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International Commissions | International
Works The first contemporary international choreographer to be commissioned by The Australian Ballet was America's John Butler, who created Threshold for the company in 1968. This ballet exposed the dancers and their audience to modern dance as it had been developing in America over the previous 20 years. In 1973, another leading American choreographer Glen Tetley produced Gemini. Widely regarded as one of The Australian Ballet's most defining works, Gemini was created over an intensive four week period on four of the company's dancers: Marilyn Rowe, Carolyn Rappel, John Meehan and Gary Norman. Gemini blended classical and contemporary dance styles and was performed to great acclaim during the company's 1973 London tour. The production has since been incorporated into the repertoire of several international companies.
In 1976, The Australian Ballet commissioned British choreographer Gillian Lynne to create The Fool on the Hill specifically for television. The ballet proved highly successful for the intended medium, winning several international awards and was later revised for the stage. A more traditional approach was taken by André Prokovsky
when creating Anna Karenina for the company in 1979. One of two
full-length works to be commissioned by The Australian Ballet under the
artistic direction of Marilyn Jones, this adaptation of Tolstoy's famous
novel presented some of the company's most dramatic staging effects. In
1980, Prokovsky again drew on the company's sense of theatre to produce
The Three Musketeers. More recently, Twyla Tharp, one of America's most prolific contemporary choreographers, has worked closely with selected members of the company in New York to create The Storyteller in 1997. This was followed by Canadian James Kudelka's The Book of Alleged Dances, which had its world premiere in The Australian Ballet's 1999 season. |
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