Queensland Ballet’s electrifying contemporary series Bespoke storms back onto the Brisbane stage from 31 July to 9 August 2025 with a program that’s bolder, braver, and more boundary-pushing than ever.
Now in its eighth exhilarating year, the mixed bill ballet is a creative collision of brand-new works by former Queensland Ballet and Leipzig Ballet soloist Amelia Waller; proud Bidjara woman and celebrated Bangarra Dance Theatre alumna Yolande Brown; and Artistic Director & Co-CEO of Canada’s Fall for Dance North Festival, Robert Binet.
The trio of choreographers bring three world premieres to the Thomas Dixon Centre, each delivering distinct cultural, creative, and international perspectives. It’s a rare fusion of local excellence and global innovation, where contemporary movement meets deeply personal storytelling.
Queensland Ballet Artistic Director Ivan Gil-Ortega said:
“It’s a celebration of diverse choreographic voices. Bold, thought-provoking, and unafraid to push boundaries. This season’s works is designed to challenge and inspire, offering fresh perspectives on the artform we love.”
Featured first at the 23rd NOOSA alive! Festival in 2025, Amelia Waller’s Curious Beings debuts in collaboration with Dead Puppet Society. This ambitious work blends classical technique, bold narrative, and inventive puppetry, resulting in a tradition-defying performance that reimagines the ballet stage.
Yolande Brown’s Nhamgan Ngali Nyin, we all see you weaves culture, memory and movement into a premiere that honours Country and story of the First Nations deep history. Developed with Butchulla senior Songman and 2021 Screen Music Award winner Fred Leone, the richly layered work affirms Brown’s status as one of Australia’s most vital voices in contemporary dance.
Yolande Browne said:
“My work is in response to this incredible place that has deep First Nations history, and roots and stories. For First Nations people, culture is a continuum. When you say the word traditional, it doesn’t mean that it’s stuck in the past. It is continually evolving.”
Rounding out the bill is Robert Binet’s Newborn Giants, a bold new work developed in collaboration with University of Toronto Theatre Artist and Professor of Disability Studies, Devon Healey. Curated for Queensland Ballet, the work features Immersive Descriptive Audio (IDA) that makes the ballet accessible to blind and low-vision audiences.
IDA is a poetic soundscape that intertwines the dancer’s physical experience, the choreographer’s vision, and the perspective of blindness. This piece redefines the sensory possibilities of dance. Not merely a description of the performance, IDA is the performance.
Rob Binet said:
“Both blindness and dance force you to engage with the sensorium in a really different way, and really puts your body on the front lines of all your experiences. But more importantly, they both really encourage you to go beyond the assumptions of what you’re seeing and really tap into imagination and a world beyond what’s right in front of us.”
Get ready for a kaleidoscope of movement. Bespoke is for the curious, the creative, and the culture lovers looking to experience dance that dares to do things differently.
This is not ballet as you know it. This is Bespoke.
Bespoke runs from 31 July to 9 August at Thomas Dixon Centre, 406 Montague Road West End Qld 4101.
Tickets are on sale here!
Website: https://www.queenslandballet.com.au/performances/2025/bespoke
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/qldballet/
Hero image credits: Luca Armstrong, Callum Mackie, Joshua Ostermann, Brooke Ray, and Neneka Yoshida. Photography by David Kelly.
