White: The Australian Ballet

White is a clean and powerful program of ballet that explodes and engages the mind.


Wafting up from below the pit to a soft and gentle embrace, the orchestra ushers in a calming resonance. From a whisper, the sweet sounds open up the night and present the first story of the evening, La Bayad're.

Almost clockwork to begin with, a procession of ballerinas cautiously step out like musical dolls. They later blossom out into a pond of lilies and buzz as flowers on a bed of air. Their role is uncertain, but a delight to watch. There's a slight sadness to the steps of the prince in this tale of love. Heartbreak as his heart is only comforted by the moment to suffer fleeting thoughts of what could and might have been. Despite all the wonder and beauty that surrounds him, it feels like for each second he's out there, a part of his heart dies.

Bold and forcefully more daring than the rest of the three works of the night is Relic. A violent and chaotic work that from all surfaces is a deconstruction of mental capacity. Turning up the traditional casting structure of ballet, eleven men dance around and with a lone ballerina. She begins the act with what appears to be a struggle inside her own neurosis. From there it dissolves into a wild canvas of battles, death and conversations with demons. Shades of yellow and sickly green spiral what only really seems fraught with more anger on each booming delivery from the pit. Taking out the beautiful movement seen in the first, it's a more jerky performance with an underlying stammer of emergency.

The final act, Suite en blanc, appears to be a thankful gesture toward the heavens and within. With no apparent structure toward a story, Suite en blanc delivers instead an array of dazzling skill and performance. Almost to a degree in which the entire act is nothing more than a wondrous showcase of talent of the senior dancers.

Certainly a far more relaxed atmosphere is apparent in the third. The whole theatre just feels like it's been lifted up and kissed gently on the lips. Various moments throughout provide a glance at the whimsy and joy of ballet as a line of dancers float on and off to a spattering of intended laughs. The sheer skill of each of the lead dancer is never left unappreciated. Each dancer seems to rival the last and the one before in a blinding light of dazzling charm and commanding presence.

And then a wonderful night is over and the souls in audience shuffle back into their dreary.

The Australian Ballet is presenting White in Sydney until 23 May at the Opera House; then Canberra, 27 May - 1 June; and Melbourne, 9 - 20 June, 2005, at the Arts Centre.

Soon Van

Published May 2005 at The Program - NSW Stage reviews

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