A Note from Ballet

The dancers of Duprada Dance Company and the students and teachers of the Australian Dance Academy are very happy to be back in the studio dancing together again. We have had four weeks of classes and rehearsals with such great energy even though getting back a busy life takes some adjusting. Dancers around the world are still waiting to find out when they will return to work. Normally professional dancers would be working in a studio for 6 hours a day in classes and rehearsals then, after a short break they would be in the theatre preparing for a 2 hour performance.

At the moment all the major ballet companies still have their dancers at home doing what they can to keep them dancing. A video class each day to maintain their condition is not ideal and doing a ballet class in the kitchen of a small unit is challenging and considering a dancers fitness comes from hours of rehearsals followed by an evening performance in the theatre with an audience of up to 2,000 people.

The Queensland Ballet dancers returned to the studios yesterday but it will be some time before they are in the theatre again maybe not until 2021. The Australian Ballet will take care and take the time needed in the studio to get their dancers back into performances. It is not known when the big theatres will open or have unrestricted audience numbers and many theatres around the world remain closed. Theatres will struggle to open because they need to fill their auditoriums and current social distancing measures require 3 seats between each person and every second row to be empty. This number of empty seats makes it financially impossible for both the production and the theatre.

The most famous theatres, small and regional all over the world, remain closed however in the Northern Territory our theatres are re-opening with limited seating.

We are very fortunate to be back in our studios dancing and preparing performances of Swan Lake. Araluen theatre is open and our dates have been booked for 'Swan Lake'. Audience numbers will be restricted to 100. This will be a financial challenge however we believe it is important for the community, the dancers, and our supporters to finally have live performances to enjoy, inspire and motivate.

Duprada Dance Company will be the first ballet company in the world (that we know of) to return to the stage. 'Swan Lake' will be performed at Araluen over four Saturdays and 'Minkus' will be performed by Duprada Dance Company (Darwin) at the Darwin Entertainment Centre four times.

Tickets will be restricted and difficult to get and performing to 100 people spread around the auditorium will be unusual. Our Company is proud and excited to perform and can't wait to take that very important first step on stage knowing how many other dancers around the world are still dancing in their kitchens and unsure of their futures.

Current plans are for Swan Lake to be performed on four Saturdays 18th & 25th July, and the Saturdays of 8th & 15th August.

Not a great photo but the energy and enthusiasm gives them flight!