Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Swan Lake provided source material for National Capital Ballet School's end of year show, A Twist in Time.
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With a name like that, you might expect it wasn't necessarily going to be conventional, and nowhere is that truer than in the last piece, Rothbart's Dream.
Former Canberran Robert Kelly has choreographed a new piece using Tchaikovsky's music for Swan Lake that is having its premiere on Thursday. ''It's not Swan Lake, it's not pretty girls in tutus,'' Kelly said.
''It's a darker, deeper version of Rothbart's memories.''
In it, Rothbart (performed by Daniel Convery), the evil sorcerer who was the antagonist in the original ballet, is going mad and suffering from dementia as he remembers the events of earlier times. Kelly said he choreographed it in a contemporary manner, but with respect for its classical ballet origins.
The 40-year-old began studying at NCBS when he was 16 - ''my girlfriend at the time talked me into it'' - as well as privately with Adrian Dimitrievitch and his father Yura. Rothbart's Dream is dedicated to the memory of the latter.
At 18 he was touring with professional dance companies around Australia and studied ballet at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts before going on to a professional career as a dancer and choreographer in Europe and Australia. He returns to Canberra periodically to choreograph and teach classes.
Apart from Melbourne dancer Convery and former NCBS student Aaron Carey-Burows, now living in Adelaide, the cast members are all from Canberra. Kelly said there was a ''clear improvement'' on their performances from two years ago.
''They're really attentive, really polite and unusually fast in picking up steps.''
A Twist in Time is on at Erindale Theatre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm and Saturday at 1pm. Tickets $35, available from the box office one hour before the performance.