Fly Away Peter, 1914.

STATE THEATRE, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA MAY 15-26, 1998

Australian Ballet resident choreographer Stephen Baynes's first narrative and first evening-length ballet, 1914, was inspired by the poetic novel Fly Away Peter, 1914 by David Malouf. A collaboration with an all-Australian artistic team consisting of composer Graeme Koehne, set and lighting designer Andrew Carter, and costume designer Anna French, the ballet concerns a uniquely national subject, the participation of Australian troops in World War I.

The central character is Jim, a gentle young man who is enchanted by migratory bird life in the coastal area of Queensland la state in northeast Australia). He meets Imogen, a middle-aged photographer who shares his fascination.

The ballet's opening scenes establish Jim's enchantment and joy in observing the birds. He dances a beautiful solo of slow, angled turns, soft arabesques, and pliant jumps, his rounded arms suggesting wings. Jim meets Imogen and they dance a pas de deux. A group of young people arrives; they dance and picnic in the sand dunes. These early scenes, together with Koehne's silken music, create an atmosphere of sunlit serenity and innocence.

In the next scene, World War I has started and young men in uniform are bade farewell by their loved ones. The men are excited--it is a trig adventure--and Jim decides to join them. They arrive on the outskirts of a battlefield in France half a world away, and decide to visit a local tavern on this, their last night before moving to the front lines. At the tavern they drink and dance with local girls. Jim muses quietly about home and thinks of Imogen and the birds.

The men find themselves in the thick of battle, guns firing, smoke enveloping them. Many are killed. Their passing into death is suggested by a slow procession illuminated by a single line of bright, white lights along which they slowly pass, one by one, Jim being the last. The music softly returns to the lovely theme from the opening scene, gradually gaining in intensity as the lighting brightens on that scene of peaceful sand dunes and trees. Imogen appears and dances a slow, grieving solo before walking to the top of a dune and gazing at the beauties around her. The ballet has gone from paradise on earth to hell on earth--and returned to paradise. Life goes on.

Baynes is a sensitive, musical choreographer. But his previous works have been nonnarrative, and there are some scenes in 1914 wherein he seems to lose his way. Overall, however, he has produced a beautiful ballet that could have been a masterpiece.

As the gentle, dreaming Jim, Steven Heathcote was perfect in his portrayal of the character and in his dancing. Damien Welch, in the same role, also danced and acted movingly. Lisa Bolte was notably sweet and warm as Imogen, as was Miranda Coney in a different cast, though neither really looked middle-aged.

Koehne's music carries the ballet along emotionally--from the golden luster of the early scenes to the false gaiety of the French tavern and the aching sadness as the dead soldiers disappear into the darkness. Carter's basic design changes from sand dunes to battlefield trenches and back again with splendid lighting, while French's costumes contribute important atmospheric details.