THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET BALLETOMANE 2_web... · THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET The first ever live ballet that I saw was a matinée performance by The Australian Ballet, who were doing Sir Frederick

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THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET

BALLETOMANE#02

THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET

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HOW ALIVE ARE YOU?

The Jaguar F-Type R is the epitome of athleticism. Its body is taut, its heart is tuned. The combination gives you stunning performance, a lot like The Australian Ballet.

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THE ATHLETIC BODY NEEDS A POWERFUL HEART

THE DANCER'S TABLEDANA STEPHENSEN’S POWER BOWL

I am quite the queen of touring food and fridge-surprise meals. Nowadays I have a couple of food intolerances, which has definitely made me a better cook. Being on tour as a dancer is often the hardest part, both in terms of sourcing the food and having the time and energy to make something with them.

My go-to staple meal when I started on my health rennaissance journey was this: (Make up one night or one Sunday)

Soloist Dana Stephensen is studying nutrition and has created a blog, The Balance Point(e), about her holistic approach to healthy living

(find it at thebalancepointe.com). Here are Dana’s thoughts on how to rustle up a “Power Bowl” – a meal that's quick and easy while supplying

the sustained energy necessary for a dancer’s super-active lifestyle.

Big batch of quinoa or brown rice – any sort of grain really

Big batch of roast veggies – sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, carrot, zucchini

Steamed greens – Brussels sprouts, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, peas

Protein of choice – tinned salmon, tuna, boiled or scrambled eggs, leftover roast chicken, beef mince, beans of any kind

Salad greens – heaping of spinach, rocket, lettuce

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That would serve me as lunch and dinner for a good few days. I take it to work in separate containers and heat up the veggies and grains and add the salad and protein of choice and that to me is an ultimate Power Bowl!

It’s versatile, adaptable (so you don’t get sick of it), suitable for vegetarians or meat eaters, takes little preparation on the day and provides a great balance of the macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein and fats, plus fibre. And it gets me through a show and refuels me after a show without being too heavy to sleep on, which is a tricky balance for a dancer!

Special extras – herbs, any seasoning that works, savoury yeast flakes (rich in B vitamins and great protein for vegetarians), seaweed Gomasio sprinkles, fennel or caraway seeds, dukkah, sweet chilli sauce, linseed meal or LSA (linseed/sunflower seed/almond meal mix: this gives extra protein and fibre), natural yoghurt, avocado, healthy fats like flaxseed oil

Artistic Director David McAllister AM Executive Director Libby Christie Music Director & Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon Editor Rose Mulready Designers Lillian Cutts & Jasmine Chong Art Direction Qube Konstrukt

E-NEWS Behind Ballet, The Australian Ballet’s fortnightly enews, keeps you up to date with what’s going on in front of and behind the curtain. News, videos, dancer profiles, exclusive ticket offers and more are delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up here: australianballet.com.au/behindballet

MELBOURNE The Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre Level 5, 2 Kavanagh Street, Southbank Victoria 3006 Telephone 1300 369 741

SYDNEY The Australian Ballet, Level 4, 10 Hickson Road, The Rocks Sydney 2000 Telephone 1300 369 741

[email protected] australianballet.com.au ABN 57 004 849 987 I SSN: 0818-6022

Cover: Chengwu GuoOpposite: Vivienne Wong Photography Justin Ridler

Right: Dana Stephensen Photography Michael Kai

THE POWER ISSUE

BALLETOMANE3

WELCOME TO ISSUE NO.2: POWER

When you think ballet and power, what do you think? Perhaps it’s the body: the strength of male dancers as they lift a woman high over their heads; the thrust of muscles propelling a leap or turn; the steely poise required for a ballerina to dance en pointe.

Perhaps it’s the force of the emotions that fuel ballet’s most classic stories: the headlong euphoria of first love; the anguish of betrayal; jealousy, madness, vengeance.

Or perhaps it’s simpler than that: it’s the power that ballet has to transport you, to lift you out of your everyday reality and sweep you to another realm.

Of all the art forms, ballet has the most elements – dance, music, the design of the sets and costumes and lights – with which to bewitch its audience. At the ballet, we lose time - and come back to ourselves a little shaken, a little bewildered, and immeasurably enriched.

In this issue of Balletomane, we’ll be looking at the forces that run through ballet, from potent archetypes like the Black Swan and Carabosse to a work inspired by marathon runners. We hope you feel the power.

