The Australian Ballet's People's Day

Much fun was had.Here's my report for Ausdance http://www.ausdancensw.com.au/TheAustralianBalletPeoplesDayByLynneLancaster/1902/2/3/0/0/ The people's day is the public's opportunity to watch class and see behind the scenes of The Australian Ballet and in this case, class was on the agenda.The audience ranged from young babies in mother’s arms to restless, kicking toddlers, older more interested schoolchildren right through to grandparents and dance teachers. Theatrical black seemed to be the general colour of choice for class this year although yes, there were some splashes of colour and even striped leg warmers ! Our thrilling morning began with an introduction and welcome by Natasha Kusen and interview of the six Telstra Award ( TBDA )nominees ; Dimity Azoury (Queanbeyan, ACT), Imogen Chapman (Kelmscott, WA), Ingrid Gow (Randwick, NSW), Cristiano Martino (Adelaide, SA), Rina Nemoto (Tokyo, Japan) and Jade Wood (Cairns, QLD .They were asked various questions eg when did they start ballet ( most at about the age of three or four ) , what roles they were playing in the current season of ‘Manon ‘ , what their dream roles to play were .Insight was also gained about settling in to the Company , a dancer’s daily life with class , rehearsal etc .As well ,the women were asked about individual preparation of pointe shoes etc.The six nominees were thanked and then mobbed by their young fans for autographs before returning to the stage for class. Some other members of the Company arrived early and were quietly stretching /preparing during the interviews .Brian Cousins the marvellous accompanist was hidden behind the piano. We would have been privileged to see about a third of the company taking class on stage , the others were in separate studios. Assorted bits of the set for that evening’s performance of ‘Manon’ were visible .The class was crowded and one dancer used the piano as a barre .Four portable barres were used. Fiona Tonkin arrived , dynamic , petite and intense , wearing black , often walking on high demi pointe , to give today’s class. Nothing missed her all seeing eye. For this first ,barre section of class , almost all the women wore ballet flats and not their pointe shoes .The atmosphere is quiet , focused and concentrating . Tonkin rattles off the various enchainments she wanted extremely quickly and usually didn’t repeat it. Class began with tendus and flexes to wake up the feet , then plies followed by rondes des jambes. Arms were generally in unison, although there was allowance for some individuality. More tendus and rondes des jambes in assorted variations followed.By the time we reached grand battements and turns most of the dancers were ‘marking’ the given now more complicated enchainments with their hands , making it easier to remember.Fondus and tricky fast petit batterie led to developes and grand battements .Barre work concluded with provision for releves and stretches , the barres being shifted and the women changing into their pointe shoes . Tonkin gave some general corrections and also at times indicated what she was looking for with foot or hip placement , pull up , weight transfer etc. if an enchainment was ( or was not ) performed correctly. The class split into small groups to allow for space to perform the various exercises , starting gently then becoming harder and harder and more flashy and athletic .Pirouettes and adagio arabesques began softly , searching for a pure ‘line’ and control. Things speeded up with glissade assembles that had the dancers flying. Another enchainment of brise voles was ‘Bluebird’ from ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ like .Towards the end there was a double rondes des jambes section, cabrioles were included and showy double tours for the men who had a wonderful expressive ‘line’. Conscious of the time,Tonkin made some general corrections after and then declared class finished to a round of applause. There was a very short break (interestingly , no particular ‘cool down’ exercise was given) and it looked like the dancers would be going straight into rehearsal as we filed out . The fascinating Australian Ballet ‘s Peoples Day was at the Opera House April 14th