music, film, TV & theatre bookmarks

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances;
​and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
 
- William Shakespeare
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The Australian Ballet
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The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J.C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and director Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director. Today, it is recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies.

​Today the company is based in Melbourne; its Southbank headquarters is the Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre, named after its long term supporter Lady (Primrose) Potter .  The company tours to mainland state capital cities within Australia, with annual seasons in Melbourne at the State Theatre (accompanied by Orchestra Victoria)  and in Sydney  at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra. Other venues are the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, and the Adelaide Festival Centre in Adelaide. The company also tours internationally, and performs annually in an intimate outdoor setting on Hamilton Island.

The Australian Ballet works in close cooperation with the Australian Ballet School, of which many of the company's dancers are graduates. Giving approximately 200 performances a year, the Australian Ballet claims to be the busiest ballet company in the world. With a vast repertoire which includes the major classical and heritage works as well as contemporary productions, it follows its artistic vision of "Caring for Tradition, Daring to be Different". Each year, the company also presents an extensive national education programme, run by Colin Peasley OAM, a former Principal Dancer with the company, to further inspire and educate its audiences. Its Dance Education Ensemble visits more than eighty primary schools per year to introduce young pupils to classical ballet and other types of dance.