A thank you is in order: to Jaguar, whose generosity fuels Balletomane.

Government Partners Principal PartnerLead PartnersMajor Partner, Balletomane

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Imogen Chapman and Benedicte Bemet. Photography Paul Scala

BLACK SWAN RISING

Equipped with dark magic and a killer dress, Odile turns every eye in the ballroom. It’s no wonder that Natalie Portman’s Black Swan so quickly became a cultural icon: Odile had been lurking in our collective subconscious for decades, awaiting her moment.

_ See the Black Swan in ascendant when The Dancer’s Company performs Act III of Swan Lake as part of its Classical Triple Bill, touring regional Australia athis winter. australianballet.com.au/dancerscompany

THREE MORE YEARS

A heartfelt thank you to our Principal Partner Telstra, who for over 30 years has allowed us to dream big and bring the beauty and power of ballet to more people than ever before. Right now, we’re celebrating the fact that Telstra has committed to The Australian Ballet for another three years. The future looks bright.

THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET AND TELSTRA

Principal Partner

You may sympathise with Odette, the tragic princess of Swan Lake, but no one can deny the thrill when Odile, the Black

Swan, erupts onto stage to steal Odette’s identity, her man, and ultimately, her very life.

Left: Adam Bull and Amber Scott in Stephen Baynes' Swan Lake. Photography Jeff Busby

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MEET THE FAIRY OF WISDOM

Carabosse. The wicked fairy at the christening, the nemesis who condemns Princess Aurora to a hundred years of sleep. In David

McAllister’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty, she’s wrathful and vengeful, but not wholly evil. She’s the eldest of the fairies, and

her wisdom is portrayed by designer Gabriela Tylesova with the totem of the owl. Vines presage her vengeance: the century’s worth

of growth over the palace where the Beauty sleeps.

The Sleeping Beauty premieres in September. australianballet.com.au/sleepingbeauty

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— CHRIS MARTIN COLDPLAY

The ballet to me is one of the most inspiring things it’s possible to see; it’s such a rare blend of graceful beauty, raw power, refined skill and great music. It has the wow factor of “how on earth do they do that” combined with stories and sets and movements that make your heart melt. I have loved each time I’ve been.

— KRIS SMITH EX-RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYER, MODEL & MYER AMBASSADOR

I never thought ballet was my thing, until I went. From the moment I sat down I was hooked. From start to finish I was mesmerised by the athleticism and the ability to tell a story without words. But mostly I was blown away by the grace and power on display.

— DAVID HALLBERG PRINCIPAL DANCER, AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE & BOLSHOI BALLET

I sat as a young bunhead, watching American Ballet Theatre’s Le Corsaire in California. The sets, the dancers! Marcelo Gomes was debuting as the Slave. He was perfection! But what really took my breath away was something altogether different: a real working fountain they brought out in the dream scene and set at the back of the stage. A REAL working fountain! ON stage! I was hooked and never looked back.

— DAVID MCALLISTER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET

The first ever live ballet that I saw was a matinée performance by The Australian Ballet, who were doing Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella in Perth at His Majesty’s Theatre. I was about eight and I fell completely under the spell of the performance. At the end of the ballet when the doors opened and light flooded in from the street, I was completely disoriented and it was like this collision of the real world into my perfect ballet fantasy world, my first culture shock! I think that is when I discovered the power of ballet to take you to a different place and also when I decided I wanted to live in that ballet fantasy world. So far I am living my dream!

— AMBER SCOTT PRINCIPAL ARTIST, THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET

My first and fateful experience of a ballet in the theatre was at QPAC in Brisbane, watching The Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake. I was five years old. The audience sitting around my family were tittering as, completely unaware of what I was doing, I flapped my arms through the swan scenes! My mother took this is as a sign that she should start me in ballet lessons.

BLOWN AWAY AT THE BALLETFrom rock stars to footy players, no one is immune to the emotion and

spectacle of the ultimate art form. We asked a few of our favourite people about their "blown away"moments.

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BALLET & ME: KELVIN HO

What relationship did you have with dance growing up?

I didn't have much of a relationship with dance. I did grow up as a skateboarder, though, which has many parallels with dance. I wrote a thesis on skateboarding and how it is about performance, technique, style and a vocabulary of "moves" within an architectural space. Strangely, I feel my background in skateboarding and architecture has given me a unique way of viewing the ballet.

