The Australian Ballet: Edge of night

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Description

A sophisticated showcase of Australian dance

When Stephen Baynes' Molto Vivace first premiered, the Handel score was accompanied by the sound of dropping jaws. Boldly colourful, playful and laugh-out-loud funny, it showed the future of ballet was very bright indeed. This triple bill teams Molto Vivace with Baynes' achingly romantic At the edge of night and the brand-new Halcyon from breakout choreographer Tim Harbour. Athletic, engaging and elegant, Edge of night showcases Australian ballet at its very best.

"Molto Vivace is vivacious, mouth-wateringly colourful and as shiny as a summer morning."
Herald Sun on Molto Vivace

"Superbly evocative"
The Age on At the edge of night

"Original and highly imaginative"
Herald Sun on Halcyon

Credits

At the edge of night (1997)
Choreography Stephen Baynes
Music Sergei Rachmaninov
Set and costume design Michael Pearce
Lighting design Stephen Wickham

Halcyon (2010)
Choreography Tim Harbour
Music Gerard Brophy
Costume design Alexis George
Stage concept and lighting design Bluebottle

Molto Vivace (2003)
Choreography Stephen Baynes
Music George Frideric Handel
Costume design Anna French
Set design Richard Roberts

Tim Harbour's choreography supported by
The Robert Southey Fund for Australian Choreography, endowed by The Sidney Myer Fund

Sydney: with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Melbourne: with Orchestra Victoria

In Melbourne this performance runs for approximately 148 minutes including two intervals.
In Sydney this performance runs for approximately 153 minutes including two intervals.

At the edge of night

Each of the seven preludes I have chosen from Opus 23 and 32 written by Rachmaninov appear to me as a meditation. They are like an introspective monologue or dialogue, and it is this particular retrospective quality that I wished to interpret.

There is an overwhelming feeling of melancholy in the music - unmistakably Russian, although not particularly nationalistic. It speaks of nostalgic yearning, of idyllic dreams, of pride and anguish and passion.

I saw each prelude as a separate entity. Each uniquely explores and develops its thematic material only to end, invariably, with an abrupt or withdrawn, almost laconic inconclusiveness. In this respect the Preludes seem to me like separate characters taken randomly from a story, or pictures glimpsed in an album.

The ballet too, depicts a collection of reminiscences. The poignancy of memories is often most acute at the time of day when darkness closes in. At nightfall loneliness seems to be felt more deeply, and faces and events from the past can invade the consciousness with random, sometimes-confusing or bizarre imagery.

Whilst this music represents perhaps the apogee of Romanticism, I wanted to depict this Romantic sensibility within a surreal setting. Recourse to dreams and the unconscious were fundamental to Surrealism, and Michael Pearce has created a beautiful evocation of this idea.
Stephen Baynes

Halcyon

Halcyon, a wind goddess, has a premonition: She sees a young mortal, Ceyx, adrift on the sea, lost and carried by the winds. Halcyon is based on the Greek myth about the beautiful goddess Halcyon who falls in love with a mortal man. In their rapture they impersonate the all powerful Zeus and his wife Hera, naively pretending to be more than they are. This angers the Gods and they banish the couple. The anxiety of their situation overwhelms Ceyx and he resolves to cross the ocean, beg for Zeus' forgiveness and regain freedom for the lovers. Halcyon remembers her tragic premonition and begs Ceyx not to leave but cannot change his mind. Out at sea a storm builds where Ceyx is overcome and drowned. Sensing his death, Halcyon is transformed into a beautiful bird and flies into the storm to retrieve her lover's body. Her action calms the seas and in turn transforms Ceyx. They are forever united, flying over the waves toward the horizon.

I was drawn to this story for the poetic image of Halcyon flying into the eye of a storm - the heart of her devastation - and with graciousness and bravery she brings calm. It is from this story that we take the term 'halcyon days' which today refers to a time of peace.
Tim Harbour

Molto Vivace

Molto Vivace, a musical term meaning very lively, takes as its starting point the works of two French Rococco artists - Watteau and Fragonard. Both painters were able to reveal essential truths about human nature with differing sensibilities. Watteau's was often a kind of yearning melancholy whereas in many of Fragonard's works there is a barely concealed bawdy eroticism. Focusing in particular on a genre known as fêtes galantes (gallant festivals) in which people were depicted at leisure in idealised natural surroundings, Stephen Baynes explores a more light-hearted approach and as previously comes up with yet another personal triumph. Taking the music of Handel as his inspiration, Stephen Baynes, Richard Roberts and Anna French create their very own fêtes galantes.

Casting is subject to change without notice.

Thursday 26 August 7.30pm