By Deborah Jones A conventional production would have been the safe way to go when staging the first Swan Lake in West Australian Ballet’s 70-year history. Artistic director Aurélien Scannella had other ideas. His company is based in Perth, a city strung along the Swan River in Noongar country. How might local Aboriginal stories and
By Rhys Ryan While most of Australia’s dance scene lay dormant, Perth Festival took centre stage early in 2019 with an ambitious line-up of local and international works. It was the country’s largest and most diverse festival programming for dance in recent years, outdoing east coast counterparts in Sydney and Melbourne. A festival headliner was
By Deborah Jones Queensland Ballet’s premiere of Ben Stevenson’s Swan Lake had a 42nd Street quality to it as junior company member Joel Woellner was chosen to dance Prince Siegfried alongside principal artist Yanela Piñera’s seasoned Odette-Odile. Piñera laid out her credentials within seconds of taking to the stage with a pure, extended balance on pointe that was an eloquent expression of the Swan Queen’s