The Australian Ballet ends 2023 with Swan Lake and 16 promotions

The Australian Ballet’s 60th anniversary celebrations came to a close in Sydney with Swan Lake and with promotions for 16 dancers – about 20 per cent of the company. TAB ended 2023 with 67 dancers although that number will increase to 77 when three new soloists and seven new corps de ballet members join next year. Swan Lake was…

Three Giselles at Queensland Ballet, Brisbane, April 14 and 15, 2023

Li Cunxin first programmed Giselle a decade ago in his first year as artistic director of Queensland Ballet. He had three leading casts – enough, you would think. Then a spate of injuries, including one on opening night that led to replacement leads dancing the second act, found Li having to scramble to save another performance at…

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…