| Jerome Robbins: a celebration | Australian Ballet |
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 Lucinda Dunn & Damien Welch. Photo - Justin Smith
This June The Australian Ballet presents Jerome Robbins – a celebration at the Arts Centre. The programme is a tribute to the world-famous choreographer, whose genius stretched across decades and art forms. The programme commemorates the tenth anniversary of Robbins’ death and will be one of many such tributes around the world during 2008.
Melbourne audiences will also be the first in Australia to see Cuban virtuoso and Royal Ballet Principal Carlos Acosta’s dazzling artistry up close and personal in a intimate Jerome Robbins work. He joins the company to perform select shows of Afternoon of the Faun, a sensuous pas de deux referred to as the “coolest ballet ever made” on 12, 14 and 16 June. Carlos is a major star with looks, sex appeal, dramatic charisma and two of the fastest feet on earth (as seen on YouTube!). Artistic Director David McAllister describes Carlos as a “passionate dancer who has lit up stages across the world, and I am sure he will do the same in Melbourne.”
The mixed bill features three of Robbins’ most loved works created that he created during an extremely fertile five-year period in the 1950s – Afternoon of a Faun, The Cage and The Concert - plus one of his last ever works, A Suite of Dances. The ballets are set to extraordinary scores by musical greats Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin and Bach respectively. Artistic Director David McAllister selected the works for their artistic breadth – from dark to comic, sensual to poignant. Jerome Robbins is perhaps best known for his choreography and co-direction of the massively influential film West Side Story and Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof.
But Robbins was also an enormously successful choreographer for theatre and ballet during his lifetime, and his works continue to be performed around the world ten years after his death. This programme salutes Robbins by presenting very different sides to his imagination, ranging from the intriguingly dark to the laugh-out-loud funny. Artistic Director David McAllister said, “I am delighted to be staging this tribute to Jerome Robbins who left behind a body of work that influenced dance culture all over the world. He will be forever cherished as a choreographer who bridged the worlds of ballet and Broadway.”
This tribute bill will be staged by Bart Cook, one of the leading repetiteurs of George Balanchine's and Jerome Robbins' work. He was a Principal during the golden 1980s at New York City Ballet and worked extensively with Jerome Robbins, originating and performing soloist roles in The Cage, Glass Pieces, I'm Old Fashioned, Dances at a Gathering, The Concert and Opus 19. He was appointed Assistant Ballet Master to Jerome Robbins by George Balanchine in 1980 and served in that capacity until 1993. He has toured throughout the world with New York City Ballet and with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Friends. Bart worked with the dancers in Melbourne in March and travelled to Sydney for the premiere.
New York trip for Aussie dancers Associate Artistic Director Danilo Radojevic and three of our male dancers, Damien Welch, Marc Cassidy and Remi Wörtmeyer, travelled to New York City in February this year to learn the exquisite solo A Suite of Dances from New York City Ballet master Jean Pierre Frohlic who was Robbins’ long time assistant and worked with him on staging Fancy Free. Robbins originally created A Suite of Dances on ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1994 at the age of 75, after he had officially retired. This is the first time this work will be performed by The Australian Ballet. The New York trip was made possible by the Ross Stretton Fund and The Clemenger Travel Fund.
The Australian Ballet presents
Jerome Robbins – a celebration
Venue: the Arts Centre.
Dates: 5 - 16 June 2008
Tickets: Adults $26 - $115
Bookings: 1300 136 166
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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