Gemini: the lycra sensation

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When Gemini premiered in 1973, it caused a sensation. Not only was it the first time that The Australian Ballet had been seen in lycra (later on in the decade, when the ballet went to Russia, it scandalised audiences, who thought that the dancers were nude!), but Glen Tetley’s sensuous, space-devouring choreography was on the very edge of the new. Now, almost 30 years later, the ballet still looks fresh, and is still honing our dancers to the peak of their fitness! We recently took it to New York’s Fall for Dance Festival, where it came up looking as shiny as ever.

(And just quietly … Nureyev, who was in Australia at the time, saw the Gemini’s lycra unitards and was inspired to get a whole suite of costumes made for himself in the new space-age fabric – all the better to show off those famous legs.)

See Gemini as part of our Icons program, opening in Melbourne on August 30, and playing Sydney in November.