Queensland Ballet (QB) will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2020 with a season that is equal parts old and new works, honouring the past whilst also looking to the future.
Headlining the program is the company’s 60th Anniversary Gala (20-28 March), which will see QB dancers joined by international guest stars to pay tribute to the contributions of the company’s five artistic directors – Charles Lisner OBE, Harry Haythorne, Harold Collins MBE, Francois Klaus and Li Cunxin AO. The program will include excerpts from iconic works, including Charles Lisner’s Chopin pas de deux (1965), Jacqui Carroll’s Carmina Burana (1982), Harold Collins’s The Lady of the Camellias (1996) and Francois Klaus’s The Little Mermaid (2003) and Cloudland (2004). The season will culminate in Harald Lander’s homage to classical ballet, Études (1948).
Another highlight for 2020 will see QB present Shanghai Ballet, performing The Lady of the Camellias, a tragic story of love and sacrifice based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic 1848 novel. The guest season will take place in March.
The Anniversary Gala will be followed by Krzystof Pastor’s Dracula (co-produced with West Australian Ballet) in May, Bespoke, the company’s annual season of new contemporary works, in July/August, Greg Horsman’s Sleeping Beauty in September/October and Ben Stevenson’s Nutcracker in December.
In April QB will tour Dangerous Liaisons to Melbourne, and in June/July the company will be joined by Jette Parker Young Artists and Pre-Professional Program dancers as it performs a program of classical and contemporary dance entitled “Tutus on Tour” to regional audiences.
The program will also include Peter and the Wolf, by Greg Horsman, presented as part of QB’s My First Ballet series in August, Queensland Ballet Academy’s "Gala" in October and the annual “Synergy” season, which sees dancers from the company’s Pre-Professional and Jette Parker Yound Artist Program join the company to perform new works by emerging and established choreographers, in November.
For more info head to www.queenslandballet.com.au