THE Australian Ballet will perform on the spacious Ulumbarra stage for the first time when the company arrives in Bendigo next week.
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The ballet’s regional tour is showing Giselle with Dana Stephensen performing the title role.
“I haven’t been to Bendigo to perform with the company before,” she said.
“We have heard the theatre is extremely beautiful and a really incredible space.”
The story of Giselle follows a peasant girl who falls for an aristocrat before her whole world is shattered and she dies from a weak and broken heart at the end of act one.
“It is a romantic style ballet and one of the oldest traditional ballets still being performed,” Stephensen said.
“The story really is about basic human emotions that anyone can relate to.
“As tragic as the story is, the audience has sense of how powerful forgiveness and the human spirit can be.”
Giselle is Stephensen’s first performance since returning from maternity leave. She will be bringing her nine-month-old child on tour with her.
“The company has amazing parental leave. When you’re pregnant, they put you work on things like wardrobe and philanthropy,” Stephensen said.
“Your return to stage is guided by the medical team. Giselle is one of the biggest roles you could probably do. It is an amazing ballet and a coveted role, so it is a wonderful opportunity to do this with the company let alone coming back from maternity leave.”
Stephensen started dancing when she was three and as been with the Australian ballet since she was 18.
“It is more like a vocation for me. Everyone is aware when you are a young ballet student, you put a lot of effort, energy and concentration in from an early age,” she said.
“I used watch the Australian Ballet in Brisbane. It was my favourite time of year. I would think how amazing it would be to perform in the Australian Ballet.”
The Australian Ballet regional tour of Giselle is at Ulumbarra on Friday, July 8, at 7.30pm and Saturday, July 9, at 1.30pm and 7.30pm.
For more information or tickets visit www.thecapital.com.au/Whats_On/Giselle