What has been the ballet that has affected you most powerfully, and why?

Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, which I saw in 2014 at the Sydney Opera House. It was the first ballet I had seen since I graduated from Architecture, and the first time I had seen ballet merged with contemporary design and music. The rawness and simplicity of the John Pawson set was breathtaking, and being a huge fan of Pawson’s work, I was totally immersed in the spatial and lighting qualities of the performance.

After seeing Chroma, you took your staff at Akin to see the ballet. What were you hoping they would get from the experience?

I wanted them to experience the relationship between physical movement and space making. A huge part of our work is being able to shape people’s experiences through spatial design. It goes beyond an aesthetic exercise as it requires a strong understanding of how people move through space and the relationship between the body and physical space.

I have always thought ballet was the purest form of physical expression, as the dancers’ movements can communicate feelings and emotions. The dancer can move through a space and can transport the audience to an imagined tphysical space and I feel this has immense relevance to our studio’s design philosophy.

The architect Kelvin Ho, of the Sydney-based firm Akin Creative, has created interiors for some of Australia’s hottest fashion stores as well

as luxury resorts and the Coogee Pavilion. This year, he takes on a new challenge: designing the sets for Filigree and Shadow the latest work

by The Australian Ballet’s Resident Choreographer, Tim Harbour.

How would you interpret the word “power” in the context of your own work?

Amplification. Each space I design is intended to amplify and strengthen the experience of the user, be it living in a house, shopping in a boutique, or dining in a bar or restaurant. I would like my design of spaces to enhance the user’s interaction with the house, the clothes in the store, the food. I merely create the backdrop for the experience, but I like to think the backdrop can amplify the experience. In the case of the ballet, I would like the set to be a physical extension of the choreography.

As an architect, what drew you to interiors as opposed to designing buildings, and does this have any relationship to the work you’ll be doing with Tim Harbour?

I like the intimacy of interiors, the ability to create more tactile, visceral experiences. Normally, the experience of a building is from within the space. Filigree and Shadow is more about creating a journey for the audience, who are sitting in the auditorium looking in, and hoping for that they will be transported inside the space. I’m also hoping for a sense of interpretation. I have a clear starting point and narrative, but I would love for the audience to have their own interpretation.

Approaching your first theatre commission, what are the freedoms and limitations that you feel?

Limitations create opportunities. I like to set a strong limitation during the design phase to make the process as tight as possible. I feel this creates more freedom for the designer, as it automatically eliminates a lot of the designs that are not relevant to the narrative of the performance. Other than wanting to create a powerful striking set, Tim provided a blank canvas for the project. As our first commission, we feel really lucky to work this way. The choreography, lighting, music and set are all starting from scratch, so the design process is truly collaborative.

How will you and Tim be working together?

Tim is great at being very specific in conveying his ideas, but still allowing the freedom for creativity. He sends me videos of his ideas for dance moves, and snippets of music, to which I respond to with design sketches and videos of scale models that I have made.

Ballet is powerful because … of its ability to communicate emotional, physical and spatial expression.

I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT BALLET WAS THE PUREST FORM OF

PHYSICAL EXPRESSION ...

Opposite: Amber Scott and artists of The Australian Ballet in Swan Lake. Photography Jeff Busbysby

Above & left: Photography Kelly Geddes

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Above: Artists of The Australian Ballet. Photography Jeff Busby

Opposite above: Dimity Azoury, Brett Simon, Laura Tong and Natasha Kusen. Photographya Jeff Busby

Opposite below: Laura Tong. Photography Jeff Busby

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Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella has the wit and confidence to twist the formula of the traditional. Instead of going to the ball

in a pumpkin coach, Cinderella is whisked to the heavens by vivid planets, stars and the moon. By replacing the usual dances for the seasons with those of the planets, Ratmansky shows how the whole

universe surges forward to right the wrongs that have been done to his heroine. Might is on her side.

australianballet.com.au/cinderella

FLY ME TO THE MOON

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HOW WE GET THE STRETCHBodies pushing to the extremes of human movement need fabrics that can keep up. We talked to our Wardrobe Production Manager Michael Williams about the trials and tribulations of finding the perfect Lycra.

