★★★★✰ Celebration Gala is not a red-carpet event with super stars on the stage but instead, a well curated showcase of The Australian Ballet’s principal artists, senior artists and soloists dancing in 10 different pas de deux.
Author - Valerie Lawson
Valerie is the author of three books, has recently launched her own website, www.dancelines.com.au and is now writing a history of dance in Australia.
Valerie Lawson on an important series, by WildBear Entertainment, excavating Australian Ballet's past and what's happening now for the company, with all the complications of Covid-19.
★★★★✰ After nearly a year away from dancing for live audiences Australian Ballet are back with a gala - Summertime at the Ballet - and at an unusual location, the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
David McAllister, about to step down as the artistic director of Australian Ballet, has just released his memoir and it proves enlightening and candid reading about both the company and the man himself...
★★★★✰ the man of the moment on opening night was Igor Tsvirko as Spartacus whose stamina, elevation, turns, partnering, and fouettés were staggering in their execution.
★★★★★ As you would expect Diamonds was the highlight of the three part Jewels.
★★★★✰ Nicoletta Manni’s performances in Don Quixote and Giselle on the last three days of Teatro alla Scala ballet company’s season in Australia was extraordinary, not just for her stamina and resilience, but her acting skills.
★★★★✰ The Merry Widow is Robert Helpmann’s great gift to the Australian Ballet. It premiered in November 1975 and has been staged more than 400 times since.
★★★✰✰ Within this potpourri of Graeme Murphy’s works, the highlight was "Grand", a charming and poignant tribute he created in 2005 for his mother, a pianist, who died the previous year.
Royal Ballet The Winter’s Tale ★★★★✰ Brisbane, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Gallery of pictures (Apr 2014, London) by Dave Morgan 5 July 2017 www.roh.org.uk www.qpac.com.au From his choreography for the dance movie, Centre Stage, to his latest hit musical, An American in Paris, Christopher Wheeldon knows how to capture audiences, keep their attention and send them out to the foyers with a...
★★★★✰ For the Royal Ballet, there could not have been a better start to their Australian tour than Ferri’s performance as Clarissa Dalloway in the first act of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works.
★★★★✰ "...the emotional impact of this uniquely Australian Nutcracker remains as powerful as ever."
★★★✰✰ Even after his death, Vaslav Nijinsky suffered from the power and control of others...
★★★★✰ In music, mood and dynamics the Australian Ballet’s new triple bill, Vitesse, represents three elements, water, fire and air.
One of the go-to international choreographers, particularly if you want something arresting and unusual, is Alexander Ekman. His "Cacti", appropriately featuring a stage full of Cacti, is about to be presented by Royal New Zealand Ballet and Sydney Dance Company - Valerie Lawson catches up with a dance maverick...
With a feast of baroque extravagance that would please the Sun King himself David McAllister’s new Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet is destined for a long life in the company’s repertoire.
After the long famine, Ashton’s ballets made a welcome return this week with the company’s triple bill under the umbrella title, The Dream.
During the season, and over five nights, I saw each of the five Giselles – Dorothee Gilbert, Myriam Ould-Braham, Ludmila Pagliero, Isabelle Ciaravola and Melanie Hurel, and four Albrechts...
Rawlins, 39, shared the numerous curtain calls with Colin Peasley, who must surely have broken some records for the longest full-time dancing career with one ballet company in history. His first appearance with the Australian Ballet was in Swan Lake in November 1962...
Ethan Stiefel formally retired from dancing with ABT this summer, but has been hard at work as Director of RNZB for over a year now. On the eve of company announcements about their 2013 season and the premiere of Giselle, his first commissioned production, Valerie Lawson catches up with him...