By Rain Francis.

Melbourne’s pretty factor goes up about 200 percent in autumn. The sun is (mostly) shining but it’s not ridiculously hot anymore and a rainbow of leaves is descending… time to rug up and enjoy our fair city. Here are five things for dance lovers to do and see over the coming months.

1. May 25 is International Tap Dance Day, a day which commemorates the “grandfather of tap” Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. Tap groups all over the city will be out in force, performing famous routines, encouraging tappers to get in for a jam and generally making a racket! Look out for Winston Morrison’s Melbourne Tap Dance and Glamour Puss Studios, amongst others. Stay tuned to their websites to find out where they’ll be performing: www.tapdancingmelbourne.com.au and www.glamourpussstudios.com.au.

2. From May 3-11, ground-breaking indigenous contemporary dance company Bangarra Dance Theatre brings its work Blak to Arts Centre Melbourne. Artistic Director Stephen Page and dancer/choreographer Daniel Riley McKinley have created a work exploring the collision of two worlds. The soundscape of award-winning composer David Page has been fused with the music of cutting edge electronic artist Paul Mac and sets are by the acclaimed Jacob Nash. Bangarra’s works are always engaging and exciting, so book your tickets for this one! Book here: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/event.aspx?id=3444.

3. Get your dancing shoes down to Queensbridge Square (Southbank Concourse) on the first Friday of every month, for the famous First Friday Dance Club. Presented by the City of Melbourne and supported by Ausdance Victoria, the Club is a unique opportunity for anyone to get involved, pick up some moves and most importantly have fun. Led by community and professional dance groups, each Club night will feature a different dance style. It’s free and open to all ages, regardless of ability. Click here for more info: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutMelbourne/ArtsandEvents/ArtsParticipation/Pages/1stFridayDanceClub.aspx.

4. The Australian Ballet has two fantastic productions coming up in Melbourne. From June 6-17, they will be presenting Vanguard, a triple bill of key works from choreographic giants, Jiří Kylián (Bella Figura), George Balanchine (The Four Temperaments) and Wayne McGregor (Dyad). Then, from June 21-July 1, the company brings back Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake, a fresh take on the well-known story ballet from one of Australia’s most loved choreographers. Find out more and book tickets at www.australianballet.com.au/whats_on/main_company.

5. Ballet Revolución returns to Australia after blowing audiences away in 2011. Since their Australian visit, the Cuban company has been performing sold out seasons in London, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Vienna. So get yourself down to Arts Centre Melbourne in July! With 20 of the world’s best dancers and eight of the hottest young musicians, the company mixes ferocious ballet with street dance in what The Australian called “an irresistible Cuban cocktail of ferocious sensuality”. From July 17-20 at Arts Centre Melbourne for five performances only. Book here: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/event.aspx?id=3445

Photo (top): Australian Ballet’s Adam Bull and Ty King-Wall in Vanguard. Photo by Georges Antoni

“Their jumps are astounding, their control is as strong as steel and their free-spirited joy for dance is infectious.” - Sunday Herald Sun 

After its acclaimed world-premiere tour throughout Australia in 2011, and then subsequently sold-out seasons in London, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Vienna in 2012, the international Cuban sensation Ballet Revolución returns to Australia in 2013.

What happens when some of the world’s most talented classical and contemporary dancers perform to the infectious rhythms of Latin-America and the Number 1 hits from Usher, Shakira, Beyoncé, Enrique Iglesias, J-Lo, Prince and Chris Brown? The result is an explosive, intense, sensual and impressively athletic performance, full of raw energy with a distinctly Cuban flavour.

“So many great things have happened for the show since we had our world premiere in Australia two years ago,” said Australian producer and creator of Ballet Revolución, Mark Brady. “We have toured to many countries around the world and had the amazing honour of being invited to perform in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Variety Concert on November 19, 2012. Internationally the show continues to wow audiences no matter where we perform, so bringing the shown back to Australia is very exciting.”

Ballet Revolución’s young Cuban dancers let their athletic bodies do the talking with breathtaking twists, daring jumps and sensual moves from ballet to street dance. Combining twenty of the finest dancers from the Island of Dance, Cuba, and eight of the hottest young Cuban musicians live on stage, results in a fuelled Cuban cocktail of passion and technical skill.

The dancers were trained at one of the world’s most prestigious dance institutions in their home country, the Escuela Nacional de Arte, with its renowned faculty of modern dance, and at the famous Escuela Nacional de Ballet for classical dance. Dance training is strongly promoted in Cuba. Dance means more than art on the Caribbean island, it means life.

Make sure to get your tickets to see Ballet Revolución, starting this June, with shows across the major cities and regional centres. For more information and tickets visit www.balletrevolucion.com.au.

National Tour Details

Capital Cities
QPAC, Brisbane
Wed 19 – Sat 22 June
State Theatre, Sydney
Tue 25 – Sun 30 June
Arts Centre Melbourne
Wed 17 – Sun 21 July
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
Tue 23 – Sun 28 July
Crown Theatre, Perth
Tue 30 July – Sun 4 August

Regional Centers
The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
Wed 3 – Sat 6 July
The Events Centre, Caloundra
Mon 8 July
Brolga Theatre, Maryborough
Tue 9 July
The Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
Wed 10 July
Townsville Civic Theatre
Fri 12 July
Cairns Civic Theatre
Sat 13 July
Mackay Entertainment Centre
Sun 14 July

Readers, enter today to win tickets to two amazing dance shows, or the prestigious Australian Dance Awards!

