News from the Friends of the Australian Ballet (SA)
Newsletter November 2011
Dear Friends,
We have just held our final function of the year, our much-loved Festival Breakfast, with our guest speaker, Paul Grabowski, the Artistic Director of next year's Adelaide Festival. This rounded off another busy year with the Friends, and we will not be letting up in 2012! Not only is there a jam-packed programme for The Australian Ballet's 50th anniversary, but we, the South Australian Friends, are also celebrating our 20th year - so get ready!
We are holding an exciting Symposium at the State Library to celebrate our anniversary, called "Dancing with Attitude" which will discuss changes in The Australian Ballet since the Ballets Russes. There will be three sessions on the afternoon of Sunday 29 April, followed by a Cocktail party where guests can meet the speakers - Marilyn Jones OBE, Lee Christofis, Graeme Koehne, Mark Carroll, Leigh Warren, Alan Brissenden AM, and David McAllister AM - a wonderful group of experts who will fascinate and inform. And then we can all have a drink and raise a toast to 20 years of the South Australian Friends of The Australian Ballet. Not to be missed!
Adelaide is eagerly awaiting Graeme Murphy's Romeo and Juliet for 2012. Our season will be 25-30 May, and tickets are selling quickly. Our committee will be hosting the usual Season functions - Class on Stage and morning tea, and of course we are hoping for access to the Dress Rehearsal. We have always been offered this privilege in the past, much to the delight of our members and sponsors, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for Romeo and Juliet. Then there is a special function on Sunday 27 May at Government House being planned by The Australian Ballet, where our members will be invited to meet the dancers. Details for all these events will be sent next year.
We will be planning one of our popular Melbourne Trips - to see which ballet, we do not yet know - but we will release the details next year as soon as we finalise our calendar. I happen to know that quite a few of our committee members are hoping to make this one, so we would love as many Friends as possible to join us.
Last month, our highly successful Fairytale Picnic reminded us of the importance of our Junior Friends. After all, they are the audiences of the future. To see so many little girls (and a few boys) responding so spontaneously to the dance and the music in the glorious setting of the Botanic Gardens made our hearts sing. Of course, most of us reading this think that dance should always be an important part of childhood, and a 2009 survey showed that in Australia, dancing was the third most important activity across both genders aged 5 to 14 years - ahead of AFL and netball!
As usual, we are enclosing our Friends’ Renewal Form, and look forward to your continued membership. We are trying to communicate as much as possible by email. Please provide your email address and keep us up to date on any changes. Your email address remains confidential at all times.
On behalf of the Friends, I would like to thank our wonderful and generous principal wine sponsor, Pertaringa of McLaren Vale. I would also like to thank Crumpler Design of Gawler Place, Perry's Fruit and Nut Nursery, Tynte Flowers, One Rundle Trading and Therapia Physiotherapy for their generous contributions as prizes at various Friends functions this year, and also to our Junior Programme Sponsors: Boost Juice (Norwood, Rundle Mall, City Cross, David Jones), Tutu & Twirl, Stage Shop, Dance Boutique, Dance Solutions, & Snow and Surf (Norwood).
On behalf of the committee, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, and we look forward to seeing you in April at the Symposium and Cocktail party, and in May at Romeo and Juliet and throughout the year.
Kind regards,Catherine Ellice-Flint (President)
Friends of The Australian Ballet (SA) IncPatron: Mrs James Ramsay AO
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President's Rerport
13 April 2011
It is with pleasure that I present to you for your approval, the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Friends of The Australian Ballet (S.A.) Inc.
Our year started with a very successful Morning Tea given at my house with special guest, entertainer and former Scottish Ballet dancer, Robin Haig. Robin gave an informal presentation with anecdotes of backstage life and her special memories of Margot Fonteyn.
Following straight on from that, in May, we presented the movie Morris: A Life With Bells On as a fundraiser.
In June, we had a very successful trip to Melbourne for our members. We managed to see two ballets in the one trip - the last night of Coppelia, and the opening night of Peggy!, the ballet based on the inaugural Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, Dame Peggy van Praagh, and the highlight of this ballet was the inclusion of a showcase of young dancers from The Australian Ballet School. A few of us chose to attend the post performance party and had the opportunity to mix with the dancers. During the week, we were offered a chance to watch company class and a wardrobe tour, which was brief that year, because of the number of ballets in production at the time, but still very interesting and enjoyable. Extra casual staff had been employed to meet the demand so the wardrobe studio was very busy indeed. We met in the Dancers’ Deli both days, and enjoyed just being in the building surrounded by all the ballet activity.
Then, following soon after, in mid July, The Company brought The Silver Rose to Adelaide. This was Graeme Murphy's lavish production based on the Strauss opera, Der Rosenkavalier, with gorgeous costumes and sets by Roger Kirk, and music by Carl Vine. Once again, the Friends were able to offer Dress Rehearsal tickets to our members, and we are again grateful to David McAllister for allowing us this opportunity. It is not a "given" that we will be allowed in to a Dress Rehearsal, and at $25 a ticket, it is a very affordable way to see the ballet, and we are very lucky. I would like to point out that in Sydney and Melbourne, the numbers allowed in to see a Dress Rehearsal are often restricted, so many miss out, and also the ticket price for the Dress Rehearsals are $60 each. During the week, the Friends also organised a Morning Tea and Class on Stage
At the end of July, the Friends committee organised a coach to take 50 members and guests to Tanunda to see the Dancers' Company perform Don Quixote. This company is a regional touring arm of The Australian Ballet, featuring mainly the final year of the Ballet School, and in this case, two soloists from The Australian Ballet taking the principal roles.
