Ballet Under the Stars

Framed through the universally recognised scene of a wedding ceremony, The Vow is a new Australian commission exploring the complications of love, and the idea that partnership is a choice, not a destiny.

Centred around the narrative of a bride, Peggy, her groom, Robert and Peggy’s ex, Peter, choreographer Lucas Jervies has created an Australian-centric work featuring characters inspired by key figures from The Australian Ballet’s formative years, including Dame Peggy van Praagh, Sir Robert Helpmann and Peter Baines.

Set to an arrangement of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite by Tormod Tvete Vik, The Vow pays tribute to the company’s history through a playful and romantic modern fable.

Premiering in 1856 in Paris, Le Corsaire was initially choreographed by Joseph Mazilier before undergoing several revisions by Marius Petipa, the choreographer of landmark ballets including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. Le Corsaire has since become one of the most revised ballets of the 20th Century, with further updates and changes by several of ballet’s most influential choreographers over 100 years.

This elegant pas de deux demands seemingly effortless control and precise partnering, as well as technical excellence in the challenging solos.

Making its Australian premiere in 2022 as a feature of DanceX, I New Then is a comic, romantic dance theatre piece set to songs by Van Morrison. Created by Swedish choreographer Joseph Inger, I New Then is a nostalgic adventure that explores the joyful purity of youth and the challenges of adolescence into adulthood.

Don Quixote moves from a rowdy Barcelona port to the ethereal happenings of The Don’s dream, to the candle-lit finery of the wedding celebration. A spirited ballet bursting with humour, the story follows the barber Basilio, who wins the hand of his girlfriend Kitri with the help of the visionary knight.

Season 2023 marks fifty years since the release of the genre defining film of Don Quixote, created for our company by legendary dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev and former Artistic Director Sir Robert Helpmann. Our upcoming Don Quixote season at Arts Centre Melbourne sees us recreate the spectacular sets of the film for the stage, in a lively production paying tribute to all those who have shaped the incredible company we have today.

The excerpt performed tonight is the Act 3 finale featuring the wedding celebration of lovers Kitri and Basilio along with Kitri’s bridesmaids and celebratory fandango couples.