The West Australian Ballet has launched its 2014 season, the first under new artistic director Aurelien Scannella. At a gathering at the ABC Centre on Thursday last week, the company unveiled a program that promises to combine “modernisation, innovation, tradition and freshness”.
Scannella announced six Australian premieres, most of which will introduce some European choreographers for the first time to Australian audiences.
His first program for the year, at the annual Quarry season in February, represents everything that Scannella believes contemporary ballet should be. The bill will include Radio and Juliet, a bold revision of the Shakespeare classic set to the music of Radiohead by Romanian choreographer Edward Clug that asks the question: What if Juliet chose to live?
Also on the Quarry bill will be two pieces by Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, who Scannella says is “enormously popular in Europe”. His The Sofa and Mono Lisa have received rave reviews wherever they are performed. Rounding off the night is the premiere of Epic Fail by Australian Lucas Jervies. “I met Lucas at Scapino in Rotterdam,” Scannella explained in his speech at the launch, “and enjoyed his crazy personality” as well as his gift for choreography.
The next major season for the year will revert to pure classicism, with a production of Giselle staged in May by Scannella with his wife Sandy Delasalle. That will be followed in September with an example of what Scannella believes is a perfect update of a classic: La Fille mal gardee relocated in time to the 1950s by French choreographer Marc Ribaud. This production will tour to the Canberra Theatre Centre from October 15 – 18.
Finally, just in time for the festive season, will come the Australian premiere of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. This ballet was created by Hungarian choreographer Gyula Harangozo for the Hungarian State Opera in 2004 and has become a box office hit.
The whole year has been given the overall title of “Mercury”, invoking the similarity between dance and mercury’s magical flowing properties.
Scannella also announced he would be changing the company’s structure from a non-ranked ensemble to a ranked system. Jiri Jelinek, Brooke Widdison-Jacobs, Fiona Evans, Sergey Pevnev, Matthew Lehmann and Jayne Smeulders have been made principals, while Sarah Sutcliffe and Daniel Roberts are soloists.
For more info go to www.waballet.com.au
Watch the launch video below: