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I hope an Ozie muscelling in on this conversation is OK. It's actually not a sensible time to be reflecting on highlights of the year, as for us, the year starts in March and finishes in December, meaning there's still most of the year to go. Not that you'd think it here in Sydney ... no TAB performances since The Merry Widow in May, and nothing till November. Luckily, Sydney Dance Company and Bangarra help fill in the gap. Then there is La Scala in November. And I have just (today!) found out that Hallberg is doing Giselle with Nicoletta Mani, and Leonid Sarafanov (!) Don Quixote, also with Nicoletta Mani. On the very days for which I, coincidentally, have tickets. Oh joy, oh rapture. But back to the actual topic of this thread (and taking the year to be July 2017 to June 2018). Highlights - QB's Firebird with Laura Hidalgo and Rian Thompson. Utterly unforgettable.TAB's Murphy (Lana Jones as firebird, Brett Chynoweth as Kostchei ) and The Merry Widow (Adam Bull).

Pulcinella asked what happened to the other characters on the ship. They're on another rock. 😊

Thanks. I love writing them. 😊

La Scala's Le Corsaire is a glorious romp! I have to admit to a definite partiality to the ballet, because Medora (wonderfully danced in this case by Nicoletta Manni) is such a fiesty heroine, and the instigator of much of the action. When she looks at Conrad at the opening of Act 1, her gaze is partly 'come hither', but also shows amusement, admiration and interest. No mean feat when surrounded by so many macho men. Timofej Andrijashenko gives us an extremely technically competent Conrad, although given Medora's agency, he's usually playing catch-up. He (he being Conrad) probably wouldn't believe it, however. The two villains of the piece, Lankendem (Marco Agostino) and Brabanto (Antonino Sulera) are suitably villanous while reveling in the technical demands of their roles. Matina Arduino is also feisty as Gulnare. Her domination of the harem, evidenced by the way she treats the major domo in le jardin anime sequence, is proof enough of this. The only slightly unclear attribution relates to the dancer portraying Ali (his role in the pdt sizzles). The theatre website lists Claudio Courello, but other sources indicate that Courello was injured, and replaced by Mattia Semperboni of the corps de ballet. If so, he is a guy to watch. Choreographer Anna-Marie Holmes starts the film by talking about the many changes she made, while retaining the Petipa core, and Luisa Spinatelli (sets and costumes) talks about the trully ravishing costumes. Just one question, which someone on this forum must be able to answer. Is the ending happy or sad? Madura and Conrad finish up on a rock, admittedly a larger rock than that in the ENB production, but still a barren rock in the middle of the Mediterranean. The future on either does not look promising. (Oh, and I should point out that Medora is first out of the water, and assists Conrad. Viva les femmes!)

Thank you for your comments. However, the prices I quoted are those I pay. I am going tomorrow (Friday) to a screening of La Scala's Le Corsaire, the ticket for which cost $16.00 (almost £9.00). The maximum price for a ticket is $24.00 (approximately £13.50). It appears from their publicity that Event will be showing those RB ballets missing from the 2017-2018 lineup in the coming year. Not sure about Village, which I think may be the previous name of the Event chain. I recognise that outside the capital cities, access to ballet films is generally difficult, often extremely so. This seems to be a problem in many areas. Those of us who like ballet are going to have to do a better job of enthusing our colleagues, friends and relations 😊 I should have said that the reason for the reduced price of my ticket tomorrow is because I am a member of the chain's Movie Club.

I have now read at least two reviews that pay homage to multiple solos in Dark Emu. Try as I might, I do not remember them, for which I can only humbly apologise to the respective dancers. I was completely engrossed in the ensemble exploration of traditional practices, and in the depiction of the catastrophe of colonialism. My thought then and now, almost a week later, is, 'This is enormously important', and I have spent quite a lot of time urging friends to see it (and buying another ticket myself). It is a really important work, for Australians and for anyone 'interested' (poor word choice) in the consequences of colonialism.

