Bespoke

When Queensland Ballet’s Artistic Director, Li Cunxin, started in his new role 10 years ago, a new centre of arts excellence for his company of dancers was just the spark of an idea. The company had been rehearsing in the old Thomas Dixon Centre in Brisbane’s West End – an old boot factory – since 1991. That working space is now a state-of-the-art creative hub, with its own 350-seat Talbot Theatre, public art and workshop spaces for creatives. At last night’s official opening, an emotional Li credited his team, government and corporate sponsors and supporters for making the dream come true. And the company celebrated its new space with three world premieres, under the Bespoke banner. Given the building’s history, it was fitting that part of these new collaborative pieces by Australian choreographers Petros Treklis, Stephanie Lake, and Greg Horsman touched on the theme of work ... and yes, there were boots! It was a stunning display of our wealth of talented dancers working and training through the world-class Queensland Ballet talent pipeline.

The first piece Tethered by London-trained Petros Treklis is a gothic horror inspired by the artwork of Isabelle Vialle and music of Henryk Górecki. Lead dancers Sophie Kerr and Joshua Ostermann work athletically in a tug-of-war dance to save their souls from Edison Manuel’s creepy shadow figure. They work in an eerie dark setting, surrounded by more menacing shadows, performed by the company dancers in black mesh costumes by Zoe Griffiths. The lighting by Cameron Goerg captures an underground cave-like space with raining dust a wonderful effect. The music by composer James Brown is reminiscent of a Carter Burwell film soundtrack. A strong starting piece for this Bespoke session.

Biography by the award-winning Stephanie Lake takes us further into subterranean landscape of the lives of others, and the subconscious life of a working day, presenting it with wit and spark. Her talented team of outstanding dancers – Vito Bernasconi, D’Arcy Brazier, Mali Comlekci, Shaun Curtis, Serena Green, Kohei Iwamoto, Lina Kim, Vanessa Morelli, Samuel Packer, Paige Rochester, Georgia Swan, Joel Woellner – take to the stage in an animation-like show of the tension in a daily routine in paint-splattered costumes by Zoe Griffiths. A mashed-up soundtrack of classical music (Bach) to Ukrainian folk songs and electro-pop sets out a worker’s day. By the end, the drudgery almost takes on a poetry – especially with the synchronised movement of the array of dancers – and the day has been upended (there is a breakfast egg scenario I’m still trying to figure out!). The powerful music selection and lighting design by Cameron Goerg, highlight a superb and energetic performance by our athletic dancers, wearing workers boots not unlike those produced by the workers on the Thomas Dixon factory floor. A nice touch!

A Rhapsody in Motion by the accomplished Greg Horsman is a more traditional dance piece, but no less exciting for that, exploring a dancer’s working and inner life. He places all his dancers at the barre as they start their day – this time to the enigmatic ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43’ by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Ballet leotards and tutus take on warm modern tones with Zoe Griffith’s palette of apricots and wine-dark reds. Seeing this group of 24 dancers on stage together – with no foot out of place – is impressive enough. We have a company troupe par excellence, but the wonderous pas de deux by Laura Tosar and Patricio Revé, and Yanela Piñera and Joel Woellner, Lucy Green and Alexander Idaszak, Isabella Swietlicki and Liam Geck were absolutely stunning. This is a piece I’m sure we will still be enjoying in decades to come.

Image:  Laura Tosar and Patricio Reve]

The new space at the Thomas Dixon Centre is aesthetically wonderful, with the high-ceiling space afforded by the multi-level factory of the past. The Talbot Theatre seems thoughtfully designed, with deep raking to ensure unimpeded views from your seat. There is a promised cafe and rooftop bar to come later this year – but I wonder about practical things like car parking space and extra facilities (because we’d all rather be enjoying a drink at the bar rather than joining the interval chorus line to the loos: the gender-neutral facility was welcome in more ways than one). But I’ll be back to investigate further as this exciting new creative space evolves.

Find out more: https://www.queenslandballet.com.au

Beth Keehn

Photographers -  Dancers’ dress rehearsal: David Kelly. Thomas Dixon Centre: Johnny Harkin