Anna Karenina to headline The Australian Ballet’s 2020 season
Tolstoy’s classic love story Anna Karenina will come to life on the Sydney stage as a highlight of The Australian Ballet’s 2020 season.
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Imogen Chapman has already started reading Tolstoy’s 1878 novel Anna Karenina. Kevin Jackson is planning to watch the film instead.
Their research methods differ, but both dancers will be fully across the details of the story — not to mention the dance steps — by the time The Australian Ballet premieres its new production of the snow-swept and tragic Russian love story.
Anna Karenina is the epic centrepiece of The Australian Ballet’s 2020 season, announced today by artistic director David McAllister.
Anna Karenina tells the story of a married woman whose love for another man ends in tragedy on the railway tracks.
McAllister said Anna is a dream opportunity for the ballerinas of his company to showcase their versatility. It opens in Sydney on April 30 before being seen in Melbourne.
Anna Karenina is choreographed by Yuri Possockhov, a former Bolshoi Ballet dancer whose style combines classicism with an “inventive, modern feel”, McAllister said.
“It will be a really dramatic, passionate role,” Chapman said.
Jackson said the choreography was eloquent and tight.
“Every step is meaningful. It’s not unnecessary fluff,” Jackson said.
Anna Karenina is a co-production between The Australian Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet of America. It premiered in Chicago in 2019 and Sydney will be its first international showing.
The Ballet’s 2020 season will also include The Happy Prince. The ballet was to premiere this year, but choreographer Graeme Murphy’s illness delayed the production.
The Happy Prince is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s celebrated story about a golden statue who sacrifices himself to relieve the suffering of the poor.
The Ballet will also present rising Australian choreographer Alice Topp’s new work, Logos, as part of a triple bill of contemporary ballet called Volt.
Molto is another triple bill under preparation for 2020. It will include three distinct works from the past 50 years — Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country (1976), Tim Harbour’s Squander and Glory (2017) and Stephen Baynes’ Molto Vivace (2003).
Today’s announcement was tinged with poignancy, with McAllister to step aside from his role at the end of next year.
“He’s given such a legacy over 20 years and before that as a dancer,” Jackson said.
“So just to celebrate his passion and drive throughout the whole year, it will be really special.”
Jackson is a principal dancer with the Ballet, and Chapman a soloist. While casting is yet to be announced, both are odds-on to appear in lead roles in Anna Karenina.
For full details of The Australian Ballet’s 2020 season, go to australianballet.com.au