Studying Stuttgart style

Press, 8 March 1989, Page 25

Studying Stuttgart style

CHRISTOPHER MOORE talks to a former Christchurch dancer who has added a Pommeroy fellowship to her list of credits.

A principal dancer with the Australian Ballet, Fiona Tonkin, recently found herself on the wrong side of the Black Swan Lake. The former member of Christchurch’s Southern Ballet and a leading dancer with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company became temporarily stranded by a flash flood which swept through parts of Melbourne, disrupting traffic, communications and plans for a telephone interview with "The Press.” After a hectic four-hour divertissement through a series of alternative routes, she reached the Australian Ballet’s studios to discuss her threemonth stay with West Germany’s Stuttgart Ballet of the recipient of the 1988 Louise Pommeroy grant. Born in Singapore and raised in Christchurch, Tonkin joined the Southern Ballet when she was 15. At 18, she joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet before travelling to Syd-

ney in 1980 to audition for the Australian Ballet.

By 1982, she was promoted to the rank of coryphee (leading dancer in the corps de ballet). Five years later she became a principal artist. For two months late last year, she worked with the Stuttgart Ballet, taking classes, watching rehearsals and performances and receiving tuition from the legendary Marcia Haydee — lessons which will culminate in her appearance in the role of Tatiana in the new Australian Ballet production of John Cranko’s “Eugene Onegin.” One of her lasting impressions of the Stuttgart company was the maturity of its dancers — in terms of both age and experience. “Members of the European companies seem to remain dancing for much longer — the Stuttgart company contains members who are in their 40s and 50s, but who are still dancing. I’m 28 and one of the older members of

the Australian Ballet Company — something which reflects the tremendous turnover in Australian dancers,” she said. “Unless there is a good reason, why should ■ a dancer retire at such a young age?” The Stuttgart Company also operates under different working systems. Own’ :g its own theatre enables it to run a highly varied seasonal programme ranging over an extensive classical and contemporary repertoire. "Something which involves many more rehearsals,” she adds. Outside the punishing daily round of rehearsals and performance, Tonkin had the opportunity to see the worn of John Cranko, and his effect on the company which became closely associated with his choreography and style. The dancer and choreographer, John Cranko, was appointed as the Stuttgart Ballet’s director in 1961. He helped the obscure European company develop into one of

the world’s leading dance companies. During his time at Stuttgart, Cranko created new works and re-moulded a number of classics. From 1968 to 1971, he also worked as the principal choreographer for the Bavarian State Opera Ballet. John Cranko died suddenly in Dublin in 1973 while returning with his company from an American tour. He was 46. Tonkin saw performances of Cranko’s earlier and later, pieces, an experience which demonstrated the slow evolution of the Cranko style. “I think that I prefer his later works, including ‘Onegin’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ It was especially good to be tutored by Marcie Haydee, a fantastic lady and dancer.” After her time in Stuttgart, Tonkin saw several major European companies in performance, including the Bejart Ballet, the Paris Opera and the Royal Ballet, London, before she returned to Australia.