JUNE / JULY 20 17 | W W W.DANCEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU23
Topp says she would never have dreamt
of being a choreographer had it not been
for “Bodytorque”. Artistic director David
McAllister asked her to have a go when
a female choreographer dropped out
because she was pregnant, leaving an
all-male program.
“It wasn't an idea or thing I always
wanted to do. I basically was approached by
David. I think it had been a few years since
[the program] had a female choreographer.
[Music director] Nicolette [Fraillon] put
my name forward. I do not know why;
I think she just thought I would have
a crack.
“So I just thought, why not? That's kind
of how it happened!” She laughs. “Which I
realise is a bit unorthodox. If I hadn't been
encouraged it wouldn't have happened.”
As it turned out, she found it “the most
fulfilling experience”.
“I learned so much about the dancers,
the way they think, and I developed such a
passion. That initial piece really opened up
the door to the
possibilities for me in
terms of choreography
It broke down those
fears about failing and
putting your ideas out there.”
Natalie Weir agrees:
“Choreography is something
that has to be practised. The
only way to learn is to do it. It's
a whole different talent. It has
to be trained and given a whole
lot of time and focus and energy. It's so
easy to put something on stage that f lops.”
Even so, both men and women go
through the same training process, so why
the difference? Topp believes one large
factor is time, or the lack of it. “We do so
many shows a year – 180 or something like
that. And we are constantly working on
new ballets. For women especially, with
ballets such as Swan Lake, La Bayadere,
Giselle and those classics, women are on
for the duration of the three-hour show
every night. Women have less f lexibility
than men to go and have their creative
time and come up with dialogue for
rehearsal the next day."
Time is certainly an important factor.
Looking at the careers of the classical
greats like MacMillan, Ashton, Kylian,
Balanchine – they often were not
prominent as dancers or deeply ensconced
in dance company life. Some of the best
choreographers seem to benefit from
coming to the field late or having a more
outside viewpoint – free from the day-to-
day business of perfecting their fifth
positions and arabesque lines, they are able
to see the potential of ballet as a whole.
Natalie Weir is a case in point. She knew
quite early that her interest lay in
choreography and has been
choreographing since she was twenty.
Though she started her career with
Expressions education team, she has not
been a full-time member of a classical
company and freelanced as a
choreographer for many years, until finally
returning to Expressions as director.
Alice Topp brings up another interesting
angle. She points out that the female
classical ballet dancer is valued for her
conformity, her ability to literally fit into a
group, subsuming her personality into the
requirements of the form, shape and
pattern of the ballet. It is a daily routine
that doesn't encourage personal expression.
"Those ballets, like Kingdom of the
Shades, the wilis in Giselle: a lot of it is all
about unison. It's about being in line, in
that space, your leg is the same height,
eyeballing everyone – it's about being as
one. Twenty-four swans; one wing. So
there's not a lot of time for you to developyour own voice – to think, how do I want to
do this? Because you’re not always given
that freedom. Developing your own voice
and dance language is not something that
is really cultivated. It is more like, okay, my
job for the next three months is to stay in
line. That's what you work for.”
This chimes with comments by Crystal
Pite, the French-Canadian choreographer
and associate choreographer for
Netherlands Dance Theatre, who was
recently commissioned to create a new
ballet for England's Royal Ballet as part of
a triple bill alongside David Dawson and
Christopher Wheeldon. It is the first new
work by female choreographer at the Royal
Ballet for almost two decades. She was
quoted in an article by Philippa Hawker in
The Australian newspaper as saying:
"A young boy who wants to study ballet,
who is willing to risk the ridicule of his
peers and maybe push against his family to
pursue a dance as a career, he is already a
kind of maverick, a risk taker, someone
who is willing to put himself out there.
“These are qualities that make for
leaders and choreographers; a girl in ballet,
on the other hand, doesn't have to be aDeveloping your own voice and
dance language is not something
that is really cultivated. It is more
like, okay, my job for the next
three months is to stay in line.”
PHOTO: JEFF BUSBY