A year of Ballet

Hi Readers

It has been another year of ballet and I wanted to share with you some of my favourite dancers and dance pieces that have moved and inspired me. 

Juliet Burnett

Juliet and I connected over Ballet without Borders and her own work in 2015 where she fulfilled a lifelong dream to bring the magic of ballet to the underprivileged in Indonesia, realised through the Ballet Goes to Ciliwung workshop with the assistance of Ballet.Id Foundation and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, she returned there in 2016. Her hope is to continue to promote the accessibility of ballet to all Indonesians, regardless of socioeconomic background.  

We were hoping to meet in Melbourne but Juliet was offered a position with Ballet Vlaanderen in Belgium. But I am hopeful that we can still meet in the near future. 

She is a beautiful dancer and watching her for me is like watching a beautiful flower open up.

Maria Kochetkova

 One of my favourites. Not just in the way that she moves but her style and the ‘cool’ that she brings from her off work days onto the stage. I wish that she would come to Australia so that I could see her live. Her energy and also expressiveness are amazing.

Coming out of gruelling training in Russia she was told that she would never make it due to her short neck. She is now principal with the San Francisco Ballet.

Favourite works seen this year

Letting Blood - a video work by Juliet Burnett, Nicholas Robert Thayer and Gabrielle Adamidis for MONA and Dark MOFO festival, Hobart

When I was there for the Dark MOFO festival I stumbled into this room and this was playing. Its mesmerising. Really wonderful acting (and dancing of course) from Juliet.

Le Palais de Cristal (The Crystal Palace) by George Balanchine In February 1947, George Balanchine—performed by the Paris Opera (recorded not live!)

The music, the costumes, the choreography. This is one of my favourite ballet pieces of all time. I get goose bumps listening to the music.

Stay tuned for the last post of the year which will have my speech for the Genee RAD Conference.

Best,

Katia

Ballet and Innovation

Recently I have been fortunate enough to participate in the Ci2016 innovation conference. It was extremely interesting, full of motivational speakers who spoke about innovation from the perspective of enabling humans to live better lives. 

A presence that was missing came from the arts sector. Most of the representatives were large government and private organisations. 

As dancers do we not create every time that we are in the studio, on stage. Our job, surely is to move people. The heart sends up to 15 times more messages that are up to 5000 stronger to the brain then the brain does to the heart. 

There was also interesting discussions around the education system and how this stifles creativity and puts children in a box-to sit exams and write papers. How do we change this perception that creativity is a dead end for a successful and fulfilling career when technology is paving the way precisely for those who are creative and innovative. 

How do we utilise innovation to help dancers? How can we use the technology available to monitor health, to connect those who do not have the pathways to access dance education and performance and foster continuous growth and development of this beautiful art form?

Progress...

Hello Readers,

There has been much progress on the Ballet without Borders front.

Everything from letterheads designed to pointe shoes decorated!

We have our list of schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, we have our letters written and things are ready to move to the next phase.

If you are reading this and have any insights or connections in the Campbelltown, Busby-Miller-Liverpool area or surrounds, we would love to hear from you! Give us a call on 0410668655 or drop us a line at info@balletwithoutborders.org

On another (but still Ballet related) note, the Australian Ballet's Swan Lake was magnificent. So beautiful and the corps were just stunning.  Big congratulations!

2016-The Year for Ballet

Happy New Year everyone!
We hope that everyones year is filled with peace and happiness.

I feel that 2016 is going to be a big year in Australian Ballet. Since moving to Sydney over 10 years ago, there has been a shift in the audiance and a steady increase in ballet attandance. Watching the Australian Ballet's Sleeping Beauty performance at the end of 2015, I noticed plenty of young adults in the audience which was very pleasing!

Ballet Without Borders has some big goals for 2016.

1. Increase our public profile
2. Start discussions and collaborations with areas where we feel the school would be of the most benefit to both the individual student and the community they live in
3. Collaborations
4. Increase funding

We are very excited to see what will emerge for us in 2016!

Well wishes

Katia & Team