2 September 2009
By
Kitty Walker
filed under
From the studio
This weekend I spent 90 minutes flirting, along with 18 other women and two men, with a man who’s been with The Australian Ballet since time began (1962). That he joined the company in his twenties will give you an idea of his age.
We longed for his attention. We looked coyly in his direction. We desperately wanted him to pick us for his hands-on demonstrations.
Colin Peasley is a master teacher. I know so, because I’ve just taken part in the adults only Chance to Dance class at The Australian Ballet’s headquarters. Designed for people who haven’t had the pleasure of nailing first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions before, it’ll have you positioning your bodies in ways you didn’t know possible.
I haven’t seen a group of strangers smile so readily in years. And laugh. Not just at the man with an eternal flow of gags up his sleeve, but at ourselves. We may have clomped our way through our grand jeté’s and slipped on our pirouettes (true story, we did both), but as a collective we did so like a pack of hyenas.
I learnt that the French bloke who invented the five positions of ballet came up with first, named it First Position, scratched his head and struggled with what to call the next one. I learnt that men used to wear tights as everyday attire and that an arabesque a day makes your bottom look really good.
Colin Peasley and Fiona Tonkin in La Fille Mal Gardee
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5 June 2009
By
Kitty Walker
filed under
Costume
You’re asking for trouble when you take nine fully fledged Snowflakes out on the town. You’re asking for vehicles to swipe curbs in the morning rush of the Melbourne peak hour. You’re asking for cyclists to dismount, for pedestrians to peek and for trams to ding their bells in delight. And you’re asking for pointe shoes to go where pointe shoes simply should not go: puddles.
This is what happens when you strike a deal with The Age newspaper in a bid to try a little something special to celebrate the opening of Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara in Melbourne.
Eager participants Kismet Bourne, Annie Carroll, Eloise Fryer, Halaina Hills, Heidi Martin, Karen Nanasca, Gabriella Raetz, Sarah Thompson and Stephanie Williams graciously donned Kristian Fredrikson’s spectacular costumes at the company’s headquarters in Southbank, only to decamp the safe hallows of the ballet studios to traipse to the banks of the Yarra on a drizzle-filled morning in ugg-boots and sneakers. Positions were taken, lighting tested and spots scratched by foot in the mud, wrapped in winter overcoats, scarves and gloves. A quick disrobe, pointe shoes strapped on and photographer Simon Schluter captured the pic which ran in the paper the following day under the headline ‘The first Snowflakes of June.’
Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara opens in Melbourne tonight (Friday 5 June)
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