Ballet Matters

The Australian Ballet School presented its annual Summer Season on 7 & 8 December 2019. Over 100 students took to the stage at Arts Centre Melbourne in an enchanting display of talent.

“The highly entertaining program again highlights The Australian Ballet School as not just an esteemed and invaluable institute but as a trusted brand for brightly polished, modestly priced performances.” Simon Parris: Man in Chair.

My training at The Australian Ballet School commenced in March 1969 and during those years I have fond memories of inspiring classes taught by our Founding Director Margaret Scott, Douglas Gilchrist, modern with Jack Manuel, notation with Elphine Allen and the inspiring character classes with Mde Marina Berezowsky. All forged an excellent foundation of training and understanding of the industry.

Jiayin Du was born in Liaoning Province in China and began his dance training with School of Dance affiliated to Shenyang Conservatorium of Music.

In 1999, Jiayin came to Melbourne and studied at The Australian Ballet School. Within a short span of a year, after graduation with honor, Jiayin joined the Australian Ballet Company and this marked the beginning his diverse and lasting relationship with the company. His career began under the directorship of Ross Stretton and concluded under David McAllister AM’s artistic direction.

Angel Spendlove (née Wong) was born in Hong Kong and moved to Sydney at the age of 1. She moved to Melbourne at the age of 15 to begin training at The Australian Ballet School in 1997 under the direction of Gailene Stock.

During her time at the The Australian Ballet School she performed the role of “Cupid" in Don Quixote with The Dancers Company alongside Artistic Director David McAllister, and had the opportunity to work with Rudi Van Danzig in Four Last Songs. For her graduation performance Angel performed Grand Pas Classique with her third year partner Jiayin Du.

On Sunday 13 October the Australian Ballet Society held its annual Music Behind the Dance event, where some of our musicians took centre stage and shared their talent and passion for music with a much broader audience.

The rich and diverse program, developed by the School’s Head of Music Paul Brickhill, was enhanced by special guest artists Jonathan Margolin (piano) and Ann-Thu Nguyen (piano).

Director Lisa Pavane launched The Dame Margaret Scott Endowment Fund at Showcase 2019.

The fund will, in perpetuity, support The Australian Ballet School to provide holistic programs to young artists-in-training, to empower excellence, to and advance the art of ballet.

Showcase 2019 in Melbourne and Sydney was a huge success. The performance was dedicated to Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE who passed away earlier year. In this performance we honoured her, with students from across all levels coming together onstage in The Australian Ballet School’s Défilé, specially choreographed by one of our Resident Choreographers, Simon Dow.

Jessica was born in Brisbane, where she began to dance at the early age of three. Her family moved to Newcastle when she was 10 and that is where she first realised she wished to pursue a career in ballet and so she auditioned for Level 5 of The Australian Ballet School.  She moved to Melbourne and away from her family at the age of 14 to begin training at The Australian Ballet School in 2005.

The Australian Ballet School and Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) have long shared a symbiotic relationship, and this continued recently when Katrina Edwards (Conditioning Specialist & Student Development Coordinator) spent 3 days in Toronto, visiting NBS.