16th February 2012
Reviewed by Bill Stephens
Georgina Haggerty, Jessica Ausserlechner, Jennifer Provis,
Allessandra D'Arbe, Victoria Maughn, Anna Ishii
in
"SERENADE"
(Photo by Jon Green)
A quick trip to Perth provided the opportunity for my second look at the West Australian Ballet in just a few months. The West Australian Ballet, currently celebrating its 60th Anniversary, was seen in Canberra last November, when it presented a season of its excellent production of “Cinderella”.
I was lucky enough to catch a performance of “Ballet at the Quarry” which is the W.A. Ballet’s contribution to the 2012 Perth Festival.
The program consisted of four short ballets, the first of which, “Strings 32”, was given its premiere in this program and proved the perfect opener and a delightful showcase for the company,
Choreographed by Artistic Director, Ivan Cavallari, and danced to the string music of Paganini, Bartok, Bach and Kreisler, “Strings 32” opened dramatically with all the dancers lying on stage, feet to audience. One by one the dancers sat up and introduced themselves, each with a single sentence into a microphone.
A lone violinist (Madeleine Antoine) dressed in a flowing white ball gown, entered, initiating a series of energetic solos, duos, trios and groups, for most of which the dancers were dressed in variety of figure-hugging unitards. They were also tethered to long white strings which formed patterns as they danced.
Highlights included an intricate, reflective trio, danced by Fiona Evans, Matthew Lehman and Daryl Brandwood, and a superbly realised duo danced by Jayne Smeulders and Milos Mutavdzic. The ballet ended gently with all the dancers carrying floating white balloons as the violinist, her gown now completely covered in white balloons, strolled among them, creating a memorable finale.
I was particularly looking forward with re-acquainting myself with Balanchine’s “Serenade”, and it’s difficult to imagine a more beautiful setting in which to watch this signature Balanchine ballet than under the stars at Perth’s lovely Quarry Amphitheatre, fanned, as I was, by a balmy breeze and sipping on a glass of sparkling champagne.
Augmented by students of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, the dancers, dressed in flowing pale blue costumes, were a breathtaking sight during the stirring opening, and completely mesmerising during the lush waltz movement. Even though this ballet was created in 1934, when danced as well as it was at this performance, with its pure classical lines and lyricism, it still retains the capacity to enchant, and this performance completely lived up to my expectations.
Augmented by students of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, the dancers, dressed in flowing pale blue costumes, were a breathtaking sight during the stirring opening, and completely mesmerising during the lush waltz movement. Even though this ballet was created in 1934, when danced as well as it was at this performance, with its pure classical lines and lyricism, it still retains the capacity to enchant, and this performance completely lived up to my expectations.
in
THE SIXTH BOROUGH
(Photo by Jon Green)
“The Sixth Borough” offered a complete change of pace. Created by Reed Luplau, to a funky score which included pieces by Maroon 5, Daft Punk, and Scanner, and danced in a pseudo-nightclub setting, the movement was athletic, daring, cheeky and sexy and the dancers obviously revelled in its challenges. Although diminutive Andre Santos had the best opportunities, and made the most of them, all the dancers impressed with their ability to dance the complex contemporary choreography with style and panache.
Perhaps it was the sudden dip in temperature, but the final ballet on the program “Rhetoric”, also a premiere, choreographed by Terence Kohler to music by Carl Vine, seemed out of sync with the rest of the program, and certainly to me, a strange choice with which to end the evening.
Apparently inspired by an online role-playing game, the work features dancers manhandling large prism-shaped objects around the stage, each with a word such as “escapist”, “hyper”, “script”, “cyber” and “modernism” written on it.
The dancers mostly wore brown unitards, some with medieval helmets, breastplates with splashes of red cloth. At times a battle appeared to be taking place, about what, I could not work out. The ballet felt and looked curiously old-fashioned, and despite some interesting choreographic moments, I found myself distracted trying to work out the significance of the words on the prisms, and if there was an obvious solution I did'nt get it, nor in fact to many of the audience who seemed slightly bemused as they moved towards their cars. Perhaps I should bone up on online role play.
Maybe the idea for “Rhetoric” seemed better on paper than in realisation, and anyway, three hits out of four is a good score, especially given that the rest of the evening had been so delightful.
However many of the audience attending these outdoor events may be experiencing ballet for the first time, so perhaps a more sure-fire crowd pleaser to end the program may have been a better strategy. Also I'd like to suggest that consideration be given to offering some pas de deux or solos to entertain audiences between the longer, rather than those long dark pauses which allowed so much of the atmosphere to drain away.
These whinges aside, it was a pleasure to see the West Australian Ballet on their home turf and looking and dancing so impressively, and to experience, at last, "Ballet at the Quarry".
Dancers of the West Australian Ballet warming up at the Quarry prior
to the performance.
