People are starting to speculate about the water in The Australian Ballet’s Melbourne studios. What’s in it? Is it catching? Over the past few years, a growing number of dancers are embarking on one of the biggest challenges they’re likely to face on or off the stage. Babies.

In 2007 the company implemented a groundbreaking new parental leave and family policy. Since then, eight dancers have benefited from its flexibility. Two have had more than one child, with all bar one returning to the stage after giving birth. The policy offers 14 weeks post-natal paid leave with the option to extend to 28 weeks at half pay. There is leave available for fathers, an option to reduce hours with no impact on pay during pregnancy, flexible safe duties for dancers, options to help families to travel and stay together on tour and support in maintaining peak fitness in preparation for a return to the stage. At the moment we have Principal Artist Lucinda Dunn on safe duties, while Soloist Laura Tong has just completed hers and has started maternity leave.

In recent years you may have called The Australian Ballet to purchase a subscription package and spoken to one of your favourite principal artists, operating under a code name in the call centre. Or perhaps you paid a visit to the company’s Melbourne headquarters, and were greeted at reception by a face you’d seen mid-flight on stage. Maybe, if you looked closely at a production’s revamped costumes, you picked a certain dancer’s painstaking handiwork.

Lucinda is working across different areas of the company while continuing to practise daily ballet class, as did Laura. Dancers on safe duties work until six weeks before their respective due dates before beginning leave.

Laura was 10 weeks pregnant when she returned to work in January after the company’s summer break. Casting decisions were being made for the first season of the year, Madame Butterfly. Waiting until the magical 12-week mark before sharing her news, Laura knew she was being considered for the major roles of Kate and Suzuki, but would she be able to tackle them? Much would depend on how her pregnancy was progressing and how she was dancing.

“It was one of those things where I was really excited about being pregnant but also thinking that I would love to get those two roles in before I stopped dancing.” She managed to do both, performing until she was 18 weeks pregnant. Her final performance was in Adelaide and it was an emotional experience. “I know that I’m planning to come back at this stage, but it feels like a long time. It’s by far the longest break I’ve ever had since I started dancing … I felt really different by the end … it was really special to be out there, if quite strange!”

Lucinda has been through the process of safe duties before, having given birth to her first daughter Claudia in August 2008. She is now pregnant with her second child and has more of an idea of what to expect on the other side of the curtain. The first time round, Lucinda continued to dance the super-challenging role of The Sugar Plum Fairy in Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker until she was eight weeks pregnant. “That role kills me full stop. Let alone when you’ve got no stamina and you feel sick and you’re dizzy!” In 2011 she continued dancing until 13 weeks, performing the Black Queen in Checkmate during the Sydney season.

Physically, dancing with a baby growing inside you is a whole different experience. Muscle strength disappears almost immediately, there are serious centre-of-balance issues to contend with, the pelvic floor must work incredibly hard when a dancer is landing jumps, and that’s not to mention the dramatic changes occurring in the body’s physical shape. But it’s also an unforgettable opportunity for a dancer to share the experience with their unborn child.

Lucinda continued barre practice until the day before Claudia was born. Even in the last stages of her pregnancy, Laura headed off every morning with a giggle to “attempt to do some ballet”. Both agree it’s imperative to have the option to continue to do class each day if the body feels right. “The doctors say and the books say, eat healthily, listen to music and exercise. As a dancer you do that every day,” says Lucinda. “To have that option is important, especially when most dancers now want to return to work. It just makes the process so much easier afterwards.”

When a dancer decides to stop regular studio work is a personal decision, made in consultation with the company’s medical team. Options for safe duties are varied, with an individual’s skills and interests taken into consideration. When pregnant with Claudia, Lucinda taught company class, coached dancers, hosted dinners for patrons, worked on reception  -“which was awesome actually!” – helped the media team and travelled with an early version of the NAB Dance the Dream program. “I was quite interested in knowing if I could be useful within the organisation. I’ve only ever danced. What actually could I do, what could I learn?”

