A Pivotal Year of Ballet.
It may be halfway through February, but as the 2020 season has not yet begun, we’d like to wish our readers a Happy New Year!
As we leave behind the beautiful 2019 Year of Enchantment, we cannot wait to announce some new happenings in this little joint!
David McAllister – Courtesy of Aus. Ballet
First off, as most of our members would know, this Year of Limitless Possibilities also doubles as David McAllister’s final year as Artistic Director of the Company. After two decades of brilliant service, we are sure David’s departure will be in the forefront of all Australian Ballet proceedings this season. If you’ve received our newsletter, you may remember that on Wednesday 18th of November we will be holding a Farewell Lunch for David. If you’re interested in meeting David at one of his last events as Artistic Director, make sure to pencil in that date and we promise to keep you posted.
Australian Ballet Company – Courtesy of the Aus. Ballet.
Focusing on the Friends now, we are thrilled to announce our new series, ‘Friends in Conversation,’ where we bring a special guest to talk about their area of expertise within the ballet world. Last year, many of our members asked for more talks and conversation with ballet folk, so we’ve decided to launch this new series in 2020. Kicking the series off, this week, Executive Director Libby Christie will divulge in the operations and logistics of the Australian Ballet. The Australian Ballet can only survive with someone running the business committee, and to understand how the company has survived through the ages, you’ll have to ask Libby yourself. However, if you can’t make it this Thursday, next week we will begin selling tickets to our next conversation with the Director of Production and Planning, Chris Yates on the 16th April.
As usual, we are holding our ‘Meet the New Dancers 2020’ event this year on the 31st of March at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia. Nine talented dancers have been inducted into the company this year, all coming from our own Australian Ballet School. Most notably, the recipient of the Friends of the Australian Ballet 2019 Annual Scholarship, Belle Urwin, was inducted to be apart of the 2020 Australian Ballet Company! This scholarship is awarded to a NSW dancer to assist them in their final year of training at the Australian Ballet School. Congrats to all nine dancers, we are all so excited to see you on stage soon!
The 2020 shows; Volt, Anna Karenina, Molto, The Happy Prince and Harlequinade, are now just on the horizons. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on all our social media (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn) as well as on here to make sure our Friends are all set for a Year of Limitless Possibilities. To find out more about the season, check out our previous blog posts to get a brief overview of the season!