Posts filed under: The Dancers Company

The Dancers Company are out on their annual regional tour, and Assistant Company Manager Jasmine Mosley is riding the tour bus. She reports from the country front lines.

Roll call! Is everyone on the bus? Level 8 ABS student Benedicte Bemet calls everyone by name: “answer with your favourite animal!” The bus dissolves into giggles as answers from “meerkat” to “llama!” are yelled out to the front.

Formalities out of the way, The Dancers Company is on the road again. We’re nearing the end of our 2011 tour, covering 12 different towns and cities from Hobart to Wagga Wagga. Imagine living in a small, mobile apartment block and you’ll get a sense of what it’s like to be on the road with 26 dancers, five guest artists and a compact crew of artistic, technical, medical and administration staff over six weeks of a regional tour. There’s a lot of hard work and preparation, and when we’re finally out there, laughter, tears and everything in between. (more…)

The Dancers Company’s touring truck driver might be ballet’s most enthusiastic fan. Woody of Doser Freight Forwarding drives his truck, loaded with tutus, scenery and props, for over 8,000km around Australia every year. In 2010 he is especially excited because the regional touring company will perform Don Quixote, his favourite ballet of all time. We caught up with Woody and asked him  how much he’s looking forward to hitting the road.

How long have you been driving The Dancers Company truck?
This is my 13^th or 14^th tour.

Do you remember your first tour?
It was brilliant! I didn’t drive a semitrailer; it was a rigid truck. So it was smaller and didn’t bend in the middle or carry as much. So that made it easy. The first tour was great. I remember most of the places we went to.

Do you get a chance to see the ballet performances?
I do – I love it. I get to see them from all angles, and I get to stand backstage. And I go in the auditorium as well. It sounds funny – a truck driver enjoying ballet – doesn’t it?

And what’s the best ballet you’ve seen on The Dancers Company tour?
By far Don Quixote, which is what they’re performing this year. I love the characterisations. The first time I saw it David McAllister performed as a guest artist and I’ll never forget it. It was just brilliant.

How many kilometres do you travel on The Dancers Company?
Around 8,000km. (more…)

The task: to get to a Dancers Company media call in a remote outback location in Central Australia. In the car: Associate Artistic Director Danilo Radojevic, Australian Ballet guest dancers Reiko Hombo and Jia Yin Du, and physiotherapist (and keen photographer) Sophie Emery.

I was behind the wheel, trying in vain to follow a little faxed map out to the Red Centre sand dune where we were meeting a journalist and photographer …

As we searched for the road that matched the one on our map, we circled around and around the outskirts of Alice Springs, eventually spying an unsealed, 4WD-friendly road. Was it the one? We didn’t know … and may have ended up in Adelaide without Danny’s handy phone GPS (genius)! With confirmation that we were heading in the right direction we set out on the dusty red road, rattling along with a cloud of dust following our little hire car. For a while it seemed like we might never find the location, until were lucky to rumble past a truck with a friendly local inside. “Further down the road and past the next cattle grate, you can’t miss it!” was the answer we got, so a quick “Thanks, mate!” and we were on the road again.

Five minutes later, the Red Centre sand dune loomed to our left, stark red sand against a clear blue sky. Breathtaking! Sun hats in hand, and braving sandy wind, we ran up to the dune towards two smiling faces that were waiting for us, and in moments Reiko and Jia Yin were in their rehearsal gear, doing lifts in the sunshine with the cameras clicking away.

Success!

As for the passers-by who got bogged in the dune … well, that’s another story.

By Jasmine Moseley, The Australian Ballet’s Assistant Company Manager

The Dancers Company performs the final show of its 2009 tour at the Darwin Entertainment Centre tonight

Touring is an important part of ballet education, not just for the dancers, but for young audiences too. The Dancers Company visit to Geelong on July 24 was very special. The verdict from my 10 and 12 year-olds was one of awe with the footwork and partner dancing. Most of all they could visualise where their own lessons were headed. Occasionally there was a little gasp, a mumbled French expression and a ‘that’s how it’s done!’ from the next seats. (more…)