Les Sylphides, Divertissements, Danse Jeune, Le Beau Danube

NEW TALENT IN BALLET

Review by Jean Sinclair

The Ballet Theatre of Queensland shows a growing self-confidence and some burgeoning new talent in the program that opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre last night. The program was full of fairy-tale charm and joyous youth.

At times some dancers were considerably “out of puff” – and no wonder. They can follow this particularly  arduous and demanding form of art only in their spare time. They are not professional dancers. But the company attempted with much aplomb such classics as Les Sylphides and the Bluebird from The Sleeping Princess, which make great demands on the world’s best dancers.

Harmony

The hushed dream-like quality of Les Sylphides was very well conveyed and there was a harmony of work by the corps de ballet. Mal Czislowski has the classic physique necessary for a great male dancer and tremendous talent, but showed signs of stress and need for a more thoughtful approach to the classicism of Les Sylphides.

The stalwarts of the company Desley Hammond, Inara Svalbe, Lexie Kunze and Judith Lowe, did some superb work. Lexie Kunze was particularly memorable for her spiritual quality in Les Sylphides and Inara Svalbe for her dashing style in The Sleeping Princess pas de trios.

Freedom

Judith Lowe showed delicacy and virtuosity particularly in her des jeux de deux with Mal Czislowski and her solo work in the Bluebird from The Sleeping Princess. Among those in minor roles, Heather Burton stood out as a dancer of great charm and delicacy of movement.

An interesting effect was achieved with the introduction of a modern ballet, Danse Jeune. The dancers obviously enjoyed its freedom of movement and opportunity for self-expression – demonstrating that the generation gap exists as glaringly in the ballet world as elsewhere. This ballet by William Gill is full of the joy of life with delightful decor and costume design by Diane Beggs.

The evening ended with Le Beau Danube, a return to traditional ballet of the lighthearted kind that provided a joyous climax to an enjoyable program.

October 1970