AS GOLD SPONSOR, BLOCH CELEBRATES THE GENÉE INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION 2016 SYDNEY CLAUDIA DEAN, BLOCH BRAND AMBASSADOR GOLD MEDAL AND AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD 2009 SOUVENIR PROGRAMME Contents 02 Welcome 17 Judges 04 The theatres 18 Faculty 05 Dame Adeline Genée DBE 24 Lynn Wallis OBE: An artistic vision 06 Where are they now? 27 2016 Semi-finalists 08 Genée International Ballet Competition 38 Genée Dance Challenge 11 Awards 42 Maria O’Connor: SEMI-FINALS Continuity and variations 12 Semi-finals programme 7–9 December 44 Creative Spaces The Concourse 14 Final programme 47 Acknowledgements 15 Guest performance FINAL 11 December Sydney Opera House Presented by WELCOME Photo: CharlottePhoto: MacMillan As President of the Royal Academy of Dance, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Genée International Ballet Competition 2016. Every year, we bring together an international group of judges for the Semi-finals and Final, made up of top professionals from the ballet world. And this year our esteemed panel represents both the northern and southern hemispheres. A huge amount of enthusiasm and hard work has gone into creating the competition this year, not least because it is returning to the beautiful city of Sydney for the first time in a decade. I am thrilled that our finalists will have the opportunity to perform at one of the world’s great venues, the Sydney Opera House. I would like to wish the very best of luck to all of the candidates, and to urge them to savour the experience and to take as much away from it as they can. Genée alumni have gone on to dance with the best companies in the world, but whichever way their Photo: Spiros Politis careers have taken them, all have treasured memories of forging new friendships and the exhilaration of their performances. I would also like to pay tribute to the candidates’ parents and teachers for supporting them on their journeys and inspiring them to reach their potential. I know just how important that encouragement is when trying to forge a career as a professional dancer. In whatever capacity you find yourself here, as a candidate, a supporter, or as a dance lover, I know that you’ll enjoy the passion, pride and prestige of the Genée experience. My very best wishes to all, Darcey Bussell CBE President, Royal Academy of Dance 02 I would like to welcome you all to the Genée International Ballet Competition for 2016. Since we took the decision to stage the Genée around the world, we have been to Sydney, Hong Kong, Toronto, Singapore, Athens, Cape Town, Wellington, Antwerp and Glasgow, before returning to London last year. Every destination has cast its spell and lent its own colour and uniqueness to the event, and here we are, back in Sydney, the scene of one of our biggest and most successful competitions ever. For 10 days, candidates have been taking part in what might be described as the Olympic Games of ballet; such are the demands of the coaching. But, the Genée is also known as the ‘friendly’ competition, and we aim to make it an experience that no candidate will ever forget. No event of this kind can happen without the support and hard work of a lot of people. We are enormously grateful to our sponsors and donors, and we extend a warm welcome to them tonight. I would also like to thank our distinguished judges, Kevin O’Hare, David McAllister and Francesco Ventriglia; Tim Harbour, this year’s commissioned choreographer; and all members of the international faculty. This Final at the Sydney Opera House will provide a thrilling evening, displaying the exceptional talents of these young dancers. I wish every one of them a successful Genée and I hope that you will all be inspired and enthralled by this year’s competition. Luke Rittner Elliott FranksPhoto: Chief Executive, Royal Academy of Dance Uyu Hiromoto Finalist Genée 2015 London THE THEATRES Photo: courtesy of Sydney Opera House Photo: courtesy of Century Venues Sydney Opera House The Concourse The Sydney Opera House is Australia’s biggest tourist The Concourse is the cultural home of the North Shore and destination. One of the world’s busiest performing arts centres, is one of Sydney’s leading entertainment and arts venues. For it welcomes more than 8.2 million visitors a year, and hosts over 100 years, the site has been the home of performing arts, nearly 2,000 performances, enjoyed by more than 1.5 million community celebrations and civic ceremonies. audience members. The site, previously known as Civic Place, has housed buildings Located on Bennelong Point – known by Australia’s First Nations of public significance and been recognised as an important part Eora people as ‘Tubowgule’, or ‘where the knowledge waters of the local community for decades. The first Willoughby Town meet’ – the Opera House continues to