The world-renowned English National Ballet will tour to Australia for an exclusive season in Sydney at the new, The Concourse, Chatswood, from Friday June 8 to Sunday June 17, 2012.
Tickets are already selling fast as dancers and lovers of dance gather to see the company which hasn’t toured to Australia since 2001.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Wayne Eagling, this highly respected European company will bring its top soloists and principal artists, presenting a programme suited to young and old in the intimate 500 seat theatre at The Concourse.
The English National Ballet was established in the 1950s and has since emerged as one of the foremost touring companies in Europe. This internationally acclaimed classical ballet company tours both nationally and worldwide. Founded by two British ballet greats Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, the English National Ballet grew out of a series of gala performances. Today, with 67 dancers from 20 different countries, they provide a group of dancers who enrich each repertoire they perform. The original 1950s aspiration for the Company, to take popular ballet to the widest geographical audience at a price they can afford, remains as valid today as when first expressed by the Company’s founders.
English National Ballet's Anais Chalendard and Vadim Muntagirov in Suite en Blanc
Recently the subject of the popular BBC reality series The Agony and the Ecstasy the English National Ballet is enjoying an international recognition unheard of in classical dance circles. And it is not only the public who are supporters of the English National Ballet. The prestigious company has enjoyed the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales and currently HRH Prince Andrew, The Duke of York.
The Australian programme, accompanied by a live orchestra, will open with George Balanchine’s neo-classical masterpiece Apollo and close with Serge Lifar’s spectacular bravura piece, Suite en blanc. These two great classics will frame a selection of favourite pas de deux from Manon, Don Quixote or Black Swan, and Trois Gnossiennes, featuring the company’s stars. Set to an Erik Satie solo piano piece, contemporary choreographer Hans Van Manen’s Trois Gnossiennes, will showcase the great finesse, control and superb classical technique of the English National Ballet dancers.
Suite en blanc was described by its choreographer, Serge Lifar, as “a real parade of stars”. A plotless display of classical technique, with strict emphasis on the perfection of line, the ballet was created in 1943 to showcase the virtuosity and elegance of the Paris Opera Ballet. With its white costumes against an inky black setting, the ballet remains a stunning showcase of dance, as glittering and exhilarating as its first performance nearly seven decades ago.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see the English National Ballet. Tickets are now on sale at www.theconcourse.com.au/enb
Top photo: Dancer Anais Chalendard of English National Ballet in Apollo. Photo by Laurent Liotardo.
Published by Dance Informa dance magazine – everything dance in Australia – dance auditions, dance news, dance events and resources for dance teachers.
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