West Australian Ballet

West Australian Ballet (WAB) is the state ballet company of Western Australia and is based at the Western Australian Ballet Centre in Maylands, an inner suburb of Perth. Founded in 1952 by Kira Bousloff (formerly of the Ballets Russes), it is the oldest ballet company in Australia.

WAB artistic directors have included Garth Welch (1979–83) and Ivan Cavallari (2007–12). The current, interim artistic director is former Australian Ballet principal and artistic director, David McAllister. Choreographers who have produced dances for WAB include Krzysztof Pastor, David Nixon, Greg Horsman, Graeme Murphy, Stephen Baynes, Adrian Burnett, Gideon Obarzanek, Stephen Page and Natalie Weir, Jacqui Carroll, Chrissie Parrott and Garth Welch.

WAB performs with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. At present the company consists of 34 full-time dancers and six 'young artists' (a full-time year-long development programme), structured since 2014 with principal dancers, soloists, demi-soloists and corps de ballet. WAB performs three to four major seasons in Perth a year, one at the Quarry Amphitheatre in City Beach, the others usually at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth and Heath Ledger Theatre at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia (although Burswood Theatre and Regal Theatre have also played hosts). They also tour throughout regional Western Australia, nationally and internationally, and provide choreographic workshops, an education program and other community activities.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.