OK, so I swear I won't complain any more about Australian cinema's treatment of ballet, or a least not very much. I have read this thread with increasing horror. £20 for a ticket! £20! It cost me $20.00 (which is just over £11 according to Currency Converter) to see Manon a couple of weeks ago. And I complained bitterly because that was a steep increase following a change of cinema chains. True, we have lost Bolshoi all together, but we get RB, POB and La Scala, albeit rather late. And each performance is screened at least 3 and often 4 times, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday at around 12.00 or 1.00. Screenings are now divided between 2 cinema chains. Until last year, all ballet (including Bolshoi) was screened by a chain of art house cinemas with cinemas in most capital cities. This year, a big commercial chain has taken over RB performances (hence the price rise), but performances are still screened in most capitals, as well as in some smaller cities. Audiences are usually small (about 20), but given the repeat screenings, not too bad. And it's resonably easy to find out what's on where and when. So I am counting my blessings!

I should have said that not only is the performance of profound importance, so is the book. Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe, Magabala Books, 2014

Bangarra is Australia's indigenous contemporary dance theatre. It is centrally concerned with re-establishing, maintaining and celebrating the connection to country that lies at the heart of aboriginal culture. In the words of Stephen Page, Artistic Director and chief choreographer of Bangarra (for Dark Emu, he shares choreographic honours with Yolande Brown and Daniel Riley), Dark Emu 'explores the sacred and creation spaces of the cosmos; the relationship between sky and earth, between land and the seasons, ... the rituals and ceremonies that are in step with the pulse of the land, but also the devastating assaults on land and spirit that came with colonisation.' Dark Emu: the title is an analogy. When aboriginal astronomers looked at the sky, the figures they saw were not created by joining points of light, as Europeans do. Rather they looked to the darkness between the stars. You can see the dark emu; his head is slightly below the Southern Cross. But in order to do so, you have to look in a different way. Dark Emu is the title of an influential book by Bruce Pascoe. In it, he cites the many accounts of early settlers and explorers, and archeological traces today, to argue that aboriginals were not hunter gatherers. They were skilled farmers, but to see this, you have to look at the history we have been taught in a different way, and change our conception of what successful agriculture in the Australian context involves. This, by the way, is the first time my homework before a performance has involved consideration of different forms of agriculture. The work involves 14 sements, one blending seamlessly into the next, firstly celebrating the farming, fishing and land management practices of the indigenous people before documenting the chaos, destruction and death that came with colonisation. My heart was lacerated. Finally, the whole company joins together in celebrating the resilience of culture, the wonder and power that nurtures earth, sea and sky (as the program puts it). The performance opens and closes with an invocation of the dark emu, creator spirit, creation emerging from the dark as it does from silence and emptiness in Zen Buddism. The performance involves no solos or pdd (one of the very few times a single dancer is on stage is when he is the sole survivor of a massacre). Groups of dancers, three, five, eight or more, dance together, each one dancing individually, but the relationship between them taking precedence. In their dance, the raising of a bent leg, the angle of a foot, the position of the torso at times references movement in traditional dance. Dark Emu is a profoundly important work and one that will stay with me for some time. And on a lighter note, I think the title Dark Emu wins the competition for most evocative dance title in 2018, and maybe of the decade.

YES!!!!

Manon: The Movie (sorry - I couldn't resist 😊) has finally made it to Oz. I won't repeat what everyone has said. Well, yes, I will. It was fantastic. Muntagirov and Lamb were amazing; the intimacy of film catching every expression; you see Manon begin to realise that she has power over M GM. And Muntagirov - such passion, such devotion, such despair and such purity of line. But what I really wanted to say was a huge thank you to forum members. Originally, I was not going to go. I had seen the DVD featuring Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta, and I did not like Manon or understand her actions. I was, however, very aware that this was not only a story set in the first half of the eighteenth century. What it depicts is the daily experience of thousands of migrant and refugee women (with no Des Grieux, of course). So I also felt betrayed, almost, that this story was safely consigned to the past. I felt like a voyeur. But the responses on this thread, the discussion, the descriptions of so many magnificent performances, convinced me that I had to give it a go. So I went. With a good deal of trepidation. And I was blown away. Lamb showed me Manon's multi-layered motivation, her calculation and her naivity. Her brother was no longer merely a figure of evil, but a man using whatever came to hand to try (not very successfully) to escape a life of poverty and degradation. I could go on, but it's late, both the hour and this contribution to the thread. But thank you, forum members, you are skillful teachers.

