The Australian Ballet has announced its 2023 season: a line-up that revisits some landmark works from the company's 60 year history as well as introduces some brand new creations.
One of the most historically significant ballets in the company's repertoire is Rudolf Nurevev's Don Quixote, first mounted for the Adelaide Festival in 1970 and then made into a film three years later. Starring Nureyev himself as Basilio, alongside Robert Helpmann as the mad Don and Lucette Aldous as the vivacious Kitri, the film put the company on the world map. Don Quixote will start the company's year in Melbourne in March followed by Sydney in April.
Another interesting revival will be Anne Woolliams's Swan Lake. Woolliams was the Australian Ballet's third artistic director from 1976 to 1977. For 2023 her much admired production will be "reimagined" by the company's present artistic director, David Hallberg. Swan Lake will be performed in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney in the second half of the year.
Also classical, but in the modern vein, is Balanchine's famous Jewels, the three-act plotless ballet inspired by "the essence" of rubies, emeralds and diamonds with costumes by the legendary Karinska. Requiring exacting classical technique, this will be the first time the company has performed the ballet. Jewels will be held in Sydney in May and Melbourne in June/July.
Australia's traditional artists will also be featured in next year's season, with First Nations choreographer Daniel Riley, now artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre, creating a new work for a program with the overarching title of "Identity". He will bring together the ADT dancers with those from the Australian Ballet and a new orchestral score by Deborah Cheetham in THE HUM, which "celebrates a resonance between our musicians, our dancers and the swell of our land". This will be part of a double bill alongside a new work by resident choreographer Alice Topp called Paragon, which "explores the pursuit of perfection and excellence in the art form of ballet". Sydney and Melbourne in May and June respectively.
In Sydney only, the company will present an Ashton double-bill of The Dream and Marguerite and Armand in November, while in Melbourne the company will host a visit by the Tokyo Ballet, performing Giselle in July.
For full details, go here.