Jerome Robbins - A Celebration

Editorial Review

Without him, West Side Story would have just been a bunch of street punks sitting around.

Event Details

Event Type:

Ballet

Editorial Review

Ten years after his passing, the work of famed choreographer Jerome Robbins is being venerated by the Australian Ballet. The show features some of his finest moments and is one of the many worldwide commemorations marking this 10-year anniversary. Spanning different art forms across several decades, Robbins is revered as one of the greats of dance choreography, receiving staggering acclaim for his work on the film West Side Story and the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof.

For Jerome Robbins, A Celebration, artistic director David McAllister turns to Robbins' prolific five-year streak in the 1950s, the period of Afternoon of a Faun, The Cage and The Concert, as well as the later piece A Suite of Dances. Together with the partnering of scores by Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin and Bach, McAllister demonstrates the sheer versatility of Robbins' work, which veers from the dark to the comic.

Dutch national Ballet Principal Cedric Ygnace is dancing select performances of Afternoon of a Faun and A Suite of Dreams. Winner of several awards, including the Alexandria Radius Prize in 2004, Ygnace has worked with the Australian Ballet before, starring opposite Madelline Eastoe in 2006's Giselle. The bill is also staged by Bart Cook, one of Robbins' contemporaries, who worked extensively with the legend on roles including Glass Pieces and Opus 19.

Kilian David