Queensland Ballet releases program for 2021

Queensland Ballet is set to announce its 2021 program, with the season kicking off with a 60th anniversary gala to celebrate the company’s history.

Queensland Ballet's Li Cunxin with Queensland Ballet academy student Dani Gibson. Picture: Peter Wallis

There are no real surprises in Queensland Ballet’s season 2021 but no-one will be complaining about that. Because all the treats we were expecting in 2020 are back and we will now see them next year.

The company’s artistic director, Li Cunxin, will today announce the highly anticipated program for season 2021 after a testing year.

“The much anticipated 60th Anniversary Gala will open the season in March with a journey back to the past to celebrate the ballets throughout Queensland Ballet’s history since its first performance by founder Charles Lisner’s Company,” Mr Li said.

“Our gala is a celebration of where the company has come from and where its bold ambitions are taking us. Our acclaimed dancers will be featuring excerpts from some of our most beloved ballets created during the tenures of previous artistic directors.”

Queensland Ballet artistic director Li Cunxin is thrilled to be able to present this year’s program next year. Photo Mark Cranitch.

The gala was meant to be held this year but was scotched when the pandemic hit, sending the dancers home and online. Mr Li said that despite the troubles of 2020 the company, with the help of government and sponsors, was able to retain its entire retinue of 60 dancers and was able to get back on stage sooner than expected.

That started with Brisbane Powerhouse’s Lights On series and has continued since then with a production of Giselle at HOTA on the Gold Coast, last week’s triumphant The Best of The Nutcracker at QPAC and the company will finish the year this week when 60 Dancers: 60 Stories, a show the company created in lockdown and which debuted online takes the stage at the Playhouse.

This ballet will be a chance to farewell two of the company’s ballerinas - principal artist Laura Hidalgo and company artist Tonia Looker, both of whom retire after this week’s shows.

The Nutcracker is the company’s annual Christmas show and when theatre capacity moved to 100 per cent Mr Li and the company scrambled to stage a redacted version of the family favourite with five shows last week in the Concert Hall at QPAC.

This production was a revelation and audiences were ecstatic at the brilliance of the adaptation. It was nothing short of a triumph and it buoyed the company’s spirits and on opening night Mr Li made an impassioned speech thanking supporters, audiences and his dancers.

Today he will unveil a season that is basically one he prepared earlier.

“While we are not out of the woods we see the news of theatres returning to 100 per cent capacity as a sign that life is starting to return to normal,” Mr Li said.

The 60th Anniversary Gala will feature highlights from over the decades and will include an excerpt from former artistic director Francois Klaus’s acclaimed and very Brisbane ballet Cloudland.

Dancers Mia Heathcote and Victor Estevez recreate some of the mood of Cloudland which will be presented as part of Queensland Ballet’s 60th Gala next year. Picture, John Gass

The company will stage The Sleeping Beauty in June, will take Tutus on Tour to the regions in August and will present Peter and the Wolf in September.

In October it will be time for Bespoke, the company’s showcase of exciting new work by local choreographers and in November they will present what was one of the most anticipated events of 2020 that never happened - the ballet Dracula, a co-production with West Australian Ballet of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire story.

“Unlike anything we’ve ever done before this gothic tale is reimagined by celebrated Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor who brings to our audiences a dark and sensuous love story like no other,” Mr Li said.

A bonus event next year will be the Queensland Ballet Academy’s end of year showcase Summer Soiree and of course the year will finish with The Nutcracker, the full production rather than the express version, as terrific as it was.

Mr Li said later in 2021 the company would open the company’s refurbished home at the Thomas Dixon Centre which is being transformed into a world leading performance arts centre at a cost of around $62 million.

The heritage-listed site will feature six studios, and a 357-seat studio theatre, cafe, bunker bar, rooftop terrace, wellness suite and gardens. The original brickwork will be restored, and the World War II air-raid shelters will be transformed into an industrial-chic bar.

The development will also feature a stage to match the size of QPAC’s Lyric Theatre so that Queensland Ballet can rehearse full productions.