Triple treat: Honouring the fine lineage of Queensland Ballet’s Triple Bill
Three outstanding choreographers serve up a triple treat in Queensland ballet’s latest production – brimming with variety and inspiration.
Queensland Ballet’s Triple Bill exemplifies the fertility of long-term choreographic affiliations across the company’s spectrum of work, from fostering emerging voices to retaining renowned masters in-house. (Liam Scarlett’s Dangerous Liaisons, returning this October, is another example.)
From its world-premiere opener by a young gun boldly extending the company’s creative territory, to the two pieces bearing each mature maker’s signature brand of eloquent and emotive storytelling, this program celebrates the range and depth of expression that has flourished through these ongoing connections over the past decade or so. All three works reflect the creative freedom and rewards afforded by a mutually beneficial collaborative dynamic of trust and familiarity.
Triple Bill, which continues until Saturday, July 5, at QPAC’s Playhouse, has taken on added symbolism since programmed last year, as it now concludes this fruitful chapter between QB and the featured choreographers – Greg Horsman, Natalie Weir and Jack Lister – whose roles as assistant artistic director, resident choreographer and associate choreographer respectively were among a recent raft of artistic, dancer and administrative cuts in response to financial losses.
Commissioned for this program, Lister’s intriguing and highly original Gemini demonstrates the partnership’s return most strikingly in its execution, belying the challenge for the company’s artists to move well outside their comfort zone in portraying his vision.
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Lister has continued performing since undertaking his first professional choreographic commission in his second year dancing with QB in 2015 and with Australasian Dance Collective (ADC) from 2020. While he isn’t dancing in it, one senses the choreographer’s own physicality inhabiting the creatures that populate Gemini’s subterranean gathering.
The effect of synchronising the movement with a radical reimagining of Dvorak’s New World Symphony by Louis Frere-Harvey – integrating live chamber orchestra Camerata with dancer-activated clicktrack electronic sounds – is compelling. Male soloist Taron Geyl couldn’t have made a more noteworthy debut as a company artist.
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The combination of a driving primal mood and 22 dancers clad in white breastplates scuttling sideways certainly captured my imagination, registering as a 21st century Rite of Spring in an insect colony. However you interpret Gemini, it’s a fantastic journey.
4Seasons is Natalie Weir’s third iteration of the work she originally created in 2013 as artistic director of Expressions Dance Company (now ADC) and last remounted in 2018. This adaptation incorporating pointe work uses its extended lines and planes to enhance lyricism and poignancy of the contrasting moods of The Four Seasons (Vivaldi’s original and Max Richter’s recreation), represented by four couples.
Although the performance overall lacked the abandon required to completely sweep us up in its emotional journey, the choreographer’s unique combination of nuanced sensitivity and exhilarating inventive athleticism is an undiminished joy.
Greg Horsman’s 2022 creation A Rhapsody in Motion demonstrates his command of the classical vocabulary and deft facility for marrying movement and music in fresh, textured and engaging combinations.
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini inspired this three-part study of the dancer’s journey, from the fundamentals at the barre, to developing emotional expression, and finally the fusion of technique and artistry that results in shared moving communication with an audience. The dancer’s delight in performing the piece was clear, even if its challenges weren’t always met.
Of the four featured couples, Libby-Rose Niederer and Ivan Surodeev best captured the piece’s vibrant spirit, while Taron Geyl was again a strong presence in the ensemble. While Patricio Revé was present on opening night, it was alas only in the audience, and he’ll only be back onstage with QB as a guest principal, having taken up a 12-month contract with San Francisco Ballet.
Other departed favourites, including principal Alex Idaszak, senior soloist Kohei Iwamoto, soloist Laura Tosar and first company artist Luke DiMattina, will also be missed.
Horsman’s contribution to Queensland Ballet over 11 years has been substantial, encompassing holding the fort as acting artistic director between Leanne Benjamin and current artistic director Ivan Gil-Ortega, and creating acclaimed box-office successes such as The Sleeping Beauty. His loss will be deeply felt.
Triple Bill is not only an opportunity to enjoy outstanding choreography, creativity and dancing, but also to express farewell thanks to Horsman, Weir and Lister for their work and legacy with Queensland Ballet.
Queensland Ballet – Triple Bill: Weir/Lister/Horsman continues at QPAC’s Playhouse until July 5.