Dance News

Melbourne Ballet Company Auditioning Dancers in New York

For the first time ever the Melbourne Ballet Company will be holding auditions outside of Australia. Alisa Finney, Artistic Director, and Sharon Fernandez, Melbourne Ballet Company Principal dancer, will be in New York from January 1-19 taking guest classes and workshops as well as holding the audition. Contracts and Traineeships are available for highly trained classical and contemporary dancers.

Read More

Australian Youth Dance Festival 2012

Ausdance NSW will present the Australian Youth Dance Festival 2012 at NAISDA, NSW next April. Choreographic sessions throughout the week will culminate in a site-specific dance work, with all AYDF 2012 dancers, directed by Rowan Marchingo. Dancers will also have the opportunity to work with Philip Channells, Vicki Van Hout, Kay Armstrong, and Lee Pemberton.

Read More

The Merry Widow: a decadent tale of love, money and trickery

The Merry Widow has opened in Sydney at the Opera House for 20 performances until November 28. After an absence of over ten years, Sir Robert Helpmann and Ronald Hynd’s effervescent production returns in 2011 in celebration of The Australian Ballet’s history. As the December season of Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet is already sold out, this is the last opportunity for many to see the company in action in 2011.

Read More

Australian Production of A Chorus Line

An all-new Australian production of one the most successful American Broadway musicals of all time, A Chorus Line is coming to Adelaide and Melbourne for 2012. Direct from Broadway and a U.S Tour, this new Australian production is directed and re-staged by Baayork Lee, one of the original cast members and inspirations from the Tony Award® winning 1975 production.  

Read More

Baryshnikov gives lifetime of archives to the NY Public Library

One the world’s most loved dancers, Mikhail Baryshnikov, 63, has donated his personal recordings, photographs, documents, letters, scrapbooks and videotapes to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. With nearly 650 videotapes of Baryshnikov dancing, including footage of him as young as 11 dancing in Latvia where he was born, the Library now has a treasure trove that’s sure to draw dance scholars,  dance teachers, students and the general public.

Read More

New AD in the house

Dancehouse Melbourne has announced the appointment of a new artistic director, Angela Conquet. “I feel tremendously privileged and honoured to have been appointed Artistic Director of Dancehouse. After six years of working with independent dance artists in France, I am extremely happy to transfer my skills and experiences in order to continue David Tyndall’s fantastic work here”, Angela said.

Read More

Eight dancers elevated at The Australian Ballet

Eight dancers have been elevated at The Australian Ballet. Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister, made the welcome announcement after wrapping up the sold-out season of Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet in Melbourne. Reiko Hombo will become a senior artist, Chengwu Guo will be made a soloist and Brett Chynoweth, John-Paul Idaszak, Ako Kondo, Brooke Lockett, Karen Nanasca and Sharni Spencer are moving up to the rank of coryphée.

Read More

Fearless New Producers Deliver Opposing Works

StageArt is the dynamic new production company created by passionate arts professionals Katherine Armstrong and Robbie Carmellotti. With large commercial producers presenting safe, proven shows, StageArt was formed to meet a need in current Australian theatre: the creation and promotion of new and original work. Both Armstrong and Carmellotti share a love of dance and talent for choreography, and this is evident in their inaugural season of not one but two new works, Mátalor and Grease 2: Live in Concert, which will play in concurrent seasons at Melbourne’s Chapel off Chapel. 

Read More