Role: Senior Art Director
Agency: R/GA Sydney
Client: Ballet Australia

Overview

COVID-19 brought the curtain down on The Australian Ballet, closing the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne State Theatre, and preventing any performances or rehearsals from taking place.

Dancers went from performing on epic stages to practicing on tiny, impromptu dance floors constructed in their own living rooms and backyards.

Despite it all, Telstra were still determined to give the rising stars of ballet a stage upon which to shine.

SOLUTION
For the 17th annual Telstra Ballet Dancer Awards, we un-staged the Australian Ballet, designing bespoke 8m² dance floors and elaborate 9:16 vertical sets to allow a performance fit for the only stage that had remained open: the nation’s mobile screens.

Choreographed by legendary Artistic Director David McAllister, Ballet Un–staged quickly became one of the most-viewed Australian ballet performances of all time – with an audience of more than 2 million – bringing ballet’s smallest stage to their greatest crowd.

After 240,000 votes were cast via mobile (the highest number of votes in the history of the awards), Nathan Brook was named winner of both the Rising Star and People’s Choice award.