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Queensland Ballet | |
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General information | |
Name | Queensland Ballet |
Previous names | Lisner Ballet Company |
Year founded | 1960 |
Founders | Charles Lisner, OBE |
Principal venue | Thomas Dixon Centre, West End, Brisbane, Australia |
Website | queenslandballet.com.au |
Artistic staff | |
Artistic Director | Li Cunxin |
Assistant Artistic Director Ballet Mistress Ballet Masters Music Director | Greg Horsman Mary Li Zenia Tatcheva Jillian Vanstone Matthew Lawrence Nigel Gaynor |
Other | |
Associated schools | Queensland Ballet Academy |
Formation | Principal Artist Senior Soloist Soloist First Company Artist Company Artist Young Artist |
Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner OBE, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia and is based in Brisbane. It is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australia. The Company has had 5 previous Artistic Directors, and is currently led by Chinese-born ballet star Li Cunxin AO.
In 2023, the Company consists of 60 dancers, including 12 Jette Parker Young Artists.
Queensland Ballet’s founding Artistic Director, Charles Lisner, trained with Edouard Borovansky and danced with the Borovansky Australian Ballet prior to traveling to London to continue his dance studies with the Sadlers Wells Ballet School. He later joined the Royal Ballet, Convent Garden. In 1953, Charles returned to Australia to open the Lisner Ballet Academy, which became the Lisner Ballet Company in 1960. [1] The Company was re-named Queensland Ballet in 1962 and became one of the first ballet ensembles in Australia to tour regionally, a commitment that continues today. [2]
Lisner stepped down as Artistic Director in 1974 and was replaced by Harry Haythorne, who was previously Assistant Director of the Scottish ballet. During his tenure, Haythorne presented works by Australian choreographers including Graeme Murphy, Garth Welch, and Don Asker, and had Hans Brenaa stage La Syphide and other Bournoville ballets. [3] His contract with the Company ended in 1978.
A former Principal Dancer of Queensland Ballet, Harold Collins was appointed Artistic Director in 1978, and led the Company until his retirement in 1997. During that time, he presented memorable productions, among them Jacqui Carroll's Scheherazade and Collin's Salome. Following Lisner's vision, Collins continued to commission new Australian works in contemporary and classical styles, and forged the enduring relationship between Queensland Ballet and the Queensland Dance School of Excellence.
François Klaus was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of Queensland Ballet in 1988. Over fifteen years, Klaus contributed nearly 100 new ballet works to the Company's repertoire, from new productions of classic ballets to works designed especially to appeal to families. Included in his repertoire is the immensely popular Cloudland, a tribute to Brisbane's post-war era set in the once famous Cloudland Ballroom.
Under his directorship, Queensland Ballet undertook three tours to Europe (2006, 2007, and 2009), to great public an critical acclaim. The Company also toured to Singapore in March 2007, Japan in 2009, and China in 2011 to perform Alice in Wonderland and The Little Mermaid.
During his tenure, Klaus also established training programs which are now an integral part of the Company's operations, providing pathways for talented young people who are committed to a career in dance.
In 2012, Li Cunxin AO, acclaimed former dancer and author of the best-selling autobiography, Mao's Last Dancer, was appointed as the new Artistic Director. Having no desire to choreograph himself, Li became the first "curatorial" director in the Company's history.
Li has been recognised for his dedication and commitment to growing the size and calibre of the Company, having programmed adventurous works into their repertoire, incorporated additional international tours, and founding the development of the Queensland Ballet Academy and Thomas Dixon Centre.
In August 2015, the Company performed Peter Schaufuss' La Syphide at the London Coliseum.
In November 2018, they embarked on a China tour, performing Liam Scarlett's A Midsummer Night's Dream to audiences in Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, and Xi'an.
Li announced his retirement in June 2023, and an international search for his replacement begun immediately.
