12 Feb 2021
Ty King-Wall and Amber Scott. Photo Pierre Toussaint
Never before, in the six decades of The Australian Ballet's history, has the company been unable to perform. With your help and support we weathered 2020, and now we want to say thank you. Our dancers are bursting with excitement about returning to the spotlight and meeting their audiences again. Be there when they walk out on stage - we will certainly be feeling the emotion, and we're sure you will be too!
What a program! Starting off with Orchestra Victoria playing the stirring piece 'The Huntresses', from Delibes' Sylvia, this greatest-hits gala includes pure classical pas de deux, spectacular contemporary pieces and excerpts from some of our most beloved signature works. If you've been hungering for ballet, this smorgasbord is sure to satisfy.
The perfection of this excerpt from La Bayadère - choreographed by Marius Petipa, who would go on to create Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty - will live long in your memory. Twenty-four dancers in white tutus, moving in perfect unison, a hypnotic procession set in a nirvana that transcends death. It's one of the great tests of a classical corps and at its best is a miracle of precision and grace.
In between the melting romance of our neoclassical offerings and pyrotechnic pas de deux, we have excerpts from some of our most recent contemporary works. Thrill to the explosive trio from Tim Harbour's Filigree and Shadow and gladiator moves from Lucas Jervies' powerful 2018 production of Spartacus. Those who missed out on our Volt season, cut short by COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, can enjoy a duo from Alice Topp's Logos, made especially for that triple bill.
The culmination of Summertime at the Ballet will be the final passages of George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, set to Tchaikovsky, dressed beautifully in Hugh Colman tutus and using the whole ensemble. We can't think of a better way to bid you farewell after dancing up a summer storm for you.
