132 costumes, singers, decadent jewels: Queensland Ballet planning showstopper performance
Queensland Ballet is planning a glittering tribute to the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway in a spectacular showstopper.
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Chiara Gonzalez was in awe, watching from the wings of QPAC’s Lyric Theatre as Queensland Ballet dancers tapped, waltzed and tangoed through the repertoire of Strictly Gershwin.
It was 2016, and in a masterstroke for the company, it was the first time the Derek Deane ballet had been performed outside Britain.
The art-deco extravaganza featured more than 60 dancers, and Queensland Ballet had just 26 on their roster at the time. So, the entire Pre-Professional Program, which Gonzalez was then part of, was invited to join the corps de ballet for the larger numbers, American in Paris and Strike Up The Band.
Retired principal dancers Rachael Walsh and Christian Tatchev were among those who returned to the stage to deliver the sellout production.
In September, Strictly Gershwin will return to Brisbane, having taken seven years for the ballet’s many moving parts to align again – there are four guest vocalists, a concert pianist, a jazz orchestra on stage, the rights to the Gershwin music, and visiting choreographers, including Deane himself, to contend with. And in a testament to the company’s remarkable growth, Queensland Ballet now has those 60 dancers.
Gonzalez, having grown through the company’s young artist program and been promoted to soloist, will be among those centre stage.
“I’m so excited that Queensland Ballet is bringing it back,” Gonzalez, 26, beams, sitting down with Qweekend at the magnificent and newly refurbished Thomas Dixon Centre in West End during the first week of rehearsals.
“I just remember watching all the different pieces and all the company dancers with so much awe, it’s such a diverse program. There’s ballet, tap, ballroom, singing, there’s even rollerblading; I really admired them.
“I’m really looking forward to Rhapsody in Blue, it’s a beautiful piece, lots of dancers on stage, gorgeous costumes and of course the music. The tango as well, I remember watching that as a student. American in Paris, I love that scene, there’s so much going on.”
“It’s pretty surreal thinking back to those days,” she continues.
“To be a soloist myself, I have to pinch myself.”
Growing up on the Gold Coast, Gonzalez would often travel with her mother, Anastasia, a former professional dancer in South Africa, to watch Queensland Ballet productions.
They had moved to Australia when she was four and she would fish out her mother’s tutus and pointe shoes and perform for her family. Her older sister – she is one of three girls – was recruited to assist in lifts and twirls.
Moving quickly through the company, she was promoted to soloist by artistic director Li Cunxin in 2022 after getting an opportunity to perform in the lead role of Manon.
She had rehearsed meticulously for the show and refused to let a toe infection derail her on the night, dancing beautifully through the performance. She was surprised by her promotion, announced on stage by Li.
“Definitely worth it,” she smiles, nerves and adrenalin having taken over any pain in her foot. “I love being able to express myself through movement, especially on stage. It’s such a different feeling.
“I’m very nervous before I go on but as soon as I step on (stage) I feel quite centred and calm. That’s just a feeling I don’t think I can get doing anything else.”
She adds, “It’s been amazing having Li as my director this whole time. He has given me so many opportunities and I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without him. He has believed in me from the start. He’s taught us to be grateful and really appreciate what you have and that’s something I definitely live by.”
Li and his wife Mary Li – also a prominent influence in her teaching position as principal repetiteur – will both step aside at the end of this year to focus on their health, after a transformative 11 years at Queensland Ballet.
Dancers like Gonzalez, who have been nurtured through the different stages of the company, are among the many legacies they will leave behind.
“Mary has helped me a lot throughout the years. Just her coaching is phenomenal,” Gonzalez says.
“The way she makes you think of the corrections differently. She’ll say something quite abstract, like for example ‘sand’. It’s like code. And that means articulate your feet but just thinking of it in that different light changes it … so you’re always improving.”
Assistant artistic director Greg Horsman says: “Dancers, it just happens sometimes that they start to flower and things start to happen, and that’s what happened with Chiara; she’s just beautiful to watch on stage.
“We’ve been able to watch her develop … and I’m so happy that she’s started that journey up to the top of her career, hopefully, and I have no doubt that she’ll reach that.”
Horsman is the perfect hand to guide Strictly Gershwin, having danced for the English National Ballet – where the production was created. He also worked with choreographer Derek Deane on his productions of Alice in Wonderland, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Deane will travel to Brisbane for the final two weeks of rehearsals, and he will have a hand in final casting.
“We will be able to put on more casts than what we did last time,” Horsman says, noting the company’s growth since 2016.
“They all learn multiple roles. There’s a lot in Gershwin, there’s a lot of dancing, and I think everybody is going to be fairly busy.
“But we are all really happy at Queensland Ballet that we are able to bring it to the stage in Brisbane.
“It’s a hard one to put on. There’s lots of moving parts … and you have to get all of those elements right.”
When those elements do come together, of course, it’s magic.
Strictly Gershwin is a magnificent tribute to the Gershwin brothers’ music and the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway.
A homage to a transformative era of dance, Deane’s choreography blends classical ballet, tap and ballroom dancing.
The orchestra and guest singers share the stage for the performance in an added visual flair.
The ballet features 132 costumes – dazzling tutus and glittering suits purchased from the English National Ballet – each paired beautifully with a Gershwin piece. Brisbane jeweller Margot McKinney, who is a presenting partner for the ballet, will adorn the singers in decadent jewels.
Walsh, now Queensland Ballet’s Director of Foundation and Endowment, will again come out of retirement to perform in the production.
“For me the most exciting part about the ballet is the Gershwin music because it’s so fantastic and really represents a certain era of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and that golden age of Hollywood,” Horsman says.
“We’ve got the orchestra on stage, beautiful costumes and I think from our point of view it’s a ballet that attracts people that maybe don’t normally come to the ballet, they can sit there and sing along to the songs and watch the beautiful movement that Derek Deane has created. There’s a lot on offer.”
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