Review: Australian Ballet Centre Tour

Friday 9 July 2010, 5.12 PM
By The Team | Posted in Places

When I was young I dreamt of being a ballerina. Every Tuesday night Mum would take me to the local church hall for lessons where a stern woman barked her orders over tape recordings of tinkly piano. Twenty years on and I find myself standing at the doors of The Australian Ballet Centre. No, I’m not a ballerina. But a guided tour is as close I’m going to get.

Our first guide is Wardrobe Production Manager Michael Williams, who leads us to the famed Production Division Wardrobe Department. In moments we are surrounded by a wonderland of tulle, ribbon, fabric and buttons. Our eyes go to the racks of costumes lining the walls.

He’s a crowd-pleaser, Michael. A collective sigh escapes from the group as he pulls out The Sugar Plum Fairy costume from The Nutcracker and others from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and the more recent Coppélia. With knowledge only 34 years at The Australia Ballet can provide, Michael explains the process of costume creation from material selection, to specific stitches and boning techniques, and appliqué and sequin designs that pay homage to their decades-old samples.

The extent to which The Australian Ballet creates costumes for their dancers from scratch is astonishing. Staff work away surrounded by sewing machines, tools, hanging patterns and mannequins. In a kitchen-turned-science lab, fabric and ballet shoes (literally thousands) are dyed and treated in huge pots, cookers and washing machines.

Our next guide is Frank Leo, The Australian Ballet’s artistic administrator and a former dancer.  As Frank describes the gruelling schedule of the ballerinas, we peer through doorways to watch lithe bodies move in fluid perfection across the large light-filled studios. And they’re dancing to tinkly piano music. But the Australian Ballet doesn’t dance to wonky tapes like I did. They have a real pianist. Seated behind a baby-grand.

Finally, we peek inside a small dark room smelling of rich leather. It’s the smell of hundreds of hand-crafted, made-to-measure pointe shoes. Each dancer will wear out around three pairs per performance, so plenty are always kept in stock.

My own dancing ambitions ended with the distinct lack of coordination that comes with being a tall teenager, but the obsession of the ballet is lodged firmly in my heart. For those who have ever criss-crossed ribbons around their ankles, dragged their hair into an eyebrow-lifting bun or forced their parents through years of ballet recitals (sorry Dad), this tour is for you.

Australian Ballet Centre Tours run most Tuesdays and Thursdays until the end of September. Tours run for an hour and depart at 10.30am. Cost is $15 for adults and $8 for children under 17 years of age. Bookings are essential as places are limited.

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