After the knock-out performance of Divergence, The Australian Ballet was invited back to So You Think You Can Dance to present a pas de deux from Nutcracker – The Story of Clara on the grand finale. Artistic Director David McAllister blogs about the experience.

Well, Sunday dawned and as can happen on a designated day off, I woke up early and filled with purpose to get domestic. With all of the appliances working for me (dishwasher, washing machine and vacuum with me attached) I was a whirlwind of Domestos, Windex and elbow grease to tidy up my Sydney flat. By 11:30am I had done a trip to the Supermarket (a Sunday morning ritual) and raced around the QVB and surrounding shops finding little gifts for Nutcracker opening night, and was on the train bound for Redfern and a day rubbing shoulders with the So You Think You Can Dance crew.

It was very reassuring to have been there before with Robert and Leanne for Divergence as I knew where to go and what to do. CarriageWorks is a brilliant venue, but as with all theatres until you know where you are going, a little daunting.

Anyway Danielle Rowe was already there with Andrew Killian, and Robert Curran arrived as I did so we could all go in together. We found our dressing room easily and were sharing with Pilobolus, a company from America who are doing a season at the Sydney Theatre next week. On the way in we heard class music and so stuck our heads in to see Francois Klaus and his wife Robyn teaching a group from Queensland Ballet.

I called Jenni Vinten, our contact for the day, and she came around to collect the music which I had on mini disc. It was quickly returned when it was discovered they didn’t have a mini disc player! Not a problem, thanks to the wonders of modern technology. I rang Duncan Salton, one of our amazing music staff, who emailed the music to Jenni in a flash. Thank God for computers and mobile phones, not to mention wonderful people like Duncan who make dramas disappear!

The camera rehearsal happened and it was great to be in the wonderful hands of director Simon Francis, who only on Wednesday was calling our live broadcast of Firebird and other legends on ABC2. After three run-throughs everyone was happy, and it was back to the dressing room to wait for the dress rehearsal. I had brought the paper to fill in the time but it was much more fun to chat to Danni and Andrew, and get to know our colleagues from Pilobolus.

There seemed to be all sorts of rehearsals going on and the corridors were thumping with dance music. We sat around chatting as the dancers continued to warm up and prepare. I put my wardrobe skills to play steaming the costumes. I must say Kristian Fredrickson was a genius and the costumes for Nutcracker are SO beautiful. The nightie that Danni was wearing is a beautiful silk and lace number and after applying steam looked as if it had just been made. Andrew’s jacket uncreased was also a sight to behold.

Dress rehearsal was also a fairly smooth affair. Host Natalie Bassingthwaighte was a picture with perfectly manicured hair, leggings and a sloppy jumper – as we were to see later, a work in progress. The set was a hive of activity and it so interesting to see how different TV is to the theatre. The rehearsal looked even better with the cameras doing all the things we had asked for … thank you, Simon!

As it was the grand finale there were no seats in the auditorium, so I decided to watch the show from home like everyone else. It was exciting to be there at home on the couch imagining what was happening back stage. Each of the routines unfolded and then came Danni and Andrew doing Nutcracker after a lovely intro by Natalie. They were wonderful. I sent them a text to how great they were, and how lucky we are to have such amazing dancers representing the company on this hugely successful show. I really think it’s fantastic that dance is out there on a commercial network, inspiring young people to get excited about the art form.

It was a fun day and what’s more Talia the ballerina won the series! A good day for ballet all round!

David McAllister

Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara plays Sydney until 18 May. It then goes to Melbourne from 5-18 June