The Australian Ballet
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The Australian Ballet was founded in 1962 and had it's first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney.
Today the company, based in Melbourne, regularly tours to all the major cities within Australia, with lengthy seasons in Melbourne at the Victorian Arts Centre and in Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. When in Brisbane, The Australian Ballet performs at the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. The company also occasionally tours, by invitation, internationally at prestigious venues such as the Royal Opera House, London, United Kingdom.
The Australian Ballet works in close cooperation with The Australian Ballet School, of which many of the company’s dancers are graduates. Giving over 200 performances a year, The Australian Ballet is the busiest ballet company in the world. With a vast repertoire which includes the major classical and heritage works as well contemporary productions, it follows its artistic vision of ‘Caring for Tradition, Daring to be Different’. Each year, the company also presents an extensive national education programme, run by Colin Peasley a former principal dancer with the company, to further inspire and educate its audiences.
Box office sales, derived from its strong and loyal audience base, are the foundation of the company’s income stream. The Australian Ballet Company also receives funding from the Australian Government, the Victorian and New South Wales state government bodies, corporate sponsors, private donors and bequests.
The company's current Artistic Director is David McAllister, who was a Principal Dancer until being appointed artistic head of the organisation in 2001. The company’s previous Artistic Directors were: Ross Stretton (1996-2001); Maina Gielgud (1983–96); Marilyn Jones (1979-82); Anne Wooliams (1976-77); Sir Robert Helpmann (1965-76) and the founding Artistic Director, Dame Peggy van Praagh (1962-74; 1978).
The company's Music Director and chief conductor is Nicolette Fraillon.
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[edit] Don Quixote
In 1973 the Australian Ballet released a film version of the ballet Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus, starring Rudolf Nureyev as Basilio, Lucette Aldous as Kitri and Sir Robert Helpmann as Don Quixote along with artists of the Australian Ballet. Future artistic director Ross Stretton staged the stage production during his artistic directorship of The Royal Ballet.
[edit] The Merry Widow ballet
The Franz Lehár ballet "The Merry Widow" was created by Sir Robert Helpmann and choreographed by Ronald Hynd especially for The Australian Ballet. The designer was Desmond Healey. The orchestrations, from operetta score to ballet score, were done by John Lanchbery (then musical director of The Australian Ballet) and his colleague Alan Abbot. The ballet premiered on 13 November 1975 at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was guesting with The Australian Ballet, danced the leading role of Hanna Glawari in 1976.
[edit] The Company[1]
Principal Artists
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Senior Artists
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Soloists
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Coryphees
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Corps de Ballet
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