Andrew Wright, Robyn Hendricks and Andrew Killian in Monotones II. Photography Daniel Boud

As you watch a ballet like Frederick Ashton’s Monotones II – those honed bodies spinning and stretching in space, followed at every turn by their stark white second skins – it’s hard to believe that such ballets would ever have been performed in anything but Lycra. But the ubiquitous Lycra, darling of the disco age, proud uniform of the weekend cyclist, only recently emerged in its current form. In the 1960s, around the time when unitards were first worn in ballet, the costumes were "bullet proof”, says Michael Williams, who has worked in The Australian Ballet’s wardrobe department for nearly 40 years and in theatre for 50. “Stiff, tough; they were called ‘allovers’”. Lycra (called “Milliskin” in the USA), was first used by The Australian Ballet in the early 1970s, for its premiere productions of Monotones II and Glen Tetley’s headlong Gemini.

However, the Lycra was still in a formative stage of its evolution: it had only limited stretch. The dancers had to get into their costumes about 15 minutes before the show so they would warm up with their body heat and become flexible enough to dance in. They bagged at the knees. They also held colour poorly when washed. The costumes for Gemini have reptile-like mottles and shading on their sides, which would disappear in the washing machine after every performance. “The dancers had to stand in the stairwell of the Sydney Opera House before the performance and cover their faces while highly toxic dye was sprayed on their costumes!”

The “good stuff” – Lycra that stretches well in both directions, dyes and washes well, and is opaque when sweated into – has only been

discovered in the last ten years or so. Williams tried hard to source an appropriate fabric in Australia, but couldn’t. The Australian Ballet’s fabric of choice comes from Germany.

It is especially difficult to find a suitable Lycra for the men’s tights, which are worn in almost every ballet. Lycra meant for swimwear is flexible and durable, but it’s intended to be worn with modesty panels, so it’s not sufficiently opaque. The German Lycra is the best possible solution so far, but “the men are never happy with their tights,” says Williams. The search for the ultimate stretch continues.

LYCRA THAT STRETCHES WELL ... HAS ONLY BEEN

DISCOVERED IN THE LAST TEN YEARS OR SO.

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STEP WATCH: PLIÉFrench term meaning "bend".

Pronounce it plee-ay.

Our Ballet Mistress Megan Connelly says …

Every jump is powered by the plié - you have to go down to go up! But the plié is so much more than that. It’s the most important connecting movement between every step you see a dancer perform on stage.

At the beginning of each daily class, our dancers use a gentle plié movement to warm up their legs and hips. They begin at the barre with a plié exercise to stretch and strengthen their muscles. As class progresses, they move from practising this movement on two legs, to one leg. It helps them develop the strength and control to land from jumps and the stability to transfer their weight from one leg to another.

A plié can have many characteristics or personalities and can help our dancers portray many moods and emotions. It can show control and tenderness, as in Act II of Giselle, or speed and excitement like the fairies in The Dream. Our dancers like to feel the music in their legs … and it's all about the quality and timing of the plié!

Sometimes it helps to think of pushing down into a plié and at other times it helps to think of pushing up and out of the plié.

Next time you're at the ballet, watch the dancers closely. Before every sustained position or every leap into the air there will be a carefully measured plié to get them there!

And did you know … although we bend the knees and move downwards to do a plié, the trick is to think about going up, when going down.

Valerie Tereshchenko and Rina Nemoto. Photography Lynette Wills

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GETTING HIGH

Valerie Lawson tells us about the sheer energy required to dance In the Upper Room, Twyla Tharp’s

super-kinetic “applause machine”.

Sweaty bodies, trainers, jogging, sprinting, fists punching the air. No, it’s not a track-and-field event, but a ballet, In the Upper Room, a 40-minute marathon that unites two teams of dancers in a race to the finish.

When the repetiteur Shelley Washington staged the work for The Australian Ballet in 1997, she said: “It’s like you dance, basically, until you can’t. Yes, of course you're supposed to point your feet and not look like you're breathing hard, but the audience is with you.” Not only with the dancers but also sharing the intensity of the ride. In the Upper Room is known as “an applause machine”; Twyla Tharp’s aerobic choreography, danced to Philip Glass’s hypnotic score, often sweeps the audience to their feet at the close of the ballet.

Created in 1986, it’s a work like no other in the ballet repertoire. A feast of movement, In the Upper Room interweaves ballet, contemporary dance, boxing, martial arts, tap dancing and fast running. As Washington said: “It’s a little mind-boggling. Twyla does phrases forward and backwards so we retrograde, 12345678, 87654321!”

