Ballet returns with a New York twist, and an unexpected hurdle

Fresh from quarantine in Sydney, The Australian Ballet's new star artistic director David Hallberg flew to Melbourne for the company's first 2021 season rehearsal on Monday. And he discovered a surprising problem.

"We haven't gotten our exemption to partner," he says. "We haven't gotten the all-clear."

The Australian Ballet artistic director David Hallberg.Credit: Daniel Boud / The Australian Ballet

That means for the time being, the corps can dance together but they can't touch each other. This ultimate physical expression of the arts can't yet get physical, because lingering health restrictions from Melbourne's winter pandemic wave still mandate 1.5-metre social distancing for rehearsals, until the rules change or an exemption can be negotiated.

The Ballet had a "return to the studio" plan for the dancers, approved by the government, which will only allow partnering to commence next year. To keep in line with restrictions, the group's first rehearsal was for a piece that doesn't require touching; the pieces that do need contact will be rehearsed in the new year once it's allowed.

"It will be a moment," says Hallberg of the time when a dancer lifts another for the first time in many months. "This is such a physical artform. You really become in tune with not only yourself but the people you dance with."

Hallberg is ecstatic to be here. The New Yorker, one of world ballet's hottest names, was the surprise pick to take over from local hero David McAllister and on Tuesday announced his first season (actually, a hybrid of his own plans and McAllister's, thanks to coronavirus cancellations).

Hallberg says "everyone is reassessing everything" at the moment: whether to go to a restaurant, who can visit us. Ballet isn't immune. But it may also be a cure, of sorts.

The Australian Ballet's Amber Scott, Chengwu Gao and Ako Kondo.Credit: Simon Schluter

"There's such a necessity of beauty right now," he says. "A necessity of community, of creation. For this artform, it's about people getting back into the theatre and seeing live creation in front of them."

Everyone is craving physical connection after months apart, he says – none more than his dancers, after months where they made do with video conferences and practised in their loungerooms, garages and kitchens.

Hallberg says the first time he went through quarantine in Australia, in March, he "went out of my mind". But this time he loved it.

"I really needed the quarantine to transition and press the restart button," he says, after an emotional farewell to friends in a "catastrophic and unorganised" country.

"Everything is shut down and people are really suffering," he says. He went to farewell his family in Arizona and had to meet them in the driveway.

"To be able to come to Australia, where my hat is tipped to the community, to government, for really nipping [the pandemic] in the bud and being able to suppress this virus – it's a joy to be here in Melbourne," he says.

A big celebration of the joy of dance, featuring celebrated ballet classics and stunning contemporary choreography, will mark The Australian Ballet's return to the stage in 2021.

Hallberg is immediately fulfilling his promise to bring world-class dance to Australia. A brand new commission called New York Dialects by acclaimed American choreographer Pam Tanowitz (last year dubbed "the busiest woman in dance") promises innovative ensemble work and "a fresh approach to gender roles" using The Australian Ballet's male dancers. It will have its world premiere in Sydney in April and come to Melbourne in June.

The Australian Ballet's Harlequinade will feature bright costumes and fresh comedic dancing.Credit: Pierre Toussaint

Hallberg says his plan for the company is to "pay respect to the classics while always pushing the boundaries".

He has worked at the pinnacle of ballet in America and Europe, and was the first-ever American principal at Moscow's Bolshoi. He credits The Australian Ballet for saving his career – its artistic health team brought him back to the stage after what he said was a devastating injury to his ankle.

His 2021 program, dubbed A New Era, includes a cinematic staging of Anna Karenina, a co-production with Chicago's Joffrey Ballet which has not yet been seen in Australia. At its premiere in 2019 the Chicago Tribune hailed it a masterpiece and praised its "jaw-dropping" finale. The long-lost work Harlequinade, Romeo and Juliet, and plenty of choreography by 20th century master George Balanchine will also feature.

Robyn Hendricks as Anna Karenina. Credit: Pierre Toussaint

The season begins in Melbourne with a family gala Summertime at the Ballet, staged over four nights at Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena. It is scheduled to kick off in late February – though they are looking anxiously at how long the Australian Open tennis is delayed and are "working closely" with the Open to minimise disruption.

Hallberg wants to showcase the talent of the entire company, with highlights including Balanchine's choreography for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and Rudolf Nureyev's pas de deux from Don Quixote.

It will open with a "heartstopping moment", he said – 24 dancers in white tutus in Marius Petipa's The Kingdom of the Shades.

"They appear on stage one by one, very slowly. They keep multiplying. Then they go into these lines... they perform the most beautiful in-unison choreography I think ever created for classical ballet."

The symbolism for ballet's return had completely passed him by.

"But I love that," he says. "It's a great metaphor."