The Australian Ballet, Brisbane, February 26

THE men of The Australian Ballet get an occasional look-in but the double bill Imperial Suite is really all about the women. In Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc there is a flurry of white tutus and only one male dance of any substance. In George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial a leading ballerina, a secondary ballerina and two demi-soloists reign with the backing of several admiring and supportive danseurs.

Both are abstract works from the early 1940s over which not the tiniest shadow of world war falls. Their eyes are firmly on the 19^th century, which helps account for the female-centric nature. The Balanchine pays homage to the transformative era of Tchaikovsky and Petipa in Imperial Russia and the Lifar is a bouquet to classical technique and the glamour of ballet. Together they present challenges very different from those of the three-act story ballet Manon, which was being staged in Brisbane at the same time.

The AB is trying out a new way of scheduling works – instead of every season being a solid block of performances of a single work there are several seasons that feature two works. To use Sydney as an example, in the past there would be 20 uninterrupted performances of a program, whether it was Swan Lake or a triple bill of contemporary work. Guess which program was more popular? This year there will be bills of newer work that get nine or 10 performances but together form a season of the usual length. A sensible move.

But back to Imperial Suite. Whereas MacMillan’s Manon asks for detailed characterisation in the British tradition of dramatic intensity that is also part of the AB’s heritage, both parts of Imperial Suite are displays of style and personality. Or, to put it another way, the character of the dancers themselves is tested, as is their mettle. Their individual qualities as artists are on display in a mercilessly bright light.

Suite en blanc opens with its full complement of performers seen frozen in a beautifully composed tableaux that never fails to elicit applause and gasps of appreciation. The AB is entirely comfortable with this diverse set of variations to the springy music of Edouard Lalo and glittered away happily at the first performance. Amber Scott, Laura Tong and Daniel Gaudiello shone in their respective solos (Flute, Cigarette, Mazurka) and Ako Kondo’s zesty turn – and her dazzling turns – in the Pas de Cinq were a delight. It is extremely satisfying to see performers who can bring strong individual gifts to a work without blurring its style. Suite en blanc is a white ballet with touches of black, warmed up at this performance by Scott’s other-worldly mystery and beauty, Tong’s womanly warmth, Gaudiello’s exuberance and Kondo’s old-style glamour (I know I keep using that word about Kondo, but it’s a quality not found as frequently at the ballet as you may think).

The more elusive qualities of Ballet Imperial were not entirely captured at the first performance. The AB performs Balanchine’s first thoughts on this ballet, decking it out in sparkling tutus in homage to Imperial Russia; later Balanchine had it recostumed in simple fashion and titled the work after its music, Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 (Balanchine preferred this spelling of the composer’s name).

It is such a difficult ballet and only Lana Jones, in the first ballerina role, fully embodied the sophisticated, complex grandeur of the choreography and illuminated the bold drama of Tchaikovsky’s second piano concerto. As the second ballerina Amy Harris was daringly fleet but didn’t project sufficient star wattage and nor did the main cavalier, Adam Bull. He was hampered, however, as were all the men, by costumes that made them look like bellboys at a leading Ruritanian hotel.

Ballet Imperial will undoubtedly get richer performances the more deeply it gets into the minds and bodies of the dancers. The shapes are there, but not a sense that the work is completely understood. All those echoes of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty have a purpose.

Imperial Suite is a big night musically. It starts with the Tchaikovsky, and in Brisbane Nicolette Fraillon conducted the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in a muscular performance. It is bold music, grand in concept and sweeping in nature. Hoang Pham was the admirable solo pianist. After interval comes Lalo, the music adapted from the unsuccessful ballet Namouna. The music is by turns sexy, witty and rousing, all of it fabulously danceable.

There were just two performances of Imperial Suite in Brisbane, but many more to come in Sydney and Melbourne in May and June.

A version of this review appeared in The Australian on February 28.