This time around she’s coached the cast of The Dancers Company ahead of their regional tour of Don Quixote and assisted the wardrobe department in the refurbishment of costumes for The Merry Widow.  She’ll also be staging Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain^© in Melbourne and will work again with the corporate relations team on NAB Dance the Dream.

Laura’s safe duties included working on Luminous, a coffee-table book celebrating The Australian Ballet’s 50th anniversary. The investigative role – sourcing permissions from photographers, designers, dancers and choreographers – has been both hugely satisfying and a steep learning curve. She also worked with the corporate relations department on the NAB Dance the Dream program, gaining an insight into the bigger picture of sponsorship arrangements. Another interesting project for Laura, also linked to next year’s 50^th anniversary, was researching alumni of The Australian Ballet. “You certainly get a better understanding of how much work goes into certain things, which is really good from [a dancer’s] perspective to understand.”

For all dancers who have participated in the safe-duties side of the policy, it’s clear that the experience has been an invaluable confidence-building tool. Most members of the company have never worked in an environment outside of full-time dance so to have the option of learning a swathe of new skills is an incredibly enriching experience.

We wish Laura and her husband Tristan every happiness with their new baby, and look forward to Laura’s return to stage. In the meantime, catch up on the wonderful blog posts she wrote for us while on safe duties, including one on being ‘en pointe and pregnant’.

When Rodarte unveiled their vulture-inspired onstage designs for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, who couldn’t help an involuntary gasp of pleasure at their sheer ravishing inventiveness? But just as importantly, Amy Westcott, the costume designer for the film as a whole, put a ton of work and thought into what company members were wearing in the studio.

So, which designers do dancers at The Australian Ballet favour for the everyday? In a random poll of female dancers from all ranks of the Ballet, one name emerged over and over in the number one position: Yumiko, Yumiko, Yumiko. If you dance, you won’t be surprised. And if you do a little research into Black Swan, you’ll find that Westcott engaged Yumiko to custom-make a variety of everyday wear for the film on advice from dancers at New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Understandably, things need to feel good when you’re moving and grooving in them for hours on end, and this seems to be the key to Yumiko’s appeal. Launched in 2002, the handmade label is the creation of Japanese dancer Yumiko Takeshima, who is now a principal with Semper Oper Ballett in Germany.

The dancers of The Australian Ballet gave it up en masse for the label. For Corps de Ballet member Alice Topp, Yumiko is a one-stop shop “for all things awesome” while Senior Artist Juliet Burnett explains that “you can custom-order your own colours in her beautifully handmade leotards, which are the comfiest EVER”. So popular is the label with The Australian Ballet’s dancers that hunting down Yumiko’s Tokyo store was the first point of call on the company’s recent tour to Japan, winning out over visits to Disneyland or cultural sightseeing.

The use of Chacott ‘sauna’ or ‘garbage-bag’ pants also increased rapidly after the company’s Tokyo/Nagoya tour (Chacott is another Japanese-based brand). “Plastics do keep you warm and they give you a great Flashdance vibe,” explains Coryphée Dana Stephensen. “And they make swooshy noises when you move! I find a coiffed side fringe and high ponytail really completes the look … I am an 80s kid after all.”

Coryphée Kismet Bourne likes to wear swimsuits as leotards, favouring Jets by Jessika Allen; Juliet Burnett has found that Stella McCartney has created a beautiful range for adidas. Bloch. Wearmoi. Capezio. Sansha. American Apparel. Even Target! The list goes on.

There is one kind of practice gear that’s hard to come by. It takes years of dancing and working with the one company to get your hands on such an outfit. We’re talking about hand-me-downs. “Some garments have been handed down by dancers for generations,” says Corps de Ballet member Brooke Lockett. “There is something lovely and comforting about that.”

Who’s your favourite designer for everyday dance?

The Apiary have been telling tales about the Ballet all year, so when they agreed to join us for two weeks in Tokyo, we jumped at the chance to show them the sights. They shot from morning until late in the night in theatres and studios, in karaoke bars and restaurants, on trains and in the streets.

