It’s been known for some time that Queensland Ballet is in financial difficulty. This week we discovered it is in the process of cutting staff from behind the scenes and within its company of about 60 dancers. It’s a heartbreaking reversal of fortune for the company remade and substantially expanded under the artistic directorship of…
Tag: Queensland Ballet
Romeo & Juliet. Queensland Ballet. Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane, March 22 and 26, 2025
It’s all change at Queensland Ballet. Again. The company is far from being the only arts organisation experiencing some turmoil – here’s looking at you, Opera Australia – but every company’s woes are its own. These are interesting times as QB continues to regroup after the retirement of transformational artistic director Li Cunxin. Li left…
Ivan Gil-Ortega named new artistic director of Queensland Ballet
Queensland Ballet has chosen Ivan Gil-Ortega to be its next artistic director. The Spanish-born international artist will be the company’s seventh AD. He will start in February after a period of considerable turmoil for QB. Gil-Ortega’s high-profile predecessor, Leanne Benjamin, stayed in the role for only six months. In a statement at the time Benjamin…
Bespoke. Queensland Ballet, Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, Brisbane, July 25
Queensland Ballet’s commitment to its Bespoke program is important and necessary for the company, for choreographers and for the QB dancers. Bespoke isn’t the only place where new work happens but it is specifically and only for the new, and a place where boundaries can be stretched a bit. This year’s Bespoke opened with the…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Scarlett). Queensland Ballet, Playhouse, Brisbane, April 16, 2024
There is a great deal of joy in Liam Scarlett’s deliciously funny, sensual A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And – always – a great deal of sadness that his life was so short. Yesterday, April 16, was the third anniversary of his death. He was just 35 and the maker of many one-act works for major companies…
Three ballet companies, three distinctive looks in 2023
Australia’s three leading classical companies have released their 2023 programs, each with a distinctive flavour. The Australian Ballet has a deeply glamorous 60thanniversary season, West Australian Ballet’s line-up gratifyingly features a strong list of female choreographers and at Queensland Ballet the premiere of Cathy Marston’s My Brilliant Career will make Brisbane a must in June. Another must…
Manon, Queensland Ballet, QPAC, September 28 and 29, 2022
Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon premiered in 1974, not quite a decade after his Romeo and Juliet, and in some ways is the earlier ballet’s dark twin. Each has as its heart young lovers in a hostile environment whose instant attraction to one another ends in tragedy; each has hugely coveted leading roles of the kind that make reputations. Queensland…
New Breed, Sydney Dance Company
Carriageworks, Sydney, December 6 The mysteries of dance and dancemaking are great. What drives the need to watch this person closely and not that one? Why does a work speak to something deep within while another is superficially entertaining? How is it that one is engaged intellectually and emotionally with one piece of dance while…
Bespoke, Queensland Ballet
Brisbane Powerhouse, November 9. This year’s Bespoke triple bill could hardly be more diverse. It starts with neo-classicism and finishes with emotions, memories and personalities to the fore. In between the two is a work that insists dancers and audiences go well beyond their comfort zone and deliberately defies easy analysis. That work in the…
Queensland and West Australian ballet companies of one mind in 2020
Queensland Ballet announced its 2020 season in mid-September; West Australian Ballet in this past week. The nation’s leading state ballet companies are different in scale and usually in repertoire but their seasons next year have some striking similarities. West Australian Ballet offers a repeat season of Krzysztof Pastor’s full-length Dracula in September 2020 after its…
deborah jones: FollowSpot 