That same week, we held our annual Bridge Day. The committee made a record amount of 227 lunches. This event gets bigger every year, and continues to be a very successful fundraiser. I will just mention the date for this year's Bridge Day - 27 July.
In October, we held another film fundraiser, La Danse, a documentary following the production of seven ballets by The Paris Opera Ballet.
Another successful event was our Arty-Farty Quiz Night - Take 2! held in November. One of our committee members, Alan Smith, kindly agreed to be Quiz Master. There were some wonderful prizes, thanks to the generosity of our committee members, and our sponsors, and the evening was a great success.
Our third Film Night for the year was with a rather controversial choice, Black Swan, which certainly invited spirited discussion during the post-movie supper, once again supplied by the committee, with wines from our wonderful sponsor, Pertaringa.
I would like to express our thanks to our main sponsor, Pertaringa Wines of McLaren Vale, who have so generously supported us at all our functions, and who also make some great deals available to our members throughout the year. We also have a new sponsor this year, Crumpler Bags, of Gawler Place in the city, and we are delighted to have them on board, and pleased to be able to offer our members discount on their fabulous product.
Our Junior Programme sponsors continue to be Tutu & Twirl, Stage Shop, Dance Connections, Adelaide Dancer's Boutique, Boost Juice - Golden Grove, Norwood, Rundle Mall Plaza, David Jones and City Cross, and Snow and Surf, Norwood. For other events we have had others who have generously donated food, flowers, and prizes for our raffles. We thank all those who have supported us in the past year.
It is almost as if we have had two ballets come to Adelaide this year, as I get to mention two seasons in this Annual Report - only because Madame Butterfly came quite early in 2011. This absolutely gorgeous ballet was a sell out here in Adelaide, which is always great news. Once again we were able to have a Dress Rehearsal, a Morning Tea and Class on Stage, and this year we held a function called Meet the Dancers where David McAllister introduced four of the seven newest company members to our attending Friends, and Junior Friends. During the week, the committee also met with Nicolette Fraillon, Kenneth Watkins and Judy Turner and heard much of the exciting list of events for next year, the 50th Anniversary of The Australian Ballet.
I would like to mention an event we have planned for the end of this year, mainly for our junior members and families. It is A Fairy Tale Picnic, to be held in conjunction with The Botanic Gardens. We will have the very popular stage and television stars, The Fairies, making an appearance, and although we are still in the planning stages I can confirm the time and date as 4:30 on 30 October 2011.
I would also like to add that another Friends' Melbourne Trip is being planned, to see The Merry Widow, in July, and we will have confirmation with full details and dates very soon.
Not only is it the 50th Anniversary of the Company, but next year is also the 20th anniversary of The Friends of the Australian Ballet, SA. We have some very stimulating and entertaining functions on the drawing board, none of which would take place without the tireless efforts of our wonderful committee. I would like to thank our patron, Mrs James Ramsay AO, and I would particularly like to thank our secretary, and former president, Barbara Marrett, without whose unfailing support and expertise, I would find life as President of such a busy committee absolutely impossible. I am also very lucky to have terrific support from our Vice President, Judy Connor, and our Treasurer, Di Miller, and the following current committee members, Beverley Brown, Annette Gillen, Lorraine Irving, Margie Middleton, Diana Perry, Julie Sangster, Georgina Vanden, Wendy Wheeler, Sara Dawe and the following newer members, Denise LeMessurier, Julie Mitchell, Trish Selway, Alan Smith, and Trish Storer. Two members have retired form the committee this year, Veronica Aldridge and Reeva Brice, and I would like to thank them for their contribution.
And finally, in terms of donations, the Friends gave $10,000.00 in October last year, and we are currently finalising plans to donate again to the Ballet in Schools Programme, coordinated by Helen Cameron, the Australian Ballet Education Consultant.
I am looking forward to a very special - and very busy - 2012, and would like to thank all our members for supporting the Friends, and thereby supporting the all-important fundraising for The Australian Ballet.
Thank you very muchCatherine Ellice-Flint ( President)
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The Silver Rose
Photos from the 2010 Adelaide Season of
The Silver Rose
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Class With TZU-CHAO CHOU
21 Feb 2010
On Sunday 21 February excited Junior Members attended class with Tzu-Chao Chou, Soloist with The Australian Ballet.
There were 3 x classes of 1.5 hours.
1st class 7 - 10 year olds
Middle Group 11 - 14 year olds
Seniors 14 - 16 year olds
Each dancer received a 'Certificate of Participation' with a signed photograph of Tzu-Chao. There was also a draw for signed ballets shoes from an Australian Ballet Principal Dancer.
The winners were
Zali Singleton, Brittany Farinola and Samantha Trangmar.
The winners of signed water bottles were
Clementine Benson, Sam Hall and Katie Gue.
All the students enjoyed this very successful day.
The event was sponsored by TuTu & Twirl,
313 Goodwood Road, Kings Park and
The Friends of the Australian Ballet (SA)
Students with Tzu-Chao Chou
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SPECIAL NOTE PAPER designed by Merrily Hallsworth, a member of the Friends. They are inspired by the Ballets Russes' costumes, and have two designs per packet of 10. Cost per packet is $10, and the profit will be donated to the Friends. Merrily can be identified as the Artist who regularly sketches at the Dress Rehearsals and can be seen sitting near the stage in the front stalls.
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