We hope you enjoy the result: a three part series about the importance of international touring and a rare glimpse into life on the road with The Australian Ballet.

The pace is incredibly fast and everyone hits the ground running. There are no raised voices, no deep sighs or angry looks; even our contingent of ballet babies (Claudia, Ella and Marley) wearily smile through the 30+ hour trip. But when the first day of class occurs at the Bunka Kaikan Theater in Ueno, everything feels normal again. There is something incredibly calming about the routine of daily class and rehearsals.

There is a deep respect for The Australian Ballet in Japan and it’s heartwarming and inspiring, from the amazing staff at the Japan Performing Arts Foundation who work tirelessly to make things run like clockwork, to the crowds of people who gather at our photo shoots in the streets or at stage door for autographs and photos after a performance.

Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake manages to pull on the emotional heartstrings regardless of which theatre in the world it is performed in. On opening night spontaneous ‘bravos’ were shouted from the audience for Odette (Madeleine Eastoe), The Baroness (Lucinda Dunn) and Siegfried (Robert Curran) and the audience stood to show their appreciation. The acoustics in the Bunka Kaikan are incredible – I’ve never heard Tchaikovsky’s score sound so powerful. The dying moments of the final act of this ballet are always devastating and even the hardened behind-the-scenes staff of The Australian Ballet sat in the auditorium with tears rolling down our faces before the final curtain fell.

You can follow The Australian Ballet’s international touring adventures on Twitter
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Graeme Murphy with artists of The Australian Ballet, Bunka Kaikan Theater, Japan. Photography Lisa Tomasetti

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Behind-the-scenes photography by Kitty Walker

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The idea was that Edward Coutts Davidson wanted to recreate his Wonderland fashion spread from the April issue of Harper’s. To say yes would be a huge undertaking, but after working with Edward and the team at the end of last year we decided to break with tradition and take a bit of a gamble.

Twenty-six of our gorgeous dancers along with Dana Stephensen and Amy Harris (who were not performing but were our silverly-clad representatives at the media call) traipsed up St Kilda Road to the grounds of Government House. While those performing rehearsed in the ballroom, carefully plotting how best to avoid a grand battement in Premier John Brumby’s lap, Dana and Amy donned their Roger Kirk-designed costumes from The Silver Rose, and oh how we laughed when the photographers begged to know “Ladies! Who are you dressed by today?”

The girls made a pact to remain en pointe for the entire shoot in front of a swarm of fashion photographers when they caught a glimpse of the ridiculous height of the models resplendent in heels that could kill.

At the media call the ballet theme worked beautifully with the Wonderland theme as a Collette Dinnigan blue tulle tutu with a crystal studded bodice was modelled by a lass sprouting pink fairy floss hair and rabbit ears. She was coupled with a glamorous Cinderella-inspired Willow gown, worn for the very first time by Principal Artist Danielle Rowe in the Harpers spread featuring The Australian Ballet.

As the black fancy cars began to roll into the grounds and the legs and the heels and the hair and the shimmery shiny people made their way up the stairs to the gardens of Government House to guzzle champagne, boiled lollies and gingerbread ladies clad in tutus, my nervousness was compounded by a last-minute request by David McAllister to be his plus one. Thank goodness for Brooke Lockett’s heels, her brilliant two minute make-up application and Rohan Furnell’s cologne and pep talk, I somehow managed not to shame our Artistic Director in the front row as we were wedged between Megan Gale and the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

There was no need to fear: it was a goosebump moment that everyone who took part in should be incredibly proud of. The Australian Ballet showcased Melbourne beautifully on the international stage as Dinnigan and Willow were joined on the runway by stunning designs from Michelle Jank, Sass & Bide, Dion Lee, Tina Kalivas, Akira and Romance Was Born … and Premier Brumby walked away without a hint of bruising.

Photographs by Kitty Walker