Victorian State Ballet - Whats The Show

GISELLE Rating

★★★★★

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“Victorian State Ballet’s production of “Giselle” is a beautiful rendition of this most perfect of ballets. Considered as one of the greatest of romantic ballets, its romance and beauty has mesmerized audiences for hundreds of years. The story is retold through excellent staging, simple and direct mime, superb classical ballet technique and choreography which honour the spirit of this great classical work.”

I agree!

How excited I was to be invited back to see the Victorian State Ballet in action again at The Palais Theatre in St. Kilda last week. Though I, probably like others attending, have seen GISELLE quite a few times before by various companies, Act 2 in particular, remains a memorable ghost like experience unlike anything else and is my most favourite scene drop of any ballet.

The story of Giselle entails of course love, betrayal, tragedy; all the things that go with great ballets, but this ballet has an amount of difference I believe. Signature steps and combinations that Giselle is famous for are expertly executed by Janae Kerr dancing the principal role, and the wonderfully talented cast around her seize every opportunity to show us that ‘Giselle’ (first performed in 1841) is here to stay!

Janae, who has been dancing full-time since she was 14 in both accepted prestigious placement and then at a high professional level, has returned to Victorian State Ballet recently and this is my first time to see her dance the role of ‘Giselle’. She is so very graceful in all the usual ballet choreography including pirouette upon pirouette, but she surpasses anyone I have watched in the ‘mad’ scene as her hair is let down and she throws herself into this act of ‘’going mad’ before her lead character dies of a weakened broken heart. Janae exceptionally portrays Giselle at her best in-love and her horrific worst. We in the audience were absolutely transfixed.

The supporting cast matches Janae’s energy. I could easily repeat similar comments from my earlier review of VSB’s ‘Aladdin’ as they each take to the stage for ‘Giselle’. This extraordinary ballet requires them to be quite different in their roles, often more sombre in the narrative of ‘Giselle’, but their skill and execution is spot on the same as it was in ‘Aladdin’. When dancers can play varying characters so well, it is fun to see them again – sometimes taking on a complete opposite of what you saw them do last time.

The Corps de ballet is beautifully costumed again in this production; detailed effort obviously goes into their dressing and use of accessories. The girls all looked gorgeous, with some taking multiple roles throughout, they showed honest enthusiasm to be exactly where they were in the village scenes; laughter and sorrow as required communicating to one another being fully involved through every mimed movement. Then, all as ghostly spirits in white, they perfect a stunning second Act. Dancing in unison beside Giselle’s grave in the forest, frequently moving as one, they made the synchronization look effortless. Great work everyone!! (I truly appreciate how hard ballet dancers are working to make it not look like they are!)

A number of Pas de Deux feature in Giselle with different members of the cast and these parts are highlights for me especially. Coming from a ballroom background myself, I realize the effort of two people dancing together is never ever easy and requires dedicated practice to precisely nail even the simpler steps. It was probably me heard clapping loudest after the guys lifted, twirled and held partners steady, and the girls leapt into their partners’ arms with no fear and full trust. Bravo!

A thoroughly enjoyable evening! My cousin who came with me had not seen Giselle before nor knew the story, she loved it and so did her friend and her children (both boy and girl having learned ballet) we met whilst there. Another teen girl who told me ‘Giselle’ was her favourite ballet too.

I highly recommend Victorian State Ballet to every ballet lover and also to all who enjoy the dramatic effect of listening to classical music.

Check out upcoming shows at www.victorianstateballet.org.au

Victorian State Ballet has gone from strength to strength under the guidance of Michelle Cassar de Sierra (Choreographer & Co-Director) and Martin Sierra (Artistic Director). Having observed their progress from re-launch in 2015, it never ceases to amaze me that they took a passion for their art into a professional performing company and offers their lucky pre-professional students a chance to be a part of that company with shows like this one all year round.

Read more about the Directors and their dancers on the VSB website above and when you go to a ballet, don’t forget to buy one of their lovely colour programs. My program collection is one of my prized possessions since I was very young – I do hope shows continue to print them as they are the best keepsake.

CAST
GISELLE: Janae Kerr
ALBRECHT: Tristan Gross
MYRTHA: Maggie de Koning
HILARION: Felix Milewski
Peasant Pas de Deux: Daniel Sierra & Alana Puddy
Leading Willis: Lisa de Koning & Courtney Taylor
Berthe – Giselle’s Mother: Charlotte Jones
Bathilde – Albrecht’s bride: Maggie de Koning
Counte: Harvey Lyon
Wilfried: Thomas Spencer

CORPS DE BALLET
Giselle’s friends: Courtney Taylor, Belle Thorneycroft, Hannah Leong, Arisa Elliott, Jessica McAll, Stephanie Little-Hales, Katie Little-Hales.
Village dancers & Harvest opening: Emily Ditchburn, Lisa de Koning, Hannah Lyons, Kyralee Matthewson, Tiana Vella, Olivia Tassell, Elizabeth Heiss, Lillie-Ann McPhee, Connor Bevis, Reuben Hayman, Xander Vandenberg, Josh Steinke, Matija Prevolnik.
Royal Hunting Party and others: Annabel Kent, Jasmine Goldie, Mia Bostock, Hope Lakeland, Savannah Jonson-Clarke, Mikayla Urbanavicius, Lily Booker, Marika Nakama, SiHyeon Kim, Emelina March-Peach, Grace Kefford.

