I imagine that quite a few subscribers to the Australian Ballet would be happiest if they were only offered full length story ballets, however, there are not enough good ones to go around. The Company has always mixed them up with some modern ballets. The next program on offer will be doing just that. Opening in Melbourne on 17 March and in Sydney on 7 April is a contemporary triple bill under the umbrella title of Faster. The work which lends its name to the whole program was by David Bintley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2012, the year of the London Olympics. Inspired by the Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’, it depicts the highs and lows of elite athletes.

Bintley choreographed his ballet to music commissioned from Matthew Hindson, a prolific and successful Australian composer, born in Wollongong in 1968, who lectures at the Sydney Conservatorium. The other two works in this triple bill are Infra by Wayne McGregor and Squander and Glory by Tim Harbour. Wayne McGregor is the resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet; this is the third of his works performed by the Australian Ballet. Infra is set to haunting music by Max Richter, a German-born British composer. Tim Harbour is the resident choreographer of the Australian Ballet itself. His new work is Squander and Glory, a not particularly attractive or logical title. Harbour hasn’t nominated a composer in advance so we shall see or rather, hear.