IN MOTION
Melbourne City Ballet’s 2017 Season
National & International Tours Announced
Melbourne City Ballet has expanded quickly over the past few years under the director of Artistic Director Michael Pappalardo, who has changed the company’s focus from developing metropolitan audiences to expanding into regional/remote centres, allowing the company’s audience numbers to increase rapidly.
By the close of 2016 the company will have performed across regional Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, reaching over 15,000 patrons.
In 2017 there will be many more firsts for Melbourne City Ballet as the company continues in their quest to build a presence across the country. Melbourne City Ballet will embark on their first international tour, perform in more states across the country (with Tasmania included in 2017) and provide a new diverse range of works for Australian audiences.
2017 season IN MOTION is described as Artistic Director Michael Pappalardo’s tribute to the company’s talented artists who have learnt to adapt to the speed by which Melbourne City Ballet continues to grow. The offerings for the year are diverse in nature but certainly play to the company’s strengths.
Melbourne City Ballet’s IN MOTION program will commence with the Spanish ballet Don Quixote, the passionate story of young lovers Kitri & Basilio who run away from their village in the hope of staying together. The company will then whip off their pointe shoes for ECHO, our annual contemporary and neoclassical season featuring new works created by Australia’s own choreographers. Next, they go global with their heartbreaking encore of 2016 season’s Madam Butterfly appearing for Japanese audiences in Osaka, Japan before commencing our children’s tour of Once Upon a Time, a new ballet following Red Riding Hood’s adventures through the Magic Kingdom.
IN MOTION is truly at its busiest from July through to September 2017, when the company embarks on a national tour of Michael Pappalardo’s 2015 rendition of Shakespeare’s famous story A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This tour sees the company tour across Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Victoria at more venues than ever before. Melbourne City Ballet then gets a little bit wicked with the adventure ballet The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the classic tale of Dorothy Gale who is transported to the magical land of Oz but must find her way home before the Wicked Witch of the West gets hold of her.
Finally, Melbourne City Ballet will go all-out with a rendition of the Christmas Classic Ballet The Nutcracker. Expect this production to be an explosion of colour and joy as our team go all our to celebrate the holidays. With an extensive list of venues across the country already and many more venues to be announced for many seasons shortly, make sure you contact your local theatre to see if Melbourne City Ballet will be performing near you!
“I wanted our season to reflect how Melbourne City Ballet is a truly unique company which only exists because of the love and passion of our company’s artists. These inspiring people flourish in such a busy environment where others simply could not.” said Michael Pappalardo, Artistic Director.
“We have been so fortunate to build such strong networks within Australia and overseas. 2017 and 2018 will see our company truly expand beyond our borders striving for international excellence.”
Sean Memery, Company Manager, said there are still many more venues to be added to the programme’s schedule and that 2017 is set to be their most popular to date.
