There is a lot of dance news about at the moment. The Australian Ballet’s new version of Spartacus, to the score by Khachaturian, is completing its initial season in Melbourne, before moving to Sydney (Nov. 9-24). At the same time, the highly praised Teatro alla Scala Ballet of Milan will present two programs in Brisbane (Nov. 7-18): Giselle, to the score by Adolphe Adam, in the original choreography as revived by Yvette Chauvuré and Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote. In the meantime, the Australian Ballet has announced its 2019 repertoire.

Although the 2018 program included Murphy, a compilation tribute to Graeme Murphy, it was by no means a farewell to the prolific choreographer. Next year he will create The Happy Prince, based on the delightful and touching story by Oscar Wilde about a golden statue, which moved by the suffering he sees across the city, befriends a swallow, lost on its way south for the winter. The score is by Christopher Gordon responsible for the music in Ladies in Black. Stanton Welch, the Australian choreographer who is Artistic Director of Houston Ballet, is creating, for both companies, a new version of Sylvia to the sumptuous score by Delibes written in Paris in 1876. In addition to the nymph of the title who falls for a shepherd, Welch will be drawing on other characters from Greek mythology. A triple bill, Verve, a revival of Christopher Wheeldon’s very popular Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , and Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker will round out the year.