be a meeting place for Hall was built on the site in 1903, primarily designed to house celebration and ceremony, alive with stories past and present. the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, and the Bailey Hall was designed as a multi-function space, with the facilities for the The Sydney Opera House offers a diverse year-round performance of drama and musical theatre. In 1972, the original programme of artistic experiences including performances from Town Hall was demolished and replaced by a new Civic Centre. its resident companies: Opera Australia, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Theatre The site of The Concourse opened in September 2011, and Company, Bell Shakespeare, Bangarra Dance Theatre and The continues a century-old tradition of performing arts with its Australian Ballet. unique mix of venues for live theatre, dance, music, business events and exhibitions. 04 DAME ADELINE GENÉE DBE Before co-founding the Association of Teachers of Operatic Photo: RAD Archive Dancing (the forerunner of the RAD) in 1920, Adeline Genée had an illustrious career as a dancer. Born in Denmark, she had been taught by her uncle. By the age of 15 she had already been performing on stage for five years, dancing at the Zentralhallen Theatre at Stettin and, at 17, appearing at the Imperial Opera in Berlin. At 19, her reputation earned her an engagement at the Empire Palace of Varieties in London’s Leicester Square. She remained a star there for 12 years, winning an adoration and respect that raised the standing of the dancing profession in the public eye. Genée’s influence on ballet did not end with her performing career. She joined Philip Richardson, Edouard Espinosa and others to set up an Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing, becoming its first president. Directly due to her were Queen Mary’s becoming the Patron in 1928, and the granting of a Royal Charter which saw its transformation into the Royal Academy of Dancing, and then the Royal Academy of Dance. Throughout the Second World War Genée remained at the head of the RAD, working tirelessly on its behalf. In 1950 her services to ballet were recognised with a DBE, the first to be bestowed on a member of the dance profession. She retired as president in 1954 but took a continuing interest in the RAD until her death in 1970. Today, her name is remembered in a studio at RAD headquarters, and in the annual Genée International Ballet Competition. First held in 1931, the competition has taken place almost every year since. In 2002, the competition was held for the first time outside London, with Sydney Opera House playing host to a record number of candidates. It has since been held around the world. For the first time in over ten years, the competition returns to Sydney. 05 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? With over 80 years of history, and increasing prominence The Royal Ballet has drawn many of its dancers from Genée in the world of ballet, the Genée continues to produce an candidates. As far back as the 1934 competition, Felicity Gray impressive list of alumni. The competition receives entries won gold and joined the Vic-Wells Ballet, as it was then known. from all over the world, many of whom have gone on to great John Hart won gold in 1939, joined the company and went on things. Here, we catch up with just a few of them. to become assistant director, and Aussie sisters Madonna and Leanne Benjamin each won gold (in 1979 and 1981 respectively), Rewinding to the competition’s birth, Australia first made its ahead of joining. Specifically, Leanne’s dance career launched mark on the competition when Laurel Martyn won gold in 1935. with Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, where she rose to Principal. She She danced with Sadler’s Wells Ballet, later becoming Principal danced with London Festival Ballet and Deutsche Oper Ballet with the Borovansky Ballet back in Australia. Taught by one RAD before joining The Royal Ballet, becoming Principal after her founder Phyllis Bedells, Laurel became Director of Ballet Victoria debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake in 1993. Others who joined and was awarded an Australian Dance Award for lifetime the company more recently include current Principal Steven achievement in 1997. 1947 saw Rowena Jackson strike gold McRae, another well-known Australian who took gold in 2002. – a New Zealander now living in Australia – and she became Principal of Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1954 before becoming Genée alumni have travelled extensively and have left their Director of the National School of Ballet in Wellington. mark all over the world, particularly Down Under. Elisha Willis, who won silver in 1996 and 1999, joined The Australian Ballet and then Birmingham Royal Ballet as Principal in 2004.