord?
Concord is The Australian Ballet’s contemporary season for 2009, playing in Melbourne from 21 Aug – 1 Sep, and Sydney from 11 – 30 Nov. We’ve engaged two of the most exciting choreographers working today, the UK’s Wayne McGregor and Russia’s Alexei Ratmansky, to create world-premiere ballets on the company. You can read more about Concord here and here.
How do I apply?
Email a 100-word bio, a 100-200 word ‘pitch’ on why you want to work on Concord, and 2-5 examples of your work to Alycia French at rsvp@australianballet.com.au
Applications close 14 July at 5pm. The chosen three will be notified by 16 July.
What will I be making?
- Writers: Six 200-300 word blog pieces for Behind Ballet, exploring different aspects of Concord. This will involve interviewing creatives and dancers.
- Photographers: Three separate ‘shoots’ documenting different aspects of Concord (rehearsals, costume making, etc) at no less than 10 photos each.
- Video artists: Three Flash videos documenting different aspects of Concord (rehearsals, costume making, etc) at roughly three minutes each.
Where will my work be shown?
The Australian Ballet’s website, Facebook fanpage, YouTube channel, marketing emails, and of course our Behind Ballet blog. If you’ve got your own blog or website, you can publish your work there too (pending permission from The Australian Ballet).
What are the conditions?
- You must be Melbourne-based.
- You must be 17+ years old.
- You must be available for three days, to be determined, between 20 July and 21 August, to document the creation of Concord. Most of the documentation will take place at The Australian Ballet Centre in Southbank, although there might be a visit to our set-making workshop in Preston.
- You must sign a freelance contract with The Australian Ballet, outlining the full terms and conditions.
If you have any questions, email Alycia French at rsvp@australianballet.com.au
Jane Casson. Photography Tim Richardson
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16 June 2009
By
Kate Scott
filed under
Fashion, Paris Match
Vanessa Leyonhjelm worked as a fashion designer in Melbourne, New York and Paris in the ‘80s and early ‘90s but Divergence was her very first commission for dance. Her designs – the sculptural VacForm bras, the cylindrical tutus, the body con all-in-ones – both subverted and celebrated the history of ballet costume. We talk to Vanessa about her industrial revolution.
You said a few years ago that designing costumes for ballet is the closest thing to haute couture in Australia.
It absolutely is. You have a workroom that will to bend over backwards to do everything that you need and everything that you envisage down to the most minute detail. It’s wonderful.
Stanton Welch said he wanted the dancers to look “like Vogue models”. What kind of brief did he give you for the costumes?
His brief was that they should be very high fashion. I took that away and thought, “How can I make this fashionable today, and fashionable forever?” Read the rest of this entry »
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