Featuring The Australian Ballet in some of its finest dancing, Justin Peck’s Copland Dance Episodes is 73 minutes of sheer joy. The ballet and its expansive score evoke themes of Americana that readily translate to the Australian landscape. The ballet gives viewers a grand and majestic ride through Aaron Copland’s collection of iconic works including pieces from Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo.
Peck is the Resident Choreographer at New York City Ballet where Copland Dance Episodes was created in 2023. Much like his New York City Ballet predecessor, George Balanchine, Peck excels in jazz-inspired moves and has a masterful sense of musical timing. The Australian Ballet dancers are in tight form with their unison, clean turns and high jumps, all executed to Peck’s intricate syncopated steps. The challenge lies in the over-powering music with its soft moments bursting into loud percussion and horns. The dancers not only keep up with the music but ride the melodies with an expansive generosity.
Before the music starts the mood is set by Cherokee and Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson’s hand painted front curtain amassed with brightly colored geometrical shapes reminiscent of a quilt. Jonathan Lo conducts Orchestra Victoria playing Fanfare for the Common Man as a spot light draws focus to a large circle in Gibson’s painting, suggesting a portal into another world. As the curtain rises 30 dancers are arranged on a grey-colored stage like a sculpture garden. The ensemble begins to move in a pedestrian style picking up momentum and complexity with each section of the music. Peck choreographs in the neo-classical ballet genre with female dancers in pointe shoes and all performers in brightly colored dancewear showing off their toned bodies. The performers race one another and support one another; men lift men, women partner women. Connections are made and quickly dissolve into something unexpected.
Peck has crafted two very different duets in the ballet. The first is between Senior Artist Isobelle Dashwood and rising Corps de Ballet dancer Jeremy Hargreaves. Both have long limbs and the ability to further lengthen their body to exquisite lines. Hargreaves makes excellent use of his supple spine and “ballon” (the extra lift at the top of a big jump). He is a combination of masculine strength and tender boyishness. Dashwood moves with the fluidity of a water nymph and is absolutely effervescent. Their first duet is a playful cavort symbolic of young love. As the ballet progresses the distance between them starts to dissolve. The tension builds in their second duet where Dashwood and Hargreaves connect with great emotional depth and maturity. This interplay gives Copland Dance Episodes something unique; more than a technical dance to a sweeping score, it is the surprise melancholy that Peck weaves into his seemingly non-plot work that catches the audience off guard.
Soloist Samara Merrick and Senior Artist Max Zenin take on the role of the Second Couple delivering a flawless performance. Merrick is quicksilver with fast moving feet and intricate arms while Zenin matches in his agility and multiple turns. Their dance is less emotional but none the less enjoyable to watch.
Much of Copland’s music is familiar but probably the most recognizable and beloved is “Simple Gifts”. The melody is inspired by a traditional Shaker melody and is heard in the ballet Appalachian Spring, choreographed by Martha Graham, who commissioned Copland to compose the score in 1944. Coryphée Riley Lapham sparkles as she takes to the stage with a strong yet delicate solo. As the music builds, the company of dancers moves like heated particles as they quickly merge to form a single organism, a flower-like tableau. Copland Dance Episodes is a must-see; all of its elements come together so beautifully, creating a vibrant visualisation of Copland’s score.
Copland Dance Episodes runs through to July 2 at the Regent Theatre.
Photo credit: Kate Longley
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Paris Wages reviewed “Copland Dance Episodes”, presented by The Australian Ballet at the Regent Theatre on June 23, 2026.
