Spotlight Y outh ballet companies are too often children prettified for adulatory relatives. The A ustralian Y outh Ballet is exceptional...
Youthful Dancers Make Box-Office Waves David K. Wheatley Quite the darling of the Brisbane cultural scene at the moment is a group comprising a modern day Pied Piper and 27 dancers, aged between 9 and 15 years. The piper is Inara Svalbe, a graduate of The Australian Ballet School, a dancer with the Australian Ballet, J C Williamsons and the New' Zealand Ballet Company, and a lady who is rapidly building a reputation as a choreographer in Queensland. Dancing to a tune almost inspirational in its fervour are the members of her Australian Youth Ballet Company. Inara Svalbe founded the company in July 1978. In those formative stages she gained the prestige of getting Sir Robert Helpmann and John Field, Director of the Royal Academy of Dancing as patrons for her company. Then when the final audition was held to select 27 dancers from the 227 who auditioned. Inare Svalbe was assisted by a very prestigious selection panel — Marilyn Jones, Gary Norman, Valmae Roberts, Ross Stretton. The group first performed as a company at St. John's Cathedral in Brisbane in November 1978. For this. Miss Svalbe choreographed Shining Child. She then took the company to various suburban shopping centres where they performed It’s all just fo r fun. That initial public reaction was sufficient for Inara Svalbe to take her plans a step further. The company went into rehearsal for an inaugural theatre season. That first season in May at the Twelfth Night Theatre was a director's dream. The critics wrote ecstatic reviews and vied with one another for superlatives. All the seats sold quickly. Hundreds were turned away. Not surprisingly, it was followed by a repeat season in June. Then came an added feather in the cap — an invitation for the company to perform in Aberdeen next year at an International Youth Festival. “Pretty children! Pretty steps! Pretty costumes! It's all good box-office.'' More than one competitor for Brisbane dance kudos has used those or similar words to dismiss the success of the Australian Youth Ballet. Yet that is all too easy an explanation. What is closer to the truth is that Inara Svalbe has carefully blended a winning combination of box office appeal with clever choreography. After all, every dancing school recital ever mounted makes use of all those pretty attributes. But it cannot be used to explain away the success of the Australian Youth Ballet — after all. 27 dancers just don’t have sufficient relatives to make up those capacity audiences. In the opening ballet. Degas. Svalbe uses the THEATRE AUSTRALIA AUGUST 1979
Inara Svalbe. music of Verdi to create a series of images representative of that great painter's work. Of the three ballets, this was the strongest as far as quality was concerned. The second. Pastorale, set to Beethoven’s No 6. was a fairly predictable collection of peasants, nymphs and satyrs, while the third. Pastime with good Company was a gloriously costumed, uninhibited romp set to traditional English tunes. Aside from the undoubted sheer talent of the young dancers, Inara Svalbe's choreography was the most interesting aspect of the programme. “One of the problems of choosing ballets for children is that the themes must suit the age of the dancers," Inara Svalbe explains. “Obviously you cannot have children performing in adult love stories. Another problem is finding choreographers who can work with children — who can cope with the limited vocabulary of steps." Inara Svalbe aims to develop that vocabulary — by extending the members of her company and presenting them with work that is more difficult than they would encounter in their
normal class situation. Overall, the aim is to give these young dancers experience in the performing side of dance as a complement to their study of technique. “Many of these children will not go on to join professional dance companies as they grow older. They will grow to be too tall, too short, too fat. The Australian Youth Ballet gives these people a chance to add performance skills to their study of technique.” One could also add that the company will prove a valuable training ground for those who go on to become professional performers. Their director has insisted on a professional approach to their work; that they learn to work as a company. There are no individual stars — all are members of a well disciplined team. Ultimately, Inara Svalbe would like to see the company expand its activities into other states, although she is the first to admit that there are many problems to be overcome before this is likely to eventuate. This aside, this will be a busy year for the Australian Youth Ballet. There is a country tour of Queensland planned for July, as well as another performance in St John’s Cathedral, and then new works for another Brisbane season later in the year. And after that, all energies will be devoted towards getting to Aberdeen — and it would seem, given Brisbane's present enchantment with the company, there will be plenty of support to help get them there. After all, everybody loves a winner, and at the moment Inara Svalbe and her company of young dancers are slotted very firmly into that category.
P.O. Box 185, Ashgrove, Queensland, 4060.
PLAYSCRIPTS IDEAL FOR LITTLE THEATRE GROUPS
NEW “ RAGGEDYANNE” a children’s musical by Jay McKee and Jan Bates. THE RAJA WHO MARRIED AN ANGEL (a musical play for performance by children) by Betty Beath and David Cox. For inform ation regarding PLAYLAB and the SCRIPT-READING SERVICE, w rite to: Hon. Sec. Playlab, 41 Culgoola Street, Kedron, Old. 4031.