Tharp’s ballet shares its title with the gospel song sung by Mahalia Jackson (in the Bible, the “upper room” was the site of the Last Supper, and where Christ appeared to his disciples after the resurrection), but it was inspired by the Boston marathon. The choreography calls for athleticism far beyond the normal challenges of ballet. As the critic Jennifer Dunning wrote in 2005: “Every inch of stage space, every bounce and jog, is rigorously calibrated, and the choreography demands from the dancers something akin to Olympic perfection of form.”

The ballet is a study of opposites, with a team of “Stompers”, wearing running shoes, interacting with the classical ballet team, whose women wear red pointe shoes and socks. Two of the women in pointe shoes are known as “the bomb squad”. Red is the signature colour of the ballet. The costumes, designed by Norma Kamali, are black-and-white striped pajamas, with the tops later discarded to show red singlets and the PJ pants removed to reveal red pants or red Balanchine-style ballet dresses.

One of the Stompers in 1997 was Paula Baird-Colt (now The Australian Ballet’s body conditioning specialist), who sees the ballet as “all about the interplay between us in space. You felt you were truly free to express yourself through that art. The music takes you where you need to go.”

Together with Miranda Coney, a former principal artist of The Australian Ballet, she was one of the Stompers who opened the ballet, representing what Tharp called the “dogs at the temple gate”, referring to the pairs of carved dogs that sit as sentries outside a Chinese temple. The “dogs” open and close the ballet, framing its action. “As a Stomper”, Coney said, “you certainly get that adrenaline high because, pushing to the limits, you’re always driving to the next place. For me the experience of the ballet was euphoric. It allowed me to retire after I’d had that experience.”

Vicki Attard, in partnership with Nicole Rhodes in the 1997 ballet team, remembers how much she loved the score. “The repetition builds up an underlying intensity in mood

and the crescendo is so subtle throughout. I really enjoyed dancing the choreography with all the abandonment we could muster”.

What the audience doesn’t see is the cost of dancing with that kind of relentless, digging-deep drive. In the Upper Room is known as a vomit ballet (or at least a dry-retching ballet); some dancers have recourse to a bucket placed strategically in the wings.

Like the runners in the Boston Marathon, the dancers pay a physical toll for entry into the “Upper Room” of barrier-crashing ecstasy.

The opinions expressed here are wholly of The Australian Ballet and Valerie Lawson._

Valerie Lawson is an author and dance historian.

See The Australian Ballet dance In the Upper Room as part of the contemporary program 20:21, playing in Melbourne and Sydney in late 2015. australianballet.com.au/2021

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SWEATY BODIES,

TRAINERS, JOGGING,

SPRINTING, FISTS

PUNCHING THE AIR.

Above: Geon van der Wyst and Roland Cox. Photography Jim McFarlane

Right: Gailene Cummerfield and Tim Harbour. Photography Jeff Busby

Opposite: Miranda Coney and Tim Harbour. Photography Jeff Busby

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MEN EN POINTE

RM: How did you begin your training in pointe shoes?

LM: We started up in the Pilates studio, lying down and doing simple rises against the jump boards [Pilates equipment] with the shoes on. When we graduated to the studio we started out with very simple exercises like relevés, just to get used to being en pointe. We’re pretty much doing what most girls do at eleven or twelve, which is when female dancers generally get their first pointe shoes.

Our advantage is that we have big strong “glute” muscles and thighs, and a lot of the work we do as Bottom relies on that upper length strength – there’s a lot of hopping en pointe, rather than going up and down through the foot. Although there is a pirouette at the end – a double!

RM: So – does it hurt?

LM: Literally after the very first time I put the shoes on in the studio, I had blisters. I thought, oh wow, now I can really sympathise with the girls! Thankfully the girls have a supply of Second Skin in the Physiotherapy room, and I helped myself to that. It’s a gel that you put over the blister, then you tape it up and you can’t feel any pain. Our shoes are custom-made for us (just as all the girls’ shoes are), by Bloch. It’s very funny seeing all us boys en pointe, with these huge shoes like boats on the end of our legs! The contrast with the hairy legs is pretty hilarious too.

RM: Have the girls taught the boys any tricks of the trade?

LM: Yes, they’ve been very helpful! Before I even put on the shoes, a couple of the girls advised me to put my feet in a bath of methylated spirits, to toughen the skin up, which is something girls are sometimes told to do when they’re starting out. And thank God I did!

