Students learn from ballet

The Australian Ballet recently held a closed dress rehearsal attended by composition students from the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music.

The students' attendance at the rehearsal of Raymonda, at Adelaide's Festival Theatre, was the product of an innovative collaboration between the Australian Ballet and the Conservatorium. It is one of a number of joint activities being pursued under a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions.

The Conservatorium's undergraduate composition students have been studying a `Music and Dance: Practical, Theoretical and Historical Perspectives' course, organised by Professor Graeme Koehne, which is intended to introduce them to the skills necessary to compose music for dance.

Insights gleaned from watching the ballet in rehearsal were further explored during a seminar, which featured the Australian Ballet's Artistic Director, David McAllister OAM, and Music Director and Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon.

"The `Music For Ballet' course provides the students with the technical expertise to enable them to compose for ballet, and through the generosity of the Australian Ballet it also gives them an invaluable network of contacts with Australia's pre-eminent performing arts organisation," said Professor Koehne.