Melbourne City Ballet

Melbourne City Ballet is a classical ballet performance company based in Melbourne, Australia. The company was founded in 2013 by current artistic director Michael Pappalardo and has experienced significant growth in recent years. Originally created as a neoclassical/contemporary project based company, Melbourne City Ballet has developed quickly over the past few years to become a full-time operating arts organisation with an increasing focus bring classical ballet works to regional and remote communities across Australia. Melbourne City Ballet is a registered charity with the Australian Charity & Not for Profit Commission under the name MCB Incorporated and is overseen by a board of professionals.

History

In 2013, Michael Pappalardo was frustrated with the limited amount of choreographic and career options available to professional classical ballet artists within Australia. Under the name “Melbourne City Ballet”, he began to choreograph contemporary and neoclassical works with other professional artists (including principal artist Yuiko Masukawa) in a studio in Fitzroy for project based productions. The group performed in various events throughout the year including the 2013 Short+Sweet Festival (“Consumption”) and Melbourne Fringe Festival (“Parallel Connections”).

In 2014, the company commenced an extensive fundraising campaign to obtain their own ballet studios and in June moved into their first location named the Bardin Theatre on Glenlyon Road, Brunswick, Victoria. The venue featured one large studio within close proximity to the CBD, allowing the company to focus on developing works full time throughout the year. It was during this year that Melbourne City Ballet established an effective board to govern the company, known as MCB Incorporated, officially establishing not-for-profit status for the company. Melbourne City Ballet performed a full season within Melbourne consisting of “D-Minor”, double bill “Consumption”, showcase “Placebo” and a new adaption of “Carmen”. The company also toured to Sydney with their contemporary offering “A Night with Melbourne City Ballet” as special guests of the Sydney Fringe Festival. New training programs began to be offered by the company’s artists known as “Melbourne City Youth Ballet” and “Junior Extension Program”.

In 2015, Melbourne City Ballet offered their first pre-professional course known as “Finishing Year” who trained alongside the professional company artists throughout the year. The 2015 season calendar saw the company slowly move away from contemporary based ballet and more toward a neoclassical ballet offering. The program featured an adaption of the traditional “Coppélia”, contemporary showcase “EXHALE”, a new adaption of William Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, children’s ballet “The Magic Toyshop”, neoclassical season “Piano Sessions” and the tragic story of “Romeo & Juliet”. The company also embarked on a 12 venue tour of their 2014 work “Carmen” across New South Wales and Victoria. Melbourne City Ballet’s artists were invited to perform an excerpt of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Australian Dance Awards in Adelaide, South Australia.

In 2016, the company relocated from their single studio into a state of the art, custom built venue on Pentridge Boulevard, Coburg. The venue was officially opened by the Moreland City Council Mayor Samantha Ratnam and named the “Melbourne City Ballet Centre”. With the opening of the company’s new facilities, Melbourne City Ballet opened their Elite Artist Program (full and part time training) to the public for the first time. The company’s annual program consists of a new adaption of the Bournonville ballet “Napoli”, contemporary showcase “PLAY/REWIND”, a Peter Pan inspired ballet “Tink”, the dark story of “Dracula” and the tragic “Madam Butterfly”. Melbourne City Ballet also embarked on an extensive tour of their 2015 production of “Romeo & Juliet” across regional/remote Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria. The tour was funded in part through Playing Queensland.

September 2016 saw Melbourne City Ballet release their 2017 annual season “In Motion” which sees the company begin to focus on developing classical ballet further within regional and remote communities. Productions announced include “Don Quixote”, “ECHO”, “Once Upon A Time”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “The Nutcracker”. The company will continue touring throughout Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria whilst also including dates in South Australia and Tasmania from 2017.

Present

The company now resides at the Melbourne City Ballet Centre, found within the grounds of the old Pentridge Prison in Coburg, Victoria. The venue features five sprung studios (with work on a final studio to commence in late 2017), onsite Creative Department (Costumes, Sets & Props).

Melbourne City Ballet is managed jointly by the company's Artistic Director & Executive Director. The organisation continues to receive limited local and state based government funding with other funds obtained through training courses, box office sales, presenter fees and corporate sponsorships.

Company

As of January 2017, the company consists of the following:

Repertoire

The company’s classical ballet repertoire includes some of the following productions:

The company also features an extensive repertoire of contemporary works including:

Training Programs

Melbourne City Ballet offer a number of training programs to assist young artists moving toward a career as a classical ballet artist. These courses include:

References

  1. “About Us”. Melbourne City Ballet, http://melbournecityballet.com.au/aboutus/ , January 2016
  2. “Harlequin Floors Reflects on 2015 Australian Dance Awards in Adelaide”, Dance Informa. http://danceinforma.com.au/articles/harlequin-floors-reflects-on-2015-australian-dance-awards-in-adelaide/ , 15 September 2015
  3. “The Company”, Melbourne City Ballet, www.melbournecityballet.com.au/thecompany/ , January 2016
  4. “Melbourne City Ballet Releases 2015 season”, Dance Informa, http://danceinforma.com.au/articles/melbourne-city-ballet-releases-2015-season/ , 1 October 2014
  5. “Education”, Melbourne City Ballet, http://melbournecityballet.com.au/education/ , January 2016
  6. “Meet the Stars of Melbourne City Ballet”, Harlequin Floors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFcx-UWt6FA , 8 January 2015
  7. “One City, Two Companies: Double the Classical”, Dance Australia Magazine, December 2015
  8. Melbourne City Ballet, www.melbournecityballet.com.au , January 2016
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