The Australian Ballet to showcase three full-length ballets in 2020 program
Drama, spectacle and the very best dancing will be celebrated in The Australian Ballet’s season next year — including one ballet described as “the most beautiful production in the world”.
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The Australian Ballet’s 2020 season consolidates the star power retiring artistic director David McAllister has brought to the company over the past 20 years.
Fresh, inventive and full of energy, next year’s season features three new full-length ballets.
Headlining the program is a new production of Anna Karenina, Graeme Murphy’s The Happy Prince and a comedic ballet, Harlequinade, which has been rediscovered by the world’s most in-demand choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky, especially for The Australian Ballet.
A highlight is sure to be Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina. As a former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, Possokhov captures the intense dramatic heart of Tolstoy’s tragedy — and McAllister said it was nothing short of spectacular.
“It’s the most beautiful production in the world,” McAllister ssaid.
“The Russian sense of drama that is innate in the music, choreography and design is exquisite.”
It hasn’t always been the most popular ballet but this new version, a joint project with the Joffrey Ballet, is acclaimed as a masterpiece with projections that are cinematic in scale.
“We have been working on this co-production since 2014 and this production takes the ballet another step ahead,” McAllister said.
The other full-length works are Graeme Murphy’s The Happy Prince and Harelquinade by star choreographer Ratmansky.
“I’ve been wanting to get Alexei to come back after Cinderella and we’ve talked about different productions but this was the one that flew,” he said.
“Harlequinade hasn’t been seen since its premiere in 1900 but he has reconstructed it so it feels so current and vibrant.”
The two mixed programs give young choreographer Alice Topp another chance to shine, creating a new work, Logos, in Volt, along with Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Dyad.
In the other mixed program, Molto, are two works from resident choreographers, and one of the great gems in the ballet repertoire is Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country.
“Ashton is a choreographer we haven’t done a lot but I really love this ballet and Sir Anthony Dowell, who manages Ashton’s repertoire, is very protective of it,” said McAllister.
“He doesn’t give it away very often because it’s so dependent on the dancers but after he worked with some of our principals on A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, he saw that we have great artists to take this on. It was performed by the Royal Ballet in 1988 and hasn’t been done since so we’re thrilled to have it.”
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McAllister sees his 2020 programming as the culmination of his 20 years as The Australian Ballet’s artistic director, combining much-loved revivals with exciting new works.
The theme for 2020 is Limitless Possibilities.
“This is my last full season with The Australian Ballet, and I hope audiences are as excited as I am to see the challenging and thrilling works of this season across our nation and marvel in the limitless possibilities of The Australian Ballet,” he said.
“A lot of the programs we’re doing in this season are things the company has been working on for a couple of years so it’snice they have come home to roost in my last year.
“I feel so proud of what the company has done in my time. It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to chart the artistic course of The Australian Ballet over these past 20 years, continuing to honour our traditions and the art form while also encouraging new artists to reflect our current environment and create a vision of the future.
Originally published as The Australian Ballet to showcase three full-length ballets in 2020 program