Deborah Jones has a blog and uploads an expanded version of her reviews several days after they have appeared in the Murdoch press. If you are interested in reading her scathing assessment of Carmen and her very flattering take on The Firebird, here is a link to her blog: https://deborahjones.me Apart from its dissection of Carmen, she reports on The Firebird in glowing terms, and the cast was not that that I saw. Speaks to the depth of talent at QB.

Queensland Ballet is presenting Liam Scarlett's Firebird right now, in late May 2018. The Australian Ballet presented Graeme Murphy's Firebird in March. Interesting programming, that. Queensland Ballet is presenting Ben Stephenson's Cinderella in September. TAB is presenting Ratmansky's Cinderella in November. Even more interesting programming. And in October, Queensland Ballet takes its party piece, Scarlett's Midsummer Night's Dream to Melbourne. Not Sydney, not Adelaide, but Melbourne. Home and bulwark of TAB. What do they say? Once is accident, twice is coincidence, three times is ... no, not enemy action, but action, certainly. A little context. In 2012, Queensland Ballet was a worthy provincial ballet company known for its dedication to taking ballet to regional centres throughout Queensland. In 2012, Li Cunxin, (Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin), was appointed Artistic Director. In 2013, he brought in Jenna Roberts from Birmingham Royal Ballet and Carolyn Judson, Texas Ballet Theatre, to help raise standards. In 2014, it was the big guns ... Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo and Steve Macrae (!!!), and in 2015 Alina Cojocaru. In 2016, Liam Scarlett became Artistic Associate and in 2017 Evgenia Obratzova of the Bolshoi replaced Alina Cojuocaru when she had to withdraw. (How does a small and insignificant provincial company attract such stellar names? Heaven only knows.) And this October, they're going to Melbourne. Looks remarkably like an announcement. 'We're here.' After Firebird, they are. Liam Scarlett's Firebird is unlike that of Fokine or even Murphy. It is not a battle between good and evil. At the heart of the work is the relationship between the firebird and Koschei. Both are powerful magical creatures, engaged in an eternal battle for dominance, but at the same time linked by a shared and profound sensuality. Laura Hidalgo's firebird is elemental, a force of nature; curious, inquisitive, intelligent. Koschei (Rian Thompson) is a far darker creature, one who expresses his power through sexual domination. Into their kingdom, blunders the Prince (Joel Woellner). The firebird is intrigued. The Prince is terrified. The fear and desperation to escape that the firebird exhibits in Fokine's original belongs here to the Prince, although he finally succombs to the firebird's curiosity and her sensuality. She leaves, but not before giving him a feather to summon her in case of need. From here, the story is more conventional. Koschei's enslaved maidens enter, together with the newly enslaved Princess. Prince and Princess fall in love (a beautiful, gentle pdd) before Koschei's creatures enter, followed by Koschei himself. A confrontation ensues, during which Koschei demonstrates his sexual domination, leading ultimately to the Prince summoning the firebird. Here the narrative deviates from tradition once again. The firebird does not fight Koschei; rather she causes him and his minions to fall asleep. She then shows the Prince the egg which conceals Koschei's soul. The Princess seizes and smashes the egg, thus killing Koschei. (This I think, was a total surprise to the firebird. She didn't understand humans at all ☺)The ballet ends with the firebird standing over Koschei's body, radiating grief. Laura Hidalgo as the firebird was utterly compelling, dominating the stage whenever she was on it. I could not take my eyes off her. Rian Thompson as Koschei came near to matching her, and together, these two created an utterly memorable evening. I wish I could say that Acosta's Carmen was similarly memorable. Perhaps it was, given that I thought at the beginning that I had mistakenly wondered into a performance of The Full Monty. The woman to my left fell asleep and snored loudly through most of the performance. The woman to my right turned to me after the final curtain and said, 'Well, that shows that great dancers are not necessarily great choreographers.' Just about says it all, really. But The Firebird demonstrates that we now have two serious classical ballet companies in Australia. Alleluia.

Sadly, you are right, Janet. And they were in Paris, at the Theatre National de la Danse, Chaillot, only a month ago. Bit late now to say 'Drop everything'.