Queensland Ballet presents a vast repertoire of dance works each year. The Company averages on 6 main stage productions per season, in addition to smaller, more intimate performances and regional tours. They have performed Ben Stevenson OBE’s The Nutcracker annually since 2013. The Company regularly performs at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) as well as in the Talbot Theatre at the Thomas Dixon Centre.
List of Queensland Ballet dancers, as of 2023: [4]
Name | Nationality | Training | Other companies |
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Victor Estévez | Cuba | Cuban National Ballet School | National Ballet of Cuba |
Lucy Green | Australia | Victorian College of the Arts | Royal New Zealand Ballet |
Mia Heathcote | Australia | The Australian Ballet School | |
Alexander Idaszak | Australia | The Australian Ballet School | |
Yanela Piñera | Cuba | Cuban National Ballet School | National Ballet of Cuba |
Patricio Revé | Cuba | Cuban National Ballet School | National Ballet of Cuba |
Joel Woellner | Australia | Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy | Houston Ballet |
Neneka Yoshida | Japan | Fundación para la Danza (Spain) Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris |
Charles Maurice Lisner OBE was a French-Australian dancer and the founder and first artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.
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Li Cunxin is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer turned stockbroker. He is currently the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet in Brisbane, Australia.
Ben Stevenson OBE, is a former ballet dancer with Britain's Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, co-director of National Ballet of Washington, D.C. (1971–1974), artistic director of Chicago Ballet (1974-1975), artistic director of Houston Ballet (1976–2003), and artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater (2003–2022).
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Jodie-Anne White-Bivona was an Australian dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Queensland.
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Edouard Borovansky was a Czech-born Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director. After touring with Anna Pavlova's company, he and his wife, Xenia, settled in Australia where they established the Borovansky Ballet company. This company provided the foundation for modern ballet in Australia and was subsequently used as the basis for the first national Australian ballet company, The Australian Ballet which was established in 1962.
François Klaus, is a ballet dancer and choreographer.
Janet Karin OAM was born in Perth, Australia in 1938. She became one of Australia's leading dancers in 1956, and has danced with the Victorian Ballet Guild, Borovansky Ballet, and was a founding member of The Australian Ballet. She is a Nationally and Internationally recognised dance educator, and is currently the Head of Artistic Studies and Kinetic Educator for the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia.
Greg Horsman is an Australian ballet choreographer, teacher, and retired dancer. In 2022, Dance Magazine Australia described him as "formerly one of the Australian Ballet's most poetic and classical of principal artists." He and his then-wife Lisa Pavane were a popular partnership during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the Washington Post referring to their "conspicuously poised, elegant dancing" and the New York Times calling them "two perfectly trained and appealing first-class dancers" during a performance of Giselle. Horsman has been Assistant Artistic Director Queensland Ballet since 2023 and was previously the Chief Ballet Master and Director of Artistic Operations for the Queensland Ballet since 2013.
Mao's Last Dancer is a 2009 Australian film based on professional dancer Li Cunxin's 2003 autobiographical memoir of the same name. Li Cunxin is portrayed by Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao, Australian Ballet dancer Chengwu Guo and Huang Wen Bin. The film also stars Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen and Amanda Schull.
Roma Jean Egan was a child actress on Australian television, and an Australian ballet dancer and teacher. She was notably a senior soloist for The Australian Ballet, and variously performed for the Queensland Ballet, Basel Ballet, Ballet Victoria and Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Henry Neville Haythorne was an Australian dancer, ballet master, artistic director, and teacher who performed in vaudeville, musicals, and ballet companies in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Australia. He was assistant artistic director of the Scottish Ballet (1969–1974) and artistic director of the Queensland Ballet (1975–1978) and the Royal New Zealand Ballet (1981–1992).
Xenia Nikolaeva Smirnova Krüger Borovansky was a Russian-born dancer and choreographer, based in Australia after 1939. She was principal teacher at the Melbourne Academy of Russian Ballet, and active in running the Borovansky Ballet.