Instagram: @victorianstateballet

Victorian State Ballet studios are located in Bundoora and offer full-time training opportunities along with their professional company as well as holiday intensives and young dancer special role auditions. If you know a young dancer, please suggest they follow the Instagram above for future shows and updates.

To book tickets to another VSB Ballet coming up: https://www.victorianstateballet.org.au/tickets

Photographer: En Pointe Productions

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‘Aladdin’ by The Victorian State Ballet

Aladdin Rating

★★★★★

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What a privilege to be invited to review the ballet of ALADDIN by Victorian State Ballet company performing at The Palais in St. Kilda, a grande dame of theatres.

Everyone likes to dress up for the ballet! It’s so beautiful to even enter the foyer and watch lots of excitement meeting friends, buying programs before eagerly being shown to seats. A couple of young girls in front of me had their best ‘ballet’ buns in and ballet ‘pink’ clothes on, one with a picture of Princess Jasmin on the front. Their mum obviously equally looking forward to the show, smiling at her children’s joy. I remember those days!

Classical ballet is a very special form of dance. Whether or not these young girls are inspired to become advanced ballet students or simply continue to enjoy the art of ballet in an audience, they’ll never forget coming along to a full length ballet for the first time. (I asked their Mum and her reply was when she had heard it was ‘Aladdin’ she had to take them even though it was a late night because they love the Disney story so much!). After the show they were both skipping, twirling and arabesqueing up the aisle. I wonder if they went to sleep dreaming of either becoming a princess or a ballerina?

Alanna Puddy as Princess Jasmin shines as a principal. Not only is her exceptional technical training at The Queensland Ballet PPY and Australian Conservatoire of Ballet evident, she has the ability to tell this well-known storyline clearly and convincingly. There is often a lot colorfully going on around her and she is completely focused in bringing Jasmin to life within each scene exactly like those girls in the audience expect. They giggled at the cute moment of Jasmin playing cards with Aladdin.

I never look at who is in the show prior to reviewing, so I am thrilled to see a past school buddy of my daughter’s playing the title role ‘Aladdin’, Michael Scott-Kahans. Michael studied here in Melbourne at VCASS in the full-time dance stream, then went on to train at Tanz Akademie Zurich and European School of Ballet. At 18 he was accepted into a contract with Alberta Ballet in Canada. As Aladdin, from stealing apples to a memorable solo, Michael is superb and his extensive training is highly noticeable. Impressive clean grand jetés and an acrobatic aerial from this guy too!

Tristan Gross as Jafar is excellent. Jafar is an interesting character isn’t he…. scary and calculating. Though in a ballet of course Tristan, as the expert artist he is (formerly of The West Australian Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet), has to relay these mindful exasperations of Jafar very differently from those who get to play the role in a musical or movie; only non-verbal expressions – he does very well indeed.

Dancing since he was 5 after commencing at Melbourne Dance Theatre, Daniel Sierra as The Genie is absolutely living the dream and what a lovable role to fill. I have watched Daniel before as a much younger dancer (VSB shows regularly tour to the suburbs and regional areas in Australia). He continues to build a strong presence on stage I recognize and no doubt has an equally strong future ahead of him. It was fun to watch him as Genie.

Belle Thorneycroft (Sapphire) has exceptional poise and elegance.

New Zealander, Courtney Taylor (Ruby) shows passion and an eye for detail right to her fingertips.

Maggie de Koning (Diamond) simply oozes love for this genre she performs outstandingly.

Grace Kefford (Emerald) is graceful and gorgeous.

Felix Milewski (Magic Carpet) loves to perform since his journey began as a child dancer with the Australian Ballet. Though you cannot ‘see’ him as the Magic Carpet, the ‘dancing’ carpet is a feature especially entertaining!

Charlotte Jones (Aladdin’s mother), a very lovely dancer, having been accepted into the prestigious English National Ballet School in London, stood out to me as one upcoming young lady to watch.

There are members in the corps of Victorian State Ballet who are amazing; extensions that defy the definition of flexible and their interactions with each other are suitably staged with spot on timing to create the whole picturesque scenes in very pretty costumes. I particularly liked the castle scene. A+

I overheard many positive comments after the applause finally subsided and I’ll note one in particular:

“was interesting how they changed the lighting to show off the costumes”

I agree, the lighting was used in co-ordination with the costume colours and settings super well!

Every dancer tonight created an impactful connection with their audience to tell the narrative about a poor boy who falls in love with a girl, finds a genie in a bottle, fights off a villain and eventually gets to marry her as a princess (“wedding scene had ‘cool’ drum music” my own daughter reported on way home).

It was magical to see Aladdin as a ballet. Thank-you all!

The Victorian State Ballet is a professional ballet company all ages can go along to enjoy and appreciate the art of ballet at an affordable ticket price, but still with quality and care of remarkable artistic talent.

Congratulations Martin Sierra (Artistic Director) and Michelle Cassar de Sierra (Choreographer & Co-director) and your entire team behind-the-scenes and on/side-stage.

To find out more see www.victorianstateballet.org.au

Instagram: @victorianstateballet

To book tickets to Aladdin, please visit https://www.victorianstateballet.org.au/tickets

Photographer: Sasha Kane

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