26 June 2009
By Yosvani Ramos
filed under From the studio, Paris Match
Principal Artist Yosvani has danced with both Jeune Ballet de France and Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris, but found much to enjoy in The Australian Ballet’s French-inspired double bill Paris Match. It was a performance made all the more special because his mum was in the audience from Cuba.
Well, opening night of Paris Match has finally happened. We did it!
With Stanton Welch’s Divergence, you’ve got to be very precise and in sync, so everybody – well, I speak for myself – was worried they would have a blank in the middle of the stage. In this ballet you have to do all the turns and tours to the right, and I’m the only dancer in the whole company that turns to the left. I’m also at the front of the line, so even more pressure! Thankfully I didn’t end up in the orchestra pit … ha ha.
Suite en blanc, the first ballet of this double bill, also went well. I love Suite and danced it eleven years ago in France. On opening night this week, I performed the Mazurka. I had such a good time out there, despite being a bit tired after two rehearsals the previous day. The rest of the cast was fantastic – no reason to envy the Paris Opera Ballet. Australian ballet dancers rock!
Paris Match runs until 4 July in Melbourne
Yosvani Ramos in Stanton Welch’s Divergence. Photography Jim Mcfarlane
19 June 2009
By Jasmin Tulk
filed under Flashback, Paris Match
Danseur, choreographer and raconteur Serge Lifar (1905 – 1986) made two visits to Australia in his lifetime, first in 1939 as part of the Ballets Russes tours, then later in 1981 to stage Suite en blanc for The Australian Ballet.
Suite en blanc will be performed as part of the Paris Match season in Melbourne 24 June – 4 July.
Serge Lifar pictured in his ballet Icare
Image scanned from an edition of ‘Special Danse’ 1969, signed and given to The Australian Ballet by Serge Lifar in 1981.
16 June 2009
By Kate Scott
filed under Ballet V 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 »
12 June 2009
By Jasmin Tulk
filed under Flashback, Paris Match
Justin Summers in the 1994 photo shoot for Stanton Welch’s Divergence.
Divergence returns to the stage later this month alongside Suite en blanc in the double bill Paris Match. Melbourne: 24 June – 4 July.
We’ve got two double passes to give away to the dress rehearsal of Paris Match on Tuesday 23 June at 7pm. If you’d like them to be yours, email hello@behindballet.com First in, best dressed!
*Update – tickets have been claimed. Congrats to the lucky winners!*
28 May 2009
By Isabel Dunstan
filed under Paris Match
At just 24 years of age choreographer Stanton Welch created Divergence – the work that launched his career. Premiering in 1994, it was one of the most difficult and progressive ballets of the decade. Its creation was no easy feat for Stanton, nor for his dancers. In 2009, The Australian Ballet brings Divergence back to the stage as part of the double bill Paris Match. Stanton, now Artistic Director at the Houston Ballet, found time to reflect on presenting his groundbreaking work to unsuspecting audiences 15 years ago.
What kinds of feelings did Bizet’s score stir in you when you first heard it?
It was a piece my mother (Marilyn Jones) gave to me. It was even on a tape – that’s how long ago it was! So I had my tape and my Walkman and took it with me when I was touring with the company. I just fell in love with it. I always wanted to do a classical ballet, but I wanted to show classical ballet’s diversity. I felt with each movement came a very different style and that gave me different flavours. Read the rest of this entry »
14 May 2009
By Isabel Dunstan
filed under Ballet V Fashion, Costume, Paris Match
After ten years of mending, recycling and general making-do, post-WWII women weren’t expecting Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look. Borrowing from the decadence of ballet, Dior brazenly updated the female silhouette and reintroduced luxury to a deprived population. The hand-span waistlines and bouffant Romantic-length skirts paid homage to boned bodices of the Renaissance courts and Barbara Karinska’s powder-puff tutus. Dior insisted on appliqué, beading and embroidery, luxuries that had only been seen on ballet stages for over a decade.
When Dior presented his New Look to traders around Europe and America he faced savage criticism. Fabrics were scarce and economists frowned upon home consumption. The Board of Trade forbade Alison Settle, then editor of British Vogue, to mention Dior in her pages. It was feared that Dior’s New Look would encourage impossible demands, indulgence and social revolution. Looking back on this time Dior said: “War had passed out of sight, and there were no other wars on the horizon. What did the weight of my sumptuous materials, my heavy velvets and brocades matter? When hearts were light, mere fabrics could not weigh the body down.” Dior breathed the glamour of ballet into his New Look collection and brought decadence to the people.
Image: Kirsty Martin in Stephen Baynes’ Raymonda. Costumes by Anna French. Photography Justin Smith
Paris Match, a double bill of tutu delights, plays in in Melbourne from 24 June until 4 July.
