And as such Jeremy Hargreaves and Amy Ronnfeldt hover before me like two dimorphic insects, in “The Moment” by Yuiko Masukawa. In costumes designed by Ailsa Woodyard, a transparent skirt of Ronnfeldt reads like wings, fluttering, as Hargreaves raises her lightly overhead. Just as a pas de deux requires one dancer to be in tune with another, moving in relation, connected, if not always physically, but emotionally, Masukawa seems to be inviting the audience to do the same. “To be in a moment with the dancers,”[1] sharing what they are feeling. Set to Caroline Shaw’s Plan & Elevation, Masukawa picks up this thread and weaves it further, bringing the warmth and individuality of each dancer forward. Meshing classical with contemporary, past with present, the flickering lines within both the music and unfurling upon stage read heartfelt. 

All that is heartfelt embodies the feel of the opening of the Australian Ballet’s 2026 season at the Regent Theatre, for its third and final year before returning to the Arts Centre, and the Ian Potter State Theatre’s stage (formerly State Theatre) in October. Presented over three performances on a single weekend, “Signature Works” opens with the hypnotic Kingdom of the Shades from “La Bayadère,” with choreography after Marius Petipa; followed by leaps of vigour in the “Flames of Paris” pas de deux, with choreography after Vasili Vainonen, energetically fanned by soloists Samara Merrick and Marko Juusela; detours by way of Marco Goecke’s “Morpheus’ Dream;” before settling into George Balanchine’s “Ballet Imperial,” the first Balanchine work staged by the company in 1967. These giddy dips form an cumulative experience of joy, as the “Grand Pas Classique” pas de deux, with choreography after Victor Gsovsky, staged by David McAllister, is sewn alongside Walter Bourke’s tambourine-resplendent “Grande Tarantella” to make a sparkling gala night, in feel if not in name.