WA Ballet contemporary program

The West Australian Ballet is about to take up residency at Perth's State Theatre with the perfectly titled 'State' contemporary ballet season.

The company is presenting a triple bill, including two new works, by creators who are, as Acting Artistic Director David McAllister says, "three outstanding choreographers" . . . who are each unique artists but well known to Perth audiences.  

After receiving rave reviews for his Ballet at the Quarry commissions in 2022 and 2023, Polish choreographer Robert Bondara is returning to create a new piece, Nothing Twice, which is inspired by a Wiesława Szymborska poem of the same name and explores the concept of time.

The second new work on the program is by Perth-born, internationally acclaimed choreographer James O'Hara, called mattering. 

The third piece is a collaboration with Perth's main contemporary company, Co3 Contemporary Dance. Founding Artistic Director Raewyn Hill will present CARNIVALE.6, which is inspired by Spanish bullfighting and a dancing plague of 1518. Described as "relentless and frenzied", it will be performed by an ensemble of both Co3 and West Australian Ballet dancers. This presentation will demonstrate the work's evolution since its debut in 2012 with the Australian Ballet to subsequent presentations by Co3, Dancenorth, New Zealand School of Dance, LINK Dance Company, and a recent showcase at Parliament House.

'State: Contemporary Vision' runs from May 31 to June 8. For more information, go here.