Kunstkamer

There isn’t much to say about Kunstkamer which hasn’t already been written. I went to the opening night expecting that this ambitious contemporary ballet may not actually be my cup of tea. I’m happy to admit that my fears were not realized. There has been much said about David Hallberg returning to the stage and the import of Jorge Nozal, on whom the ballet was choreographed. Unsurprisingly those two dancers were magnificent in their stage presence and performance. However, the thrill of Kunstkamer is in the movement of the masses – 40 dancers performing with exceptional precision.

The ballet is a spectacularly refined Frankenstein’s monster of the work of four different choreographers and the joy of it is that this ‘cabinet of curiosities’ doesn’t scream of its creators but rather eases the audience from piece to piece without showing the seams. There are sculptural moments of jaw dropping exactness, arms and legs flowing in complete, sharp unison. Whilst there are a number of Principals and soloists featured on the cast list, it is a disservice to the Australian Ballet as a whole and to the performers on the night, to single anyone out.

There is a pathos to Kunstkamer which speaks of love and loss, of ambition and aspiration. There is song as well as dance, and the music – Joplin to Beethoven - carries the audience from movement to movement. Someone said to me recently that dance doesn’t have to have a story - that sometimes dance for dance sake is more than enough. Kunstkamer is far more than this though, it is far more than the artform, it is in fact art.

Huge congratulations should be given to Hallberg for bringing this ballet to Australia, to the choreographers Paul Lightfoot, Sol León, Crystal Pite, Marco Goecke, and to the entire cast.

Kunstkamer is quite simply sublime.

L.B. Bermingham

Photographer: Jeff Busby