Ab [intra] is the first full length work made by Raphael Bonachela, choreographer and artistic director of Sydney Dance Company, in 6 years. In the program notes, he says he wanted to capture the movement from his internal creative process to the externality of performance. That may well be so, but I did not experience it in that way. It is a wonderful work, deeply human and engaging, but that narrative, if narrative it is, escaped me. The dancers start scattered across an unadorned stage before individually exploding into action; all sharp, often turned inward angles, staccato and sudden. In pairs and more commonly threesomes they interact and twine together, but do not trully engage, breaking apart and walking off without a backward glance. Against this are two gloriously soft and sensual pdd, the dancers twined round each other in ways impossible to describe, angles rounded and gentle, the dancers completely engrossed in one another. Between these two pdd an anguished and contorted male solo that was swept away by all 14 other dancers dancing mostly individually but at times coordinated. The motionlessness of the dancers before, as I said, they exploded into action made me think about the difference between stillness and motionlessness in dance. Last year, as half of another wonderful program, SDC presented Full Moon, by Cheng Tsung-lung, Artistic Director of Taiwan's Cloud Gate 2. (In the interest of transparency, I should confess that for me Cloud Gate is one of the great dance companies of the world, and Cloud Gate 2 is not far behind.) Anyway, the stillness of Cheng Trung-lung's dancers was utter stillness, radical, complete in itself, with no reference to the possibility of movement. Those dancers who were still were dynamic in their stillness, drawing the eye like exclamation points. Dancers in ab [intra] generally started motionless, but this was a stillness that carried within it the suggestion, or promise of motion. I don't mean to suggest that one is better than the other, but the comparison leapt to the eye, given that it was the same company, the same theatre and even the same time of year.☺. Sorry if all that was way too obscure. The take home is that ab [intra] represents another triumph for SDC. They travel a great deal. If they are dancing near you, drop everything!

Sorry, I think the problem is with my system or tablet. Signed out, turned off computer, left things for a while, and on coming back, there were the hearts (I'd lost them on all posts). I'll consult the nephews next time, before I worry you, and hopefully they'll be able to tell me if I've done something wrong.

Have I done something wrong? The like/react button has disappeared from my posts.

And I forgot. The swans' costumes in Antony Dowell's Swan Lake. Actually reminiscent of swans!

Not for wearing: just admiring • Anything black and red by Ivan Vasiliiev in Don Quixote • Kostchei's snake costume in Murphy's Firebird • The gorgeous ball dresses of any of the guests at Chez Maximes in The Merry Widow • The v simple women's costumes in Symphonic Variations

I had never heard of Ballet Revolucion before I stumbled across an advertisement a couple of months ago. So I checked it out on Google, as you do (😊), and found, as I had suspected, that it was a Cuban group, formed in 2011 by an Australian entrepreneur. However, Cuban dancers are renowned for their balletic skills and huge jumps, as their presence in ballet companies around the world attests. Carlos Acosta is the most obvious example, but closer to home, Queensland Ballet's principals Victor Estevez, Camilo Ramos and Yanela Pinera (sorry, my tablet doesn't allow me to do diacritics) are all Cuban trained. So I bought a ticket. The next thing was whether or not I would write about the performance for Balletcoforum.Then I read that Ballet Revolucion had performed for the Queen - the Queen, no less - in 2012, so what's good enough for the Queen is good enough for the forum. Not too long after that, the Sydney Morning Herald did a feature which suggested that the main issue with the group was whether they were sexy or sensual. This I can clear up immediately. They were neither. High energy, yes; enormously athletic, yes; passionate in their dancing, yes; sexy or sensual, no. They were most impressive in the numbers which involved most of the group on stage, featuring big leaps, fast turns and maximal use of space. What let this group of 20 passionate dancers down was the choreography. It was repetitive, banal, utterly uninspiring. There was no program or cast list (grrrrr), so I can't say who was responsible, but given that the group debued in 2011 to critical aclaim, it is possible that the original choreographers, Aaron Cash, an Australian, and Roclan Gonzalez Chavez, a Cuban, were not reponsible. The lack of a cast list also means that the one young man who was outstanding remains nameless. Unforgivable. So, to go or not to go? If you're a ballet tragic, probably give it a miss, but if your tastes are rather more catholic, and especially if you have non-ballet-watching family or friends, and you want to get them involved, then this is the show for you (or them). In a word, (don't be literal😊) Bollywood on steroids, with a Cuban flavour.

