Kirsty Martin and Steven Heathcote in After the Rain. Photo by David Kelly.
The Australian Ballet
The Australian Ballet’s “New Romantics” program, shown in May at the Sydney Opera House, opened with George Balanchine’s Apollo. As Igor Stravinsky famously observed, “To see Balanchine’s choreography … is to hear the music with one’s eyes.” What a pleasure to find this “visual hearing” also at the core of the other works in this triple-bill, creating a deeply satisfying program.
Balanchine made many alterations to Apollo over the years, and this performance was The Australian Ballet’s first production of the original 1928 choreography that includes the prologue depicting the god’s birth. Jane Casson as Leto captured the striking physicality of this scene. Unfortunately, this impact was not sustained. The purity of line vital to the work’s sculptural quality was not always evident. Guest artist Cedric Ygnace was disappointing as Apollo—his dignity unconvincing and his technique somewhat casual. As his favored muse, Terpsichore, Madeleine Eastoe seemed uncharacteristically ill at ease, and their partnership lacked assurance.
In Constant Variants, a new work by Australian Ballet resident choreographer Stephen Baynes, Eastoe seemed a different dancer. While this work is for eight dancers, one female provides a thematic focus and her performance in this pivotal role was assured and captivating. Lit with evocative restraint by Jon Buswell and beautifully framed by Michael Pearce’s spare purple and gold set, Constant Variants carries the Baynes stamp of studied musicality. It mirrors the structure of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme primarily in duets that feature intricate, classically based movement sequences that still push contemporary boundaries.
The final piece, Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain, to music by Arvo Pärt, opened with a focus on limbs that appear driven by the rhythm of the composer’s Tabula Rasa. This relationship between music and form remains the subtext throughout, as Wheeldon boldly extends the classical vocabulary without ever abandoning its hallmark grace.
In the first part, three couples (the girls on pointe) are dynamically connected in movement patterns. While this section was seamlessly performed and totally absorbing, what came next—an achingly beautiful and intimate pas de deux to Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel—took the evening to a new level. Lucinda Dunn, hair loose and dressed in a simple pink leotard with bare legs and soft shoes, and Steven Heathcote, bare-chested above soft, long pants, interpreted Wheeldon’s enthralling choreography with stunning understatement and flawless technique. The audience was spellbound. What came across the footlights was the complex nature of mature love, with its tender acceptance of human frailty.
“New Romantics” is a musical feast, stylishly served by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. It is also a swansong for Heathcote, who is stepping aside from principal roles after 25 distinguished years. How fitting that his farewell should be in a deeply moving work of breathtaking beauty and latent emotional pull.
Margaret Jolley writes for Dance Australia and www.australiadancing.org.
