| The Australian Ballet celebrates Masterpieces in 2013 |
| Wednesday, 05 September 2012 11:40 |
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Launching the season in Melbourne today, Artistic Director David McAllister announced the 2013 repertoire and a number of initiatives the Ballet has in development. "We've achieved so much in our 50th year. We've toured to New York, commissioned six new artistic works across dance and music with Infinity, collaborated with Bangarra Dance Theatre, brought together eight dance companies for Let's Dance, visited almost every corner of Australia on our national tour, released a special anniversary coin ... and we're not even done yet!" said McAllister. "There's an extraordinary appetite for ballet in Australia - almost 400,000 children are dancing each week, audiences are strong and we're going to use that momentum to drive ballet forward and grow future audiences. "My vision for the company over the next five years is to make sure that ballet is accessible to all Australians. We will be developing a Children's Ballet; a new ballet film starring our dancers in an iconic Australian landscape; we'll use the latest in broadcast technology for a ballet to be filmed in 3D; we'll be broadcasting more ballets than ever before; and we'll be increasing our Dance Education Ensemble to double the amount of schools we can visit with our Education programs. "Currently we engage with around 12,000 school students a year, and many of those from disadvantaged areas where we provide the program free of charge - thanks in part to Government and philanthropic support. We also have a growing engagement with Indigenous communities through our Education programs, and with more support, we can deliver even more of these life-changing programs." The Australian Ballet's commitment to "caring for tradition, daring to be different" remains at the forefront of each project the company undertakes. Commissioning new works, attracting the highest calibre of international choreographers and guest artists, nurturing artisan skills across a number of artistic endeavours and collaborating with other organisations such as orchestras, corporate sponsors and media partners to reach broader audiences are critical to the Ballet's success. The company continues to engage its audiences online with behind-the-scenes content, photo and video galleries and exclusive insights into the world of ballet. With over 40,000 Facebook fans, almost 7,000 Twitter followers and 380,000 views on our YouTube channel, The Australian Ballet has one of the most plugged-in and responsive online communities in the Australian arts online space. www.australianballet.com.au |
