The School’s 45th Anniversary year ended literally with a bang, as the performances at the Playhouse Theatre concluded with Jiri Kylian’s sensational Polonaise. There is no doubt that the works presented were diverse and challenging and the students rose to the occasion extremely well, with wonderful feedback from many quarters.
It is often difficult for young students to really understand the significance of performing works by master choreographers; to understand the great privilege it is to work with international repetiteurs, and to dance in ballets usually the preserve of large classical ballet companies; to understand the generosity of the Balanchine Trust in allowing this school to premiere Divertimento No 15 in Australia; to understand the faith that the great Jiri Kylian had in us to present excerpts from some of his masterworks, and to be the only school to have ever performed his Polonaise. In fact only the Royal Danish Ballet, outside of Nederlands Dans Theater, has done so. It is also sometimes difficult for students and parents to understand that often casting has very little to do with seniority, but is the right of the repetiteur, choreographer, or director, entrusted to reproduce each work.
It has, in fact been one of our busiest and exciting years, beginning with the wonderful news that young Hannah O’Neill had won the Prix de Lausanne, unfortunately, the very year that I did not attend the competition. Nonetheless, the company’s Artistic Director, David McAllister, was there to join in the excitement of the occasion.
The year continued with the visit to the Paris Opera Ballet School by Leigh Rowles and Mark Annear, where they were so warmly welcomed by Director, Elisabeth Platel; the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix in New York in April, where Leigh Rowles and I were members of an international jury, while at the same time Mark Annear was on the judging panel for the Alana Haines Australasian Awards in New Zealand, which led in to the Morning Melodies series in May, at Hamer Hall and the Drum Theatre in Dandenong, where we premiered Tim Harbour’s new work, Songs of Light, and Leigh Rowles’ Matya’s Dance for the Level 6 students. This programme also included Swan Lake Act II and Mark Annear’s Graduation Waltz.
The Dancers Company tour was again a great success, with a repertoire that showed the versatility and vitality of the young dancers. July is also the time when we welcome the Exchange students from Canada’s National Ballet School and while they don’t get to enjoy the experience of associating with the entire school community, they do benefit from individual attention in the class room and the opportunity to see the Dancers Company on tour. Those students who will be guests of the Canadian School in January 2010 are: Jake Mangakahia, Benedicte Bemet, Donna-Mae Burrows and Joel Distefano. They will also be visiting the School of American Ballet and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT.
No sooner had the Dancers Company returned to Melbourne than the dancers were on stage again in the Graduate Exhibition. Always a popular event in the School’s calendar, this year’s performance did not disappoint and in fact I believe it was one of the best we have seen. This performance, held annually in the beautiful State Theatre, thanks to The Australian Ballet, seems to create more and more excitement as the years pass, with the house resounding with the joy, emotion and exuberance of a wonderfully happy, appreciative and expectant audience, with the Grand Defile an eagerly awaited event that brings a tear to many an eye.
This year also saw a wonderfully new and powerful piece, Nuance, by Margaret Wilson, which showcased the strength and power of the Level 8 male students. This work evolved from the idea of using a series of advanced Contemporary exercises, pieced together to form a dance work. The music for this work was specially composed by Neil McNeill.
The Australian Ballet School has an extensive repertoire. This year alone, we have presented excerpts from 19 ballets, including Australian premiers of works by Balanchine and Kylian and new works by three Australian choreographers. We are also blessed, by having members of our own teaching staff who are also gifted choreographers.
While we at The Australian Ballet School were celebrating our 45th anniversary, Canada’s National Ballet School was celebrating its 50th. We were invited to participate in these celebrations as part of an international choreographic festival, along with 13 other major schools. It was a student centred dance celebration focusing on student choreography and the art of dance. As we were unable to participate, Mark Annear went as their guest and our representative.
Lucinda Sharp and Janet Karin are to be congratulated on their presentations at this year’s International Association of Dance Medicine and Science conference held in the Hague in November; they received wonderful feedback and the general impressions were that the way in which The Australian Ballet School caters to the individual student still appears to be unique.
I would also like to congratulate Jessica Fyfe and Ben Stuart-Carberry on their successful guest performances at the Putrajara Arts Festival in Malaysia and Calvin Hannaford and Victor Esguerra on their successful secondment with The Australian Ballet.
At Morning Melodies next year, we will be presenting Divertimento No 15, a new work by Leigh Rowles and Paul Knobloch’s Valetta; the Dancers Company will be performing the three acts of Don Quixote, to be staged by Ai-Gul Gaisina and the Playhouse season will see a return of Petal Miller-Ashmole’s Snow Queen. Also, there is a very special event occurring in June: to celebrate 100 years since the birth of The Australian Ballet’s Founding Artistic Director, Dame Peggy van Praagh, the company is presenting a gala season at the State Theatre from 25 June to 3 July, and the entire School and company are to be involved in performing Mark Annear’s Birthday Celebration, as the opening piece on the programme. As Dame Peggy was the visionary who wanted to found a school to train dancers for The Australian Ballet, it is a fitting and wonderful tribute to this amazing women to have the two organisations come together in this way – she would be overwhelmed and so proud, and I only wish she could see how far we have come.
All members of our staff have coped so well with such a full and challenging year. As I always say: our successes are only made possible by the commitment of such a special team - they have my sincere appreciation and admiration. We have also bid a fond and sad farewell to Fiona Scottney and Danielle Baird and I thank them for all they have done for the School and wish them well in their future endeavours.
The School also wishes to acknowledge two inaugural scholarships: the Betty Amsden Scholarship and the Laurie Cowled Perpetual Scholarship. These tuition scholarships are criteria based and are to be awarded at the beginning of the school year to two suitable students. I thank them both for their wonderful support.
My sincere thanks, also, to Ian McRae and all members of the Board, for their support and guidance throughout the year and their belief in the School’s long-term vision.
The Graduation Ceremony saw us farewell the class of 2009 – one of the nicest groups of young people to pass through this school. It is always a bitter- sweet parting, but also an exciting one, as each of them enters a new phase in their lives. They have left with all our good wishes and blessings for a wonderfully happy and fulfilling future.
I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas and everything you hope for in the New Year. Marilyn Rowe OBE
Director 
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