Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2010

Photo Liz Ham

The Australian arts scene has a bit of an inferiority complex, thanks to its distance from international culture capitals and its relative youth. But the Australian Ballet—founded in part by Russian émigrés in the ’60s—has recently staked its claim as one of the world’s leading companies.

Much of its renown rests on the productions of Graeme Murphy, a graduate of the Australian Ballet School whose steamy Swan Lake and melancholic Nutcracker—The Story of Clara come to Tokyo this month.

“For us to launch two major adaptations of well-known ballets is a huge undertaking, but it was very important for the Australian Ballet to have a unique signature,” explains tiny principal dancer Madeleine Eastoe in a brief visit to Tokyo ahead of the tour. “And we have got that with these.”

“Australia is so far away from the ballet world, and so isolated, that we don’t have the same exposure,” adds lanky fellow principal Adam Bull, who will star opposite Eastoe in Swan Lake. “To be regarded here as a great company is wonderful.”

Murphy’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker are not mere updates but bold modernizations of the Tchaikovsky classics. “The relationships that you have to create are quite intense,” Bull says. “At the opening scene of Swan Lake, I’m getting it on with my mistress in the bedroom while she [Eastoe] is getting ready for our wedding day. It’s really tactile, and you’re up close and personal and learn a lot about the other person. You have to be open.”

“You have your hands all over someone, and when you’re onstage doing this kind of story, it becomes quite real in some sense,” says Eastoe, revealing that she is, in fact, married to a former dancer (and that she’ll be touring Japan with their 18-month-old child).

But it’s perhaps Graeme’s Nutcracker that best captures the singular identity of the Australian Ballet.

“It’s about a ballerina who finds herself in Australia, and through the story you see her age from a young dancer into a mature woman and then an old lady at the end of her life,” Eastoe explains. “It relates to the Australian ballet as a foundation. It was born from ex-Russian dancers who came to Australia to perform and liked it so much they decided to stay. This work captures a lot of those themes and represents where we came from.”

The Australian Ballet
Australia’s national ballet performs its original versions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, the latter modeled on the life of Princess Diana. Swan Lake: Oct 9-11, various times, ¥5,000-¥16,000; The Nutcracker: Oct 15-17, various times, ¥5,000-¥16,000. Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Ueno. Tel: 03-3791-8888.