TALBOT THEATRE, THOMAS DIXON CENTRE, WEST END.
21 FEB-13 MARCH 2024
This is a brilliant start to the new ballet season.
Four short ballets zoom us excitedly into the new year for a regional Queensland adventure with a new Artistic Director, Leanne Benjamin!
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff combine on a dancing tour leaping from Brisbane to Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Maryborough, Bundaberg, Caloundra, Charters Towers, Cairns and Rockhampton. A grand jete indeed!
The Thomas Dixon Centre at West End ushers us through a quartet of dance pieces to teach and to delight.
A Queensland girl, Leanne Benjamin rose to international acclaim as principal dancer in the Royal Ballet. She leads us on a merry dance indeed.
Ben Stephenson’s choreography in Rachmaninoff’s “Three Preludes” starts with a tale of two dancers falling in love. Chiara Gonzalez and Patricio Reve dance a sublime, sensual pas de deux.
Tchaikovsky charms us to the classics in excerpts from "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty."
For those with a passion for piracy, on comes “Le Corsaire Pas de Deux” inspired by the 1814 poem by Lord Byron:
"O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,
Our thoughts as boundless, and our soul's as free…”
Patricio Reve is masterful as the swashbuckling pirate while Laura Tosart dances with subtle beauty.
For those unused to ballet, a night of four short pieces like this can open a window on a diverse world of beauty and passion.
The night concludes with the magic of Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. This work explores the relationship between dancer and music in a big finish with the ensemble. As the Irish poet William Butler Yeats was wont to say:
“Oh body swayed to music, oh brightening glance!
How can we know the dancer from the dance?”.
Reviewed by: Matt Foley
Performance seen: 7.30pm Wed 21 Feb 2024 at Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre
Music: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Riccardo Drigo
Choreography: Ben Stenson, Matthew Lawrence, Marius Petipa and Greg Horsman
Duration: 1 hour 35 mins including 1 interval
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