Cloudland Regional Tour 2012
15 June – 14 July 2012The lights dim, the music swells, and wrapped in the magical embrace of Cloudland, the dance begins…
An iconic Brisbane building for decades, the Cloudland ballroom was the focus of the city’s social life. Countless romances blossomed under its spinning mirror balls. Romantic, nostalgic, and humorous, Cloudland is based on real-life stories of romance, friendship and war-time relationships. With music performed live on stage by Sean O’Boyle and his fabulous band, Blackwood, the production gives an energetic and dynamic portrayal of life, love and dance in Brisbane from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Choreographed by François Klaus, this wonderfully entertaining ballet was a sell-out hit at the 2004 Brisbane Festival, and has since charmed audiences on a critically acclaimed tour to six cities across Germany and Switzerland.
Let the spirited dancers of Queensland Ballet whisk you back in time to Cloudland.
Tour managed and coordinated by arTour, an initiative supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland
Creatives
- CHOREOGRAPHY
- François Klaus
- MUSIC DIRECTOR
- Sean O’Boyle
- VOCALIST
- Suzanne Kompass
- BAND
- Blackwood
- SET DESIGN
- Graham Maclean
- COSTUME DESIGN
- Noelene Hill
- LIGHTING DESIGN
- Marisa Jones
Synopsis
The ballet Cloudland follows the life of Christina. It begins In the 1940s, when she is a young woman who meets the love of her life at a dance at Brisbane’s famous Cloudland ballroom. Over the years, Christina’s destiny becomes intertwined with that of Cloudland; ultimately, she becomes a symbol of nostalgia and our longing for the past.
Australia’s entry into the war in the Pacific and the subsequent casualties had an enormous impact on the lives of young Australians, forming an ever-present background to the social whirl of balls, dances and entertainment offered by Cloudland. And the hostilities were not always restricted to the enemy: the US troops, with gifts, good manners, and new dance forms, charmed Brisbane girls and engendered increasing animosity from the young Australian men.
After the war, Cloudland remained an essential element in Brisbane’s rapid social change over the decades, witnessing the flourishing of new music and dance styles. Its clandestine demise in 1982 was much lamented.