The Merry Widow is venerable in Australian Ballet terms. It was the first full length ballet comissioned by TAB in 1975, the gift ... it turned out to be the parting gift ... of Robert Helpman. (Helpman for me will always be the chivalrous, courteous and dignified Don Quixote of Nureyev's filmed production with TAB. Deluded, yes, but dignified. For me, no other Don Quixote comes near him.) But back to the Merry Widow. It's a glorious romp, Deceptively complex choreography (Ronald Hynd), sumptuously costumed, to great music (thank you John Lanchbery, who did a seamless job of rearranging Franz Lehar's music) and wonderfully danced. The night I attended, Hanna Glawari was danced by Kirsty Martin. Who? Oh, shame. Kirsty Martin turns out to be, not a principal dancer, but perhaps the principal dancer of TAB ten years ago. Retiring in 2011, she now teaches at the Australian Ballet's school, and came back for two performances of this ballet. Her return was facilitated by the fact that, although Marilyn Rowe was the first Hanna (and was repetiteur for the present production), Hanna's role was also designed with an aging Margot Fonteyn, who danced the role in the New York premiere in 1976, in mind. Together, seasoned principal Adam Bull and Martin gave us a couple by turns astonished, hurt, flirtatious and finally, recognizing their love. Leanne Stojmenov, as Valencienne and Andrew Killian, as Camille, were delightful, as was Colin Peasley as Valencienne's elderly husband. Colin first danced the husband's role at the premiere in 1975, and has danced it many many times since. Gives a whole new meaning to growing into a role. An amazing wealth of dance styles, from waltzes, polonaise, and mazurkas (why do mythical ballet kingdoms always get placed somewhere in eastern Europe? How about central Asia, for once? Great dances and no mazurkas) finishing with a great cancan (Chez Maximes) and a final delicious waltz which resolves everything and gives us a happy ending. I cannot tell a lie. I went along with no great expectations, and was completely won over. It may be fluff, but it's great fluff.

They're doing Spartacus and Jewels ... two rather different works, yes?

Lizbie1 hopes that less experienced dancers are not selected for the London tour. Seems to me very likely that they may be for Brisbane. Whatever, I'm a newbie. Who would you like to see if you were in the Brisbane audience? Experienced or otherwise?

Brisbane Australia. Be still my beating heart.

Murphy. The Murphy in question is Graeme Murphy, who, together with his wife and creative associate, Janet Vernon, is perhaps the most influential Australian choreographer of the last 50 years. This production is a celebration of those 50 years, 31 of which saw him leading what became the Sydney Dance Company and establishing its presence as an internationally respected contemporary dance company. No evening can pay adequate respect to all aspects of Murphy's career, so Murphy focuses on extracts (mainly) from works originally created on/for the SDC, together with his full length Firebird, created in 2009 for the Australian Ballet. Extracts from well-known narrative works, such as Swan Lake and Nutcracker -The Story of Clara, being part of the current repertoire, are not included. Of the five extracts, or rather four extracts and one full length ballet which made up the first part of the program, I most enjoyed Air and Other Invisible Forces, which showed influences, particularly in the positioning of hands and feet, from the classical dance traditions of Thailand and Cambodia. Also Sheherazade, a beautifully sensuous ballet showing Murphy's interest in integrating dance and music on stage. Mezzo Soprano Victoria Lambourne sang Ravel's score on stage. For me, Firebird was the standout of the evening. While Murphy remained faithful to the original arc of the narrative, the action was entirely reconceived. On a stage dominated by a huge broken egg, Kostchei, in the form of a snake, and wonderfully danced by Brett Chynoweth, emerges from another half shell. Lana Jones was an unforgettable firebird, fierce, afraid, avenging. The narrative unfolds as it did in Fokine's original, the Tsarevich liberating the Tsarevna and her companions with the help of the Firebird. Kostchei is not however, completely defated, and as all are celebrating their rebirth, he shoots out from the broken egg, offering the Tsarevna an apple. Murphy's signature moves, his use of interesting lifts and unusual (for ballet) combinations of dancers made the evening, for me as a comparatively new ballet-watcher, an unforgettable one.