Win a DOUBLE PASS to Ballet Revolucion
Melbourne or Brisbane
Click here to hear about Cuba’s Ballet Revolucion and the company’s Australian tour.

Win a DOUBLE PASS to Side To One in Adelaide.
Click here to find out more about this new contemporary dance work presented at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Win a DOUBLE PASS to the 2011 Australian Dance Awards in Brisbane
Click here to find out more about the dance industry’s night of nights!

To Enter
Email Dance Informa at info@danceinforma.com  with:
Your Name, Date of Birth, Full Address, Phone Number and ‘Why you love Dance Informa’.

Good luck!

NSW Permit Number : LTPM/10/00971CLASS: Type B
Competition opens on July 2 2011. Competition closes on July 16. Winners will be selected at random on July 16 at 5:00pm EST and notified by email. All entrants must provide an email address, a postal address, full name and date of birth. All entrants who are not a subscriber to Dance Informa will be given a free subscription. All subscribers can unsubscribe at any time by visiting danceinforma.com/unsubscribe. Minimum entry age is 13 years of age. Prizes will be drawn in Highbury SA. Winners will be published at www.danceinforma.com after they are announced. If not all prizes are claimed, a Second Chance Draw will be held. This competition is held by Dance Informa Pty Ltd of SA. Phone 1300 783 120.

From the island of dance to the island of Oz; the Ballet Revolucion is spreading. Are you ready for a change?

By Paul Ransom

Ladies and gentlemen, the revolucion will be choreographed. And what’s more it will be set to the music of Beyonce.

Perhaps it is no surprise that a boy from down under and a company of dancers from Castro’s Cuba should be the ones to turn ballet upside down and inside out. When the world premiere season of Ballet Revolucion storms the ramparts this month, it will herald both the beginning and the end of an extraordinary journey for Brisbane born choreographer Aaron Cash.

Cash is palpably excited by the prospect of the upcoming revolucion; no small thing for an original Tap Dog who went on to dance with Baryshnikov and Twyla Tharp. But it’s not just the dance – it’s the exotic, musical,  island of Cuba itself.

Choreographer Aaron Cash

Cash first began to piece together Ballet Revolucion last September. Despite the obvious roadblocks, it soon became apparent that the creation of this show would be anything but dull. “The artists there are phenomenal,” he enthuses. “It’s incredibly inspiring because to have the opportunity to be an artist in Cuba is the chance to have a better life. When you see a nice car drive down the road we would say ‘there’s a doctor or lawyer’ but they go ‘it must be a musician or a famous dancer’.”

Whatever else is true of Cuba, they exalt the arts in a way that perhaps no other country does and the government fully backs the talent of its citizens. Arts funding is no issue in Cuba. Dancers are recruited young and put through a state funded ‘hothouse’ system (much like the Russian model).

“The result is that they produce the most incredible talent,” Cash gushes. “My clichéd saying is ‘they don’t dance with the music, they dance in the music’. They move their bodies wonderfully. They have amazing technique, but they’re also incredibly expressive.”

In Cuba however, passion for music and dance runs much deeper than mere government sponsored elitism. Another of the many Cuban clichés is that music and dancing are in their blood; and Cash would surely agree. “Before they can even walk their parents have them standing and moving their hips to the salsa rhythm.”

Even for an exceptional dancer/choreographer like Cash, immersion in the dance culture of Cuba was something of a revelation. “I’ve been dancing all my life,” he begins. “I’m an original Tap Dog and I’ve danced with Baryshnikov, but I go to Cuba and I feel like I’ve got two left feet. It’s like being six years old again with your dance teacher … They turn like no one else. I’ve got one guy who does fifteen pirouettes like it’s nothing.”

It’s obvious that Cash is genuinely in awe of his cast and their cross-discipline prowess. From classical technique, to contemporary expression, to hip-hop elasticity, the dancers of Revolucion have it all. Consequently, Ballet Revolucion is a melange of high and street culture, of native Cuban and Western populism. Powered by the hits of Beyonce, Shakira and Ricky Martin, it’s a pulsating, rhythmic celebration of dance culture.

For Aaron Cash it is also something of a homecoming. Starting the world tour at home in Australia represents the completion of a circle. “It’s really emotional actually because most of the work that I’ve done has been overseas. When I danced with Baryshnikov and Twyla Tharp my mum, dad and my family never saw me do it, so to come home now with something like this … it’s kinda like a rebirth for me.”

Having recently endured a painful hip replacement operation, Cash the dancer is unequivocal about the joy that Ballet Revolucion has brought him. “The whole experience of working with these people has rejuvenated me”, he concludes.

Ballet Revolucion
Perth, The Regal Theatre  July 1 – 17
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849  
Sydney, State Theatre  July 19 – 24
www.ticketmaster.com.au 1 300 139 588
Adelaide, Her Majestys Theatre  July 26 – 29
131246
Melbourne, The Arts Centre – State Theatre  August 2 – 7
www.theartscentre.com.au  www.ticketmaster.com.au 1 300 182 183
Brisbane, QPAC – Concert Hall  August 10 – 12  
www.qpac.com.au 136 246