Masterpiece in Motion features SDT’s premiere of Serenade by George Balanchine,
A Million Kisses to my Skin by David Dawson and Oneiros, a new work by Adrian Burnett.

Serenade

Serenade by George Balanchine was the first ballet that he choreographed when he arrived in the United States. It began as a class to teach the students stage technique, and was later revised to make it more dramatic and more theatrical, synchronizing it to the music with additional movements. Premiered by the School of American Ballet in June 1934, Serenade, set to music by Tchaikovsky, is now a staple within the repertoire of many companies around the world.

George Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, during the age of Imperial Russia, in 1904. As a dancer and choreographer, Balanchine was also trained equally as a musician where he was enrolled in the Petrograd Conservatory of Music and studied music theory, composition and piano. In 1948, Balanchine founded the New York City Ballet and had produced more than 400 ballets. Apollo, Prodigal Son, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Ballet Imperial, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, The Four Temperaments, Allegro Brilliante, Agon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jewels, Stars and Stripes, Who Cares, Violin Concerto, and many more, attest to Balanchine’s genius. Every major ballet company in the world now enhances their repertoire with Balanchine ballets. The Royal Ballet, The Kirov Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco Ballt, Dutch National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and The Australian Ballet all possess extensive Balanchine repertoires.

A Million Kisses to my Skin

Created by David Dawson for Het Nationale Ballet (Dutch National Ballet), A Million Kisses to my Skin is a post-classical dance work that visualizes the baroque style patterns of Bach's Piano Concerto No 1. Extravagant and free-flowing movements constantly emerge and dissolve across the stage, displaying a virtuosic vocabulary that is elegant and refined. As tactile as its name suggests, the work was hailed by critics as “cerebral dancing of the highest quality”.

Now a resident choreographer with Dresden SemperOper Ballett, Dawson’s ballets had entered repertoires of many of the leading ballet companies and performed in more than 20 countries to much acclaim of both international critics and the public alike. Most recently, he created Faun(e) for the English National Ballet's Ballets Russes Festival in London in 2009 and was nominated for the Best Classical Choreographer Dance Award by the UK Critics’ Circle at the end of the dance season and the Benois de la Dance 2010.

Oneiros

Last but not least, is the world premiere of Oneiros by Adrian Burnett. Stating his inspiration for the new piece, Adrian says, “ This work is the gathering of several impulses inspired by Osvaldo Golijov's exhilarating music and the inner voices that inspire his musical thoughts. I wanted to choreograph a work that translated these abstract musical ideas into visual imagery. The work is also inspired by the brief period of altered consciousness that occurs between wakefulness and sleep, where thoughts become loosely associated, mental imagery is particularly vivid and experiences in one sense are experienced in another.

Figurative imagery is expressed through movement seen through tunnels of light, seemingly random associations and rapid changes of mood and tempo. These typically fleeting moments are linked through Golijov's beautiful music in which he aims to "transmute passion into geometry… longing, light and hope."

Adrian Burnett now works as a freelance choreographer, guest teacher and creative producer. In 2002 he created a joint work for West Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet that won a Green Room award for best new choreography. His most recent role was guest Dance Director for Sydney Dance Company assisting with the creation of a new work and taking the company on a national tour. Adrian has recently returned from Singapore where he was guest choreographer for the Genee International Ballet Competition in 2009.