Australian Embassy
Indonesia

West Australian Ballet Presents Once

Media Release

5 August 2016

The West Australian Ballet (WAB) has returned to Jakarta this week to present ONCE, a selection of classical ballet works to be performed with Indonesian dancers.

The performance follows last year’s inaugural Indonesian Ballet Gala which featured Juliet Burnett performing as guest star alongside West Australian Ballet dancer Christopher Hill.  The shows will be held on 6 August 2016 (7.30PM) and 7 August 2016 (1PM) in Teater Jakarta, Taman Ismail Marzuki.

ONCE will showcase not only the WAB but also the inaugural performance of the Indonesian Youth Ensemble who will present L’Enfant Joyeux and Ripple and Surge. Another work being performed is inspired by Indonesian playwright WS Rendra, choreographed by Melanie Lane – an Indonesian-Australian artist and danced by Juliet Burnett, an Indonesian-Australian ballerina who is the niece of WS Rendra.

 “Having an Australian ballet company travel to Jakarta is very important in building a cultural bridge between our two countries.” said WAB Artistic Director, Aurelien Scannella.

 Australian Federal Minister for the Arts Minister Mitch Fifield and West Australia Minister for Culture and the Arts, John Day, said the visit was made possible by funding from the Federal and Western Australian Government.

“The tour is a wonderful way to build the relationship between West Australian Ballet and the burgeoning Indonesian art sector,” Minister Fifield said.

The tour is more than just a ballet performance. With the support of its local partner (ballet.id) WAB has selected 20 Indonesian dancers as part of the Indonesian Youth Ensemble who will perform alongside the 34 Australian dancers in the program. Seventeen Indonesian stage technicians will also take part in an Indonesian Stage Apprentices program with WAB’s production experts - an on-the-job sharing of skills which is an important part of the tour of ONCE.

The two hour shows will present familiar classical ballet works such as Cinderella and The Nutcracker, as well as classical and contemporary dance works from world’s cutting edge choreographers including Jayne Smeulders who has recently retired as Principal Dancer of West Australian Ballet, David Dawson, Craig Davidson, Christopher Hill and Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa.


Media contact: Reynold Setiadi, Ballet.id, [email protected] + 62-812-9389-8912