The Australian Ballet to stream three story-ballets live

The Australian Ballet, now under its new Artistic Director David Hallberg, has announced three new titles as part of its 2022 live stream series: Live on Ballet TV.

Anna Karenina will be streamed live from Arts Centre Melbourne on 8 March 2022 with the company's full corps de ballet, 80 dancers in all. Anna Karenina is the first collaboration between The Australian Ballet and Chicago's Joffrey Ballet. Together they have co-commissioned the creative team including choreographer Yuri Possokhov, the former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and resident choreographer of San Francisco Ballet, and composer Ilya Demutsky, his frequent collaborator.

Hallberg says:

The deep ‘Russian soul' echoes on stage in Possokhov's recreation of this harrowing tale, a story written by one Russian and interpreted by another, generations later. This is The Australian Ballet at its most dramatic and we're very much looking forward to bringing this powerful story to life from the stage of Arts Centre Melbourne to our fans around the world.

Anna Karenina is followed by Alexei Ratmansky's Harlequinade on 24 June 2022: “a lively love story based on commedia dell'arte at its most joyful and humorous”.

Finally, on 18 October 2022, John Cranko's version of Romeo and Juliet will be broadcast.

My second season as Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet – says Hallberg – is presented with an unwavering belief: there is great power in performance, even in the most challenging of times. With pride, our dancers will return to the stage, where they will show you that their commitment to this art form is stronger than ever before.

We're so fortunate that we are able to present Romeo and Juliet, Anna Karenina and Harlequinade through our live streams; we have worked so hard on getting these productions ready for the stage and to audiences worldwide with gratitude, energy and drive.

During the programmes, David Hallberg and other guests will commentate, together with live interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.  Each live stream will be available to watch for 48 hours after the start of the performance and can be accessed by any device. Tickets for all three productions are now available to purchase at www.australianballet.com.au/the-ballets/live- on-ballet-tv.

A performance costs $25 AUD (circa 18 USD/ 16 EUR).

ANNA KARENINA

Tuesday 8 March 2022

Streaming 7:15pm AEDT (03.15 EDT, 09.15 CET)

CREDITS
Choreography Yuri Possokhov
Composer Ilya Demutsky
Libretto Valeriy Pecheykin, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy
Costume and set design Tom Pye Lighting design David Finn Projection design Finn Ross

Anna Karenina is a co-production of Joffrey Ballet and The Australian Ballet.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.