BESPOKE BALLET

Queensland Ballet’s Bespoke is an opportunity to experience fresh, original dance works that bring fresh artistic visions and bold new choreography to the Queensland ballet audiences. In its 8^th year, the 2025 Bespoke is a triple bill of Yolande Brown’s Nhamgan Ngali Nyin, We All See You, Amelia Waller’s Curious Beings, and Robert Binet’s Newborn Giants.

The opening work steals the show, with its enchanting story beautifully delivered through a combination of intelligent and sensitive choreography, thoughtful stage design, and mesmerising score and sound effects. Storytelling through movement is the job of dance arts, and while this work emphasises the stories of First Nations people, its even wider relevance is evident through the theme of belonging. This often sensitive topic is at the heart of every person’s peace of mind, and Nhamgan Ngali Nyin, We All See You offers a heartfelt vision that is inclusive, welcoming, and thought-provoking.

Traditional ballets are often about synchronicity, allowing the audience to admire the detail of movement, while relishing in the sameness of the dancers onstage. This piece is more akin to contemporary dance, built from continuous movement through space with minimalist visual and auditory backdrops. Everything about this piece reflects the organic simplicity that points to Man’s affinity with the natural world around him, his place on the land, and his relationship with the elements. The idea of a voyager arriving to learn about the country, to feel its voice, to see and touch its essence, and finally to become part of it, is mirrored in the story of the lead dancer and assistant to the choreographer, Tyrel Dulvarie. As the Guest Artist, he himself is a traveller to Queensland Ballet, here to tell the story of this piece and to leave his footprint.

The second work, Amelia Waller’s Curious Beings, showcases Queensland Ballet’s Young Artists. A narrative of child-like exploration of one’s environment is conveyed through puppetry, connecting the real and with the artificial. Memory and identity are explored through movement, questioning the definition of what it is to be human.

Robert Binet’s Newborn Giants concludes this triple bill. It asks the audience to reimagine their experience of the ballet art form from the perspective of a blind person. With deliberately lowered lighting and the emphasise on the usually undesired details, like the noises of pointe shoes, this piece is an immersive experience of ballet from a sensory perspective.

Bespoke runs until the 9^th August at the Thomas Dixon Centre.