Halcyon, a Greek goddess (resident ingenue Madeleine Eastoe) falls for mortal Ceyx (dashing rising star Ty King-Wall). Innocently, they imitate Zeus and Hera, and are subsequently banished. Ceyx attempts to apologise in person to Zeus by travelling across a endless sea, but drowns in the storm. Halcyon transforms into a kingfisher and tries to either save her lover’s life or commit the ultimate sacrifice, by flying into the eye of the storm.

Harbour, along with his design team and composer, has created a rather incohesive world for the ballet. Alexis George’s costumes are either literal Grecian tunics and togas for the Lovers or modern unitards with funky hairpieces for the Gods … oh and there were some crazy blue unitards with mermaids tails. The score has the same incoherency – alternating movements of electronic atonal arhythmic soundscape vs acoustic rhythmic folk melodies. The boys from Bluebottle, who have been making waves all over the contemporary dance scene the past few years, have come up with some great lighting effects and a very workable set, but the whole visual aesthetic of the show just seems half-baked.

Sadly the same incoherancy leaked into Harbour’s choreography – his training and career in classical dance is obviously an influence throughout the piece, but there also also a few erratic McGregor-esque sections, most notably the storm/sea/mermaids section. Thankfully, all the confusion and wandering of style though the first three quarters of the piece is washed away by a gorgeous centrepiece pas de trois for Ceyx, Halcyon and her huge blue cape. Utterly stunning and danced to perfection by Eastoe and King-Wall, it was worth the ticket price alone.

Bookending Halcyon are two tried and tested Stephen Baynes works, At the edge of night and Molto Vivace. One sombre and melancholic, the other playful and cheeky, these show off some of the varied repertoire of work Baynes has created for the Australian Ballet. Here’s hoping David McAllister is planning on reviving Baynes’ Raymonda, ultra expensive but performed for only one season.

At the edge of night begins with a solitary woman on a chair. Throughout the next 40 minutes, she is joined by an assumed lover and also four couples who dance a variety of pas de deux, trios and ensemble work all to Rachmaninov. The stand-outs, besides principals Kirsty Martin and Robert Curran who were elegant as always, were definitely Brett Simon and Robyn Hendricks. The two coryphees danced the swing pas de deux and it was enchanting. Later on in the season, Simon dances the lead pair with Lucinda Dunn, and it is not to be missed. Along with Ty King-Wall, Simon is one of the Ballet’s rising male stars – he has the height to partner any girl in the company, the technique to dance both the classical and contemporary repetoire, and the grace to hold an audience in his palm.

Molto Vivace ends the triple bill leaving the audience giggling and thorougly entertained. Richard Roberts’ magic box of a set ands Anna French’s lush costumes are a feast of the eyes, while Baynes’ choreography is a feast for the heart and soul. Daniel Gaudiello as the lead cupid brought the same spark he had as Franz in Coppelia earlier in the year, and Brett Chynoweth obviously relished the change to show off his huge jump.

A mixed bill last night, two definite crowd pieces and one a very lopsided premiere. An interesting debut from Harbour, but maybe next time he could pick a more cohesive creative team.

Stephen Baynes' Molto Vivace

PS: I got a student rush ticket for $32, and was sat next to Marilyn Rowe … and wow did she whinge!!

David Hallberg in Balanchine's Apollo

The Australian Ballet announced yesterday that ABT Principal David Hallberg will be dancing in its upcoming Melbourne season of Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.

Hallberg won the Benois de la Danse award earlier this year and his performances will surely be breathtaking.  He’ll be taking the stage at the Arts Centre for three performances only - Tuesday 21 September, Thursday 23 September, and the evening performance of Saturday 25 September. Sadly these dates fall during the VCA holidays, and as such I’ll be home in Sydney.

Also released yesterday was casting for Edge of Night, the AB’s upcoming season of contemporary Aussie dance.

Tim Harbour’s Halcyon (with a LX design by my lighting lecturers at VCA btw) is the centre piece of what is a not to be missed evening of dance. The new work, based on an ancient Greek myth about sacrifice and transformation, will premiere with the wistful Madeleine Eastoe as Halcyon and the up-and-coming Ty King-Wall as her lover Ceyx. An interesting pairing, putting one of the most reliable dancers in the company alongside a relatively inexperienced partner, but if his performances in The Silver Rose, Coppelia and Peggy! are anything to go by, King-Wall is definitely on the path to stardom.

Damien Welch is also making a return of sorts, assumedly as a guest artist, partnering Olivia Bell in the second cast of Stephen Baynes’ Edge of Night. His return highlights the lack of male principals in the company. With Yosvani Ramos off guesting with the Dancers Company, there are only two male Principal Artists on the cast list of the triple-bill. To solve the imbalance of principals (guys outnumbered two to one) I would except to see either Daniel Gaudiello or Kevin Jackson promoted to Principal by the start of the 2011 season.

Robert Curran and Kirsty Martin in Edge of Night

Verity Hunt-Ballard (centre) as Mary Poppins

Melbourne watch out, a new star has crash landed on Exhibition Street. Verity Hunt-Ballard, who plays the title role in Mary Poppins, is a huge talent and it hopefully here to stay for a fair while. Chosen in March this year after a six-month long search for an Aussie to play the famous role, she has the perfect amount of sweet and sour for the role, and with a twinkle in her eye and a spring in  her step, she is utterly perfect.

