Next year the Sydney Opera House’s Joan Sutherland Theatre, home to both The Australian Ballet and Opera Australia when they are in Sydney, will close for seven months. It’s in a good cause, as theatre machinery that’s done sterling work but is now outdated will be replaced. It’s been there since the Opera House opened…
Category: Dance
Rules of the Game: Jonah Bokaer at the Brisbane Festival
Brisbane Powerhouse, September 14. Labels are always tricky. Jonah Bokaer is essentially a dance-maker but his deep immersion in the visual arts pushes his work towards performance art. But let’s not worry about what to call it. In the trio of works he brought to the Brisbane Festival – his first visit to Australia –…
The Australian Ballet performs John Neumeier’s Nijinsky
Because The Australian Ballet’s Nijinsky opened in Melbourne I didn’t review it for The Australian – my colleague Eamonn Kelly did the honours. I did, however, travel from Sydney to be the opening – how not? – and wrote about it for arts magazine Limelight. You can read that review here. And below are a few…
Snow White: Ballet Preljocaj at the Brisbane Festival
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane, September 2. Angelin Preljocaj’s Snow White oozes sex, glamour and fantasy in a visually ravishing production that juxtaposes a monumental, golden-hued court with the mysterious vibrations of the deep forest. It’s an extravagant world of abseiling dwarfs, luscious nymphs, huntsmen who look like tough mercenary soldiers, a dead mother who flies…
Horses in the Sky: Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company
Sydney Opera House, August 31. Israeli choreographer Rami Be’er wears his heart on his sleeve in Horses in the Sky. The name comes from a doleful song by Canadian band Silver Mt. Zion but inevitably summons thoughts of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the end of days, which are faced with defiance, fear, small…
Giselle: Royal New Zealand Ballet
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, August 23 Every traditional Giselle is drawn in the same broad strokes; it’s the myriad finer details that distinguish one production from another, making yet another Giselle not just another Giselle, but a vivid and immediate experience. At the end of the first act, for instance, Giselle lies dead, literally heartbroken…
Off the Record: Force Majeure with Dance Integrated Australia
Carriageworks, Sydney, August 17. Marnie Palomares has Alex Jones pinned against a wall and is trying to put words into his mouth. Literally. This would be a resonant image under any circumstances but as Jones is deaf it seems an even more intrusive and futile act than usual. Except it’s a moment that also feels…
Lest We Forget, Queensland Ballet
Queensland Performing Arts Centre, July 29. The Andrews Sisters style is all honey, sunshine and an irresistible life force, even when there’s a touch of wistfulness in the lyrics. No wonder the trio was so popular with US troops during World War II. The silken close harmonies, bouncy syncopations and light-on-the-feet melodies were made to…
Mr Gaga: Ohad Naharin and his Batsheva Dance Company
Any Australian with more than a passing interest in contemporary dance must have seen Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company. It could have been at Barrie Kosky’s Adelaide Festival in 1996 – my first acquaintance with Batsheva – or David Sefton’s Adelaide Festival of 2014. Possibly Melbourne’s festival in 2000 or 2015, or Jonathan Holloway’s final…
Character building: dance isn’t only for the young
The received wisdom is that ballet is strictly a young person’s game. When a classical dancer gets near or just beyond 40 there is much marveling at their longevity and conjecture about what they will do when they retire. There are always exceptions, of course. Think of the wondrous Alessandra Ferri, who on June 23…