I couldn’t have done all this without Ouch Pouches [a layer of padding shaped to the toes]. I also add a layer of Chux before putting on my shoes, and the Second Skin. The girls

also taught us how to “break” the shaft of our shoes so that they mould more closely to our feet, and it’s easier to get over the block, which in itself is a big deal!

RM: How long are you en pointe for in The Dream?

LM: It’s about seven or eight minutes, which doesn’t sound like long, but ...! We also have a big donkey head on, which makes things interesting. The head sits differently on all of us, so some people can see out of the mouth, some can see out of the nose ... I can see peripherally out of the left eye! I’m not quite sure how I’ll spot for that pirouette, I haven’t done it with the head on yet! The pointe work for Bottom is actually not supposed to be comic – it’s just to make our feet look like a donkey’s hoofs. It’s part of the character.

RM: What’s been the most fun part of all this process?

LM: Probably trying things out after class. We’ve been training with [Ballet Mistress and Rehabilitation Coach] Megan Connelly, and when she walks out the door it’s playtime! We’ve been giving some of the famous female steps a try. Like the Rose Adage from The Sleeping Beauty – it’s fun to muck around with, knowing you’ll never have to do it for real! The hops en pointe from the solo in Giselle (which are not so difficult actually with big boy muscles) ... the Baroness from Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake ... And I managed to do five pirouettes en pointe the other day – it just came from nowhere! I’m sure I could never do it again. And I’m not sure how great my technique was. There are constantly girls laughing at us through the windows. They’ve been great though. They taught us how to do that never-ending sewing, putting ribbons and elastics on your shoes. Yes, I can really sympathise with the girls now!

_

See The Dream in Adelaide (8 – 9 July) australianballet.com.au/thedream

In Frederick Ashton’s ballet The Dream , based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the yokel Bottom is transformed into a donkey.

Luke Marchant, one of the dancers playing Bottom, tells Rose Mulready what it’s like training en pointe for the role.

Above: Madeleine Eastoe and Joseph Chapman. Photography Daniel Boud

Right: Luke Marchant. Photography Kate Longley

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Above: Photography Kate Longley

Back cover: Justine Summers Photography Jim McFarlane

Out There - The Australian Ballet in schoolsbrought to you by Samsung

Since its inception in 2006, The Australian Ballet’s flagship

education program has given more than 70,000 children

around Australia the opportunity to experience dance.

Samsung Electronics Australia is proud to be the presenting partner of Out There.

australianballet.com.au/outthere

WARDROBE VS PANTRY

- THE DREAM -

We love the way the clever ladies at Wardrobe V Pantry juxtapose food and fashion. Here, they’ve fallen under the spell of Frederick Ashton’s The

Dream, pairing Principal Artist Ako Kondo as the Fairy Queen Titania with a succulent chocolate-fudge-topped almond cake.

Photography of Ako: Kate LongleyThat cake: call-me-cupcake.blogspot.com.au

wardrobevpantry.tumblr.com

HOW DANCERS UNWIND

RICHARD HOUSE

I go to the gym every day to do upper body weights and swim. Swimming is the ultimate way to use your entire body while also learning to pace your breath and work on your cardio, and importantly it doesn’t impact on your lower legs (which are impacted daily while dancing). I also play tennis two to three times a week. Swapping the studio and barre for a tennis court, racquet and ball is a perfect outlet; it’s something completely different. It's so much fun running for a shot or taking out some frustration left over from the studio on smashing some tennis balls!

Staying creative outside of dancing is also important to me, whether it be listening to music or going and seeing a gig, or even thinking up new choreography for a piece I may be working on.

ALICE TOPP

My favourite way to unwind after a show is putting on a record, lighting a candle and reading the newspaper. I find playing a record soothing and it helps stop the music from the show circling over and over in my head, so I get a break from it! Also, reading the newspaper and lighting a candle helps me slow down, keep grounded and gain some perspective.

Dance is a gruelling profession. We asked our dancers Alice Topp and Richard House, both talented performers as well as budding

choreographers, about their favourite ways to keep their feet on the ground.

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DIVERGENCE— FLASHBACK —

When it comes to the perfect juxtaposition of delicacy and industrial rawness, there’s not much that beats a tutu made out

of air-conditioning mesh. Vanessa Leyonhjelm’s eye-popping design for Stanton Welch’s ballet Divergence was an

instant modern classic.

JUSTINE SUMMERS IN COSTUME FOR DIVERGENCE, 1994