By Deborah Jones In 1964, social critic and academic Donald Horne wrote a book about Australia called The Lucky Country, a term he did not intend as a compliment. It was more dumb luck than anything more elevated that enabled the nation’s success, he argued. The phrase, however, caught on here and is used by
By Deborah Jones This year Bangarra Dance Theatre marks three decades of existence, a fine achievement for a contemporary dance company. It is, however, the merest sliver of time compared with the 65,000 years of First Nations history and culture that informs everything Bangarra does. Why, then, did the celebratory anniversary program include Jirí Kylián’s
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