The Australian Ballet: Vanguard

The Australian Ballet:  "Vanguard"
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 30 April

Watching the Australian Ballet’s "Vanguard" triple-bill is an educative experience, rather like having an informal lesson in dance history at the theatre. The three ballets shown, Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Kylian’s Bella Figura and McGregor’s Dyad 1929 span six decades and are shown in chronological order. This arrangement allows viewers to get an idea of how contemporary ballet has evolved over the course of the evening and makes for a cohesive program but also results in a loss of the sharp contrasts and juxtapositions between works that show them in a new light and make triple-bills come alive.

All of the ballets featured in "Vanguard" have an underlying concept that was explained in the program but were essentially abstract in form and paired with sparse design elements that focused attention on the body. And in this case, while each individual ballet was well worth seeing the whole experience was less than the sum of its parts. However on the positive side there were some great performances by certain dancers, and a stronger focus than usual on the musicians themselves which was heartening as musicians are generally hidden away in the orchestra pit, and not properly thanked or acknowledged.

Lana Jones featured prominently in all three works and was particularly impressive in the Choleric solo of The Four Temperaments, whereby she entered the stage in a breathtaking whirlwind of energy and force. In contrast, Kevin Jackson accurately expressed the constrained sadness of Melancholic in a trio with Dana Stephenson and Laura Tong. And in the Sanguinic section of the same ballet Leanne Stojmenov stood out for the expansive, fluid use of her upper body and arms that allowed her to fill the stage to an extent that belied her petite stature. Interestingly, The Four Temperaments was staged by the Australian Ballet’s very own ballet mistress Eve Lawson, who is steeped in the Balanchine style and also a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust. So perhaps we shall be seeing more of the Balanchine repertoire in coming seasons.

Jiri Kylian’s Bella Figura is a soulful, expressive work that shows human flaws in alternately tender, then amusing lights. This work is most often remembered for its costuming or lack thereof (the female dancers appear topless in some sections) but there is nothing gratuitous about the partial nudity in this work. Although Bella Figura is set to an assortment of musical works from composers including Antonio Vivaldi and Giovanni Pergolesi, the arrangement sounds coherent and on opening night guest singers Celeste Lazarenko and Anna Dowsley contributed greatly to its lustrous ambience while dancers Rudy Hawkes, Madeleine Eastoe and Miwako Kubota were all standouts.

A fraught atmosphere is maintained in Dyad 1929 as the dancers’ bodies are pushed to the extreme in almost every movement. Wayne McGregor has a very distinct choreographic style and it is interesting to watch but his fast transitions in dynamics from one extreme to another make the movement look more repetitive than it is. With a relatively small cast of twelve dancers the stage looked a bit empty at the final curtain call until conductor Nicolette Fraillon joined them onstage, bringing the musicians who had played Steve Reich’s Double Sextet for Dyad 1929 along too. The orderly lines and spacing of the Australian Ballet’s usual curtain calls was lost but it was well worth it to see the dancers and musicians taking bows together on stage!

- GERALDINE HIGGINSON

"Vanguard" plays the Sydney Opera House until 18 May and then will travel to Arts Centre Melbourne, 6-17 June.  More info: www.australianballet.com.au