Australian Chamber Ballet

Performance repertoire:

all choreographies by Adrian Dimitrievitch

“El Amor Brujo”  (“Love, the Magician”)
music by Manuel DeFalla (1915), arranged by L. Bracegirdle
instrumentation: piano, violin, cello, horn
4 dancers
duration:  22’

A gypsy love/drama, set in an Andalusian village square: A young gypsy girl was once loved by a boy who was killed in a fight. Since then he has pursued her as a ghost.   When he intervenes in her relationship with her new lover she undergoes a ritual in order to banish the ghost, enabling her to marry her new boyfriend.
Based on a Spanish Poem, EL Amor Brujo is a supernatural thriller and love story in one.

 

“Petrouschka’s Nightmare”
music composed by Igor Stravinsky (1911), arranged by L. Bracegirdle
synopsis by Lee Bracegirdle and Adrian Dimitrievitch
instrumentation: piano, violin, cello, horn
5 dancers
duration: 25’

The story takes place in a toyshop, and portrays a dream experienced by the puppet Petrouschka.  His dream becomes a nightmare as his master (the puppeteer) threatens to replace him with a better, stronger "doppelgänger", or cloned Petrouschka. His romantic obsession with the ballerina doll turns into dismay as it becomes clear that she is more interested in the new "clone".  Eventually, through the puppeteer's taunts and the ill treatment inflicted upon him by the other characters, Petrouschka's mind becomes afflicted as he teeters on the brink of delusion.   As the puppets’ brawling spirals out of control, the puppeteer decides to take control of the situation.   In doing so, he also becomes an ironic victim of the pseudo-reality of his own theatre. "Petrouschka's Nightmare" is comedy and drama as human experiences, portrayed by life-sized puppets.

“Devastated” (tango)
music by Lee Bracegirdle (1998)
instrumentation:  piano, violin, cello, horn
duration:  8’

“Odd Couples” (tango, satire)
music by Lee Bracegirdle (1997)
instrumentation:  piano, violin, cello, horn
5 dancers (alternatively 3 or 7)
duration:  8’

An Argentinean tango - begins as a simulated orchestral rehearsal with the members of a musical ensemble waiting impatiently for a late-comer.  Due to her tardiness her orchestral chair is removed and the music begins without her.   She eventually arrives and realises that her instrument has been taken away.  She opts instead to dance to the intoxicating music. Gradually four other dancers introduce themselves into the piece. The piece is danced by two male/female couples plus the "late-comer"; thus: “Odd Couples”.

“The Dying Swan”
music by Camille Saint-Saens (1886)
instrumentation:  cello, piano
duration:  5’

“Meditation” from Thaïs
music by Jules Massenet (1894)
instrumentation:  violin, piano
duration:  6’
 

“Eat Pianist”
music by Lee Bracegirdle (2002)
instrumentation:  flute, oboe, horn, piano, violin, viola, cello
synopsis by Adrian Dimitrievitch and L. Bracegirdle
duration:  31’

The drama takes place in a bar in a port city that is managed by a "madame" and a devilish man. In the bar there is an upright piano of huge proportions. 3 successive customers enter the bar, and as each is enticed by the "madame" to play the piano they become "cunsumed" by phantomesque characters that live inside the piano. A "black comedy" or "film noir" work with cabaret overtones.
 

“Gaspard de la Nuit” ("Shivering")
music by Maurice Ravel (1908)
Three poems for piano after Aloysius Bertrand:
1) Ondine  2) Le Gibet  3) Scarbo
instrumentation: piano solo
4 dancers
duration:  22'

An abstract ballet focusing on the sensations of cold and shivering, and incorporating a ghostly presence.   The dancers are positioned in a square, all facing outwards;  giving the visuals and choreography a three-dimensional effect.   Complimented by ice blue lighting and the chilling music of Ravel, “Shivering” creates the atmosphere of a ghostly cold night.

“Petite Suite”
music by Claude Debussy (1889)
instrumentation: piano 4-hands
duration:  17’

“Andante” from Horn Sonata
music by Paul Hindemith (1939)
instrumentation: horn, piano
duration: 5’

“Czardas”
music by Monte
instrumentation:  violin, piano
duration: 9’:

“Prometheus and Pandora”
music by Lee Bracegirdle (2003),
synopsis by Lee Bracegirdle
instrumentation:  flute, oboe, horn, piano, violin, viola, cello
duration:  75’

Inspired by the classical Greek mythology: Prometheus acquires fire from the gods and brings it into the realm of titan-humans. As a reward the elder titans present him with Pandora as a partner, but there is a catch: Pandora comes with a box whose contents she does not know, and which she is forbidden to open. Prometheus and Pandora become lovers, but Pandora is increasingly tempted by curiosity and vanity to open the box. When she does so, the box releases 3 great evils which wreak devastation on the world. These "evils" personify the universal trials and challenges faced by all couples as their relationship grows and develops. Will it mean the end of Prometheus and Pandora, and hence the entire human race? Or will all be healed and redeemed with the aid of the box's 4th entity , "Hope" ?

“Introduction and Allegro”
music by Maurice Ravel (1906), arranged by L. Bracegirdle
instrumentation: flute, oboe, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello
duration:  18’