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A New York-based choreographer, a prima ballerina who danced with Rudolf Nureyev, and a maestro from London’s Royal Academy of Music are the unlikely champions of a ballet set to open in Mackay, the likes of which has not been seen in decades.
Ne: Roi, which means ‘Born: King’, was created by New York choreographer Ken Ludden.
He said the three-act ballet was the first of its kind to be written in the 21st century.
“When I tell people, well, it’s a bit like saying you’re building a boat in a desert when it hasn’t rained in 600 years,” he said.
“People say ‘are you crazy?’ The twenty-first century does not support major art, so it’s crazy. But for me that’s the only thing that’s sane.”
A big risk
Composer David Pyke said creating a new ballet was something most artists and dancers only dreamt of.
“Nobody does it because people will tell you the cost involved in creating a new ballet is approximately $US8 million,” he said.
“So there’s a lot to lose and a lot that can go wrong.
“But Ken just decided that the 21st century could use a new ballet, and that was his life desire. So I said ‘well, I can help if you’re happy to have me write it’.”
According to Mr Pyke, there has been an added layer of complexity to writing for the performance.
“This ballet will have five endings,” he said.
“Most ballets will just cut out when it’s set to cut out. In this ballet, the dancers will choose at the end and cue on stage, so we have to write five different endings.
“They’ll go to one side and they’ll just cue to orchestra. So each performance could be very unique. That’s exciting.”
Prima ballerina comes out of retirement
Mr Ludden said the prospect of performing in a new ballet had drawn the interest of world-renowned dancers.
“This year is my 50th year teaching,” he said.
“I have students of mine who have been retired for 20 years and I have students of mine who are now the lead dancers at many companies around the world.
“So I’m taking 52 of them and I’m making my ballet for them too because they have inspired me so much.”
Dame Lucette Aldous AC, 79, who danced with the great Nureyev in the 1970s, announced she was coming out of retirement to perform in Ne: Roi, which was written as a tribute to another legend of ballet, Margot Fonteyn.
“The syllabus is based on the famous Margot Fonteyn, it would have been her hundredth year,” Dame Lucette said.
“Ken Ludden was a very close friend of Fonteyn’s, like I was, and that’s why he had the wonderful idea to bring myself out of retirement for this.
“He’s created a ballet and it was a storyline made for her.”
But sadly a last-minute injury forced Dame Lucette to withdraw from the performance.
However, she has been helping the production’s amateur dancers, such as Mackay boy Dylan Itzstein, who has been practicing ballet since he was four.
He said Ne: Roi would be the performance of his life.
“I feel extremely proud because no new major ballets have been made in over 200 years,” he said.
In terms of its format, Ne: Roi is the first original three-act, or full ballet, with libretto and original orchestral score produced in the past two centuries.
“I’m excited because I’m one of the main cast and I will be a part of history in being part of this ballet,” Dylan said.
“I’ve performed in lots of big performances, but nothing like this.”
Making history
For Mr Pyke, premiering Ne: Roi in his home town of Mackay is a fitting end to years of hard work.
“It’s wonderful because I live up in regional Queensland, I love this region, and this is a very art-driven region. There’s a lot of wonderful art that goes on here,” he said.
“Often it’s very hard to convince boards and things down in big capital cities that we can do world-class art. I never thought we could bring parts of this ballet to the MECC [Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre].
“It’s extremely rare. You’d normally go to Paris or somewhere like that. But I guess because I’ve written the music and am from downtown Mackay they feel they should honour the community here.”
For Mr Ludden, he hopes Thursday’s performance will create a new era for ballet.
“The 21st century will have a major work, and a couple of hundred years from now there will be something this century has added to history,” he said.
Ne: Roi will premiere on Thursday July 26 during Mackay’s Festival of the Arts.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, art-history, contemporary-art, performance-art, music, opera-and-musical-theatre, theatre, dance, mackay-4740, qld
