This year Audi Australia is proud to partner with The Australian Ballet which marks 60 years of excellence. But far from resting on past glories, the celebrated dance company continues to push the envelope with a unique new production exploring the idea of Identity with two distinct performances from two of the country’s most talented choreographers.

Commissioned by Artistic Director David Hallberg,  it is a performance in two distinct parts – The Hum and Paragon – choreographed by Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre Daniel Riley and  Resident choreographer of The Australian Ballet, Alice Topp, respectively.

Where The Hum explores the ideas of ‘community and Country’ drawing on Riley’s experience as a senior artist with Bangarra Dance Theatre and his own Wiradjuri heritage, Paragon is a tribute to The Australian Ballet’s 60th anniversary. Here Topp celebrates the company’s heritage with a bold combination of present dancers and returning ‘ballet legends’ reflecting the history of the celebrated company while looking to the future, all set against a backdrop of historic images.

It’s an exciting time for The Australian Ballet and for Artistic Director David Hallberg. His two years at the helm have already been ‘a wild ride getting his bearings’ but the celebrated former dancer feels right at home in the company he has long admired and knows intimately.

“I first came to the company in 2010 as a guest artist,” says the US-born Hallberg.

“I danced in The Nutcracker and immediately fell in love with the humanness of the dancers and devotion of the audiences.”

That collaboration is just one in a long and storied dancing career that included time as the principal dancer with both the American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet. But it was a connection that was obviously profound for Hallberg and saw him return to Australia in this new and important role.

And so for the past two years he has been working to deliver new and engaging works to that devoted audience that had such an effect on him, looking to deliver not only classic ballet but also to challenge audiences with new material and a different approach to dance.

To that end, Identity undoubtably pushes the envelope and presents ‘two very different perspectives (of identity) … which makes it a really modern take on that word’ according to Hallberg.

While completely different works and approaches to the idea of identity, the two works that make up Identity each showcase the outstanding talents and passion of the performers, musicians and choreographers involved in each production.

It is that passion that drove Hallberg to the heights of an international dancing career and continues to drive him in his current role.

“The drive is passion and dedication, both in the studio and on stage,” he says.

"And that's what I try and instil in the dancers of the company. And that's what I try to instil in myself as a dancer.”

But even before the passion and the singleminded devotion to the performance there’s something of a calling to the art itself according to Hallberg.

“It [dance] doesn’t give us a choice. And I think that's always driven me forward is the fact that this art form says you're doing this.”

“And then what comes is the passion, drive, dedication. And then, you know, when the curtain goes up and there's this sense of accomplishment, elation, adrenaline, exhilaration and nerves always.”

But never perfection. 

“Perfection doesn't exist, but the pursuit of it can exist,” says Hallberg.

With Identity, audiences witness a number of firsts, from the collaboration between The Australian Ballet and dancers from the Australian Dance Theatre in The Hum, performing to a score by Yorta Yorta composer, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon.

In Paragon, Alice Topp crafts a narrative documenting 60 years of The Australian Ballet, with current company dancers performing alongside 13 greats from the company’s history. These unique pairings performing against a backdrop of production posters and historic photographs projected onto the set.

Taken as a whole, Identity is a fitting tribute to the company in this, its diamond anniversary, as well as being a groundbreaking production.

“Whether you love ballet and dance or whether you come to the theatre for spectacle and the idea of a performance, I think this work facilitates the rich history of what The Australian Ballet means to Australians,” says Hallberg.

“Ballet is a mix between tradition in history and the evolution of the art form. And I find that when you uphold the beautiful history of this art form, you can move forward knowledgeably and in a way that's conscious of how we're defining the art form of today.”