Joined on stage by one of the most talented Australian casts in recent years (including but not limited to Philip Quast, Marina Prior and Debbie Byrne, she leads this production that can only be described one way – practically perfect. As the new lyrics to Step in Time suggest, this time Bert, played with a cheeky grin by Matt Lee, sees his role expanded to become the guardian angel of the show. Lee’s performance reminds one of a Puck fleeting in and out and ensuring everything turns out right in the end.

When Mary Poppins first landed on stage at the Bristol Hippodrome in the fall of 2004, critics and audiences alike were blown over. Here was a seemingly simple story given a lush make-over, courteous of genius producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher and their creative team which read like a who’s who of British theatre – Richard Eyre, Matthew Bourne, Bob Crowley, Stephen Mear and Bill Brohn.

Together with songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, as well as book-writer Julian Fellowes this team augmented the rather sacchrine Disney film with episodes from the original P.L. Travers novels. All the songs you remember from the film are there, but context and purpose of most has changed to suit the new storylines. Alongside classics like Step in Time and Jolly Holiday are a handful of new songs, which see the part of Mrs Banks as well as that of Mr Banks’ childhood nanny, Mrs Andrew, expanded.

At the top of the second act, Mrs Andrew returns to wreak havoc on Cherry Tree Lane. Sadly Judi Connelli’s tour de force performance did not go down well with the Melbourne audience. While in London Mrs Andrew’s appearance was greeted with cheeky boos and sneers from the audience, here there was just awkward applause. This is probably because there is no tradition of booing the villain at the Christmas panto in Australia, but it was just sad to see Connelli singing her lungs out, only to greeted with confused expressions and limp applause.

Since 2004, Mary Poppins has opened in London, New York and the Netherlands, plus has toured the UK and US. The UK touring version was shipped across to Australia, and although not as large and extravagant as the original staging, it still gets applause at a few key moments. This production is nimble and fast flowing, and is a feast for the eyes, ears and soul.

Firstly the scheduled pairing of elegant Miwako Kubato and fast rising-star Ty King-Wall were replaced by the firecracker pairing of Reiko Himbo and Tzu-Chao Chou … and for a ballet like Coppélia, this was definitely not a downward step in casting.

Hombo and Chou both brought youth and sparkle to their roles that were, only in hindsight, very absent from Wednesday’s matinee (which starred Madeleine Eastoe and Daniel Gaudiello as the lead pair).

Having seen Hombo and Chou dance both the Genzano Flower Festival and Giselle Peasant Pas de Deuxs, it seems as if they were one day destined to dance Franz and Swanhilda, the greatest soubrette and young romance roles in the ballet repertoire.

Chou’s solos in both the Act I Mazurka and the Act III Pas de Deux were breathtaking. His control and extensions are immaculate, and his jump is sublime. With ease and a cheeky grin, he made one of the most strenuous male solos in the repertoire seem like a walk in the park. One can easily draw parallels between Chou and a young Herman Cornejo, and one can definitely see Chou dancing Puck and Bronze Idol with aplomb and spark.

Audience favourite Stephanie Williams was another last minute absence, and her Prayer solo was danced tonight by Juliet Burnett. Although a little shaky in her ponches, she did an admirable job with seemingly short notice.

Overall, tonight’s performance was Coppélia with a smile; the two leads giving the entire company a little life and spark that seemed missing earlier in the season.

The Australian Ballet’s Coppélia is one of the darkest in the current world repetoire. Yes Acts I and III will always be full of glorious virtuosity and show (especially the latter, which consists of not much but plotless, beautifully danced fluff). In comparison, Act II is darker and at times sinister. When the curtain falls on Act II, Dr Coppelius has had his wildest dreams come true and subsequently shattered in about 5 minutes. One almost feels like booing the lead couple for their antics, however one is not sure how that would’ve gone down with today’s rather talkative grannies-and-kids audience.

At the matinee today, Swanhilda was danced with elan by Principal Madeleine Eastoe. She was partnered by rising star Daniel Gaudiello, who should definitely be next in line for a promotion to Principal Artist (please only after he gets ’80s Soviet locks cut off). Colin Peasley, who has performed the role of Coppelius for over 20 years, again played the role today. He was fantastic – injecting the role with the required depth and dark magic.

Madeleine Eastoe, that dependable packet of dynamite and verve, was fabulous. Although the most experienced of the Swanhildas, she plays the role with much youth and cheek. She appeared with Gaudiello earlier in the year as a secondary cast of The Silver Rose, and their onstage relationship is enchanting.

As usual, the corps were on form today. Nicolette Frallion conducted a very jaunty Mazurka, and the cast kept up. Reiko Hombo danced a vivacious Dawn, and Stephanie Williams’ Prayer solo was perfectly understated and simple. A shout-out must go to Natasha Kusen for a performance that nearly pulled focus on many occasions during the first act … one will not reveal her antics, but she is absolutely hilarious.

Overall, a great revival of the one of the Australian Ballet’s staple productions and a fitting tribute to van Praagh, which will continue next week when they present Peggy!, a gala showcase which begins late next week.