Australian Ballet Returns to NYC After Thirteen Year Absence, Now thru 6/17

The Australian Ballet, celebrating its 50th-anniversary, will present two programs featuring four North American premieres at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, today, June 12 through June 17, 2012. The company will return to NYC after more than a decade-long absence as part of its celebration. Both programs will be led by Music Director and Chief Conductor of The Australian Ballet, Nicolette Fraillon, with live orchestra.

The engagement opens tonight, June 12 and tomorrow June 13 with Infinity, an all-Australian triple bill. First up is Luminous, a multimedia retrospective coupled with a diverse selection of pas de deux that will showcase the company’s rich history, followed by Wayne McGregor’s Dyad 1929 (created on The Australian Ballet’s dancers in 2009). The final piece, Warumuk – in the dark night, is a new work in collaboration with Indigenous dance company Bangarra Dance Theatre, choreographed by Bangarra’s artistic director Stephen Page. Featuring a mix of dancers from The Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre, this work combines Western ballet with the spirituality of Indigenous dance.

Program II, on June 15, 16 and 17, features the North American premiere of Graeme Murphy’s critically acclaimed Swan Lake, A perfect illustration of the company’s innovative and dynamic style. Swan Lake has won more than ten major awards and sold out theatres at home and around the world.

Artistic Director David McAllister is thrilled to be bringing the company back to New York with a stellar repertoire that showcases the dancers’ strength and artistry.

“In our 50th anniversary year, we are in peak form and this is an amazing opportunity to see the company perform stunning works which have defined and shaped us. This is our eighth tour of the United States, and we love performing there,” said McAllister. “These works are all unique to The Australian Ballet and I can’t wait to share them with American audiences for the very first time.”

The dancers will be joined by artistic, technical, wardrobe, medical and music staff. More than 650 costumes and 250 pairs of pointe shoes will travel 16,500 kilometres to reach their destination.

Infinity, an all-Australian mixed bill

Luminous (2012), various
Artistic Director David McAllister has combined five decades of repertoire and selected pas de deux that tell the story of a company growing throughout the ages in the first work of the program, aptly titled Luminous. The program will be supported by a dance documentary played simultaneously as a moving backdrop to the performances, produced especially for this event by videographer duo The Apiary, and accompanied by live music.

Dyad 1929 (2009), choreographed by Wayne McGregor
Dyad 1929, which means ‘two’ or ‘otherness’, was created as part of a diptych, preceding Dyad 1909, which premiered at Sadler’s Wells, London. The kinetic piece is set to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet by Steve Reich, and was inspired by the creativity and passion of Diaghilev’s world famous Ballets Russes and the rapidly changing world events of the 1920s. McGregor created this new work on the dancers of The Australian Ballet.

Wayne McGregor is a multi award-winning British choreographer renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science mediums. He is the artistic director of Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, resident company at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London and resident choreographer of The Royal Ballet since 2006. In January 2011, McGregor was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

Bangarra Dance Theatre, choreographed by Stephen Page
This exciting partnership between Australia’s leading dance companies will premiere locally in February 2012 before heading to New York for its international debut. Bangarra is Australia's premier Indigenous performing arts company that bases its work on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and stories. Established in 1989 and under the artistic leadership of Stephen Page for the last twenty years, Bangarra’s ensemble of 14 dancers has developed a potent, original and distinctive style and tours throughout Australia and internationally. Winners of multiple awards, Bangarra has created a powerful dance theatre language that unifies the past and the present. Stephen Page’s new piece will be the first time The Australian Ballet has told an Indigenous story.