As her ballet about French designer Coco Chanel heads for Brisbane, Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa discusses her passion for creating narrative ballets about complex, history-making, real-life women with Deborah Jones, and explains why she rarely declines an invitation to make new work.

Coco Chanel
A scene from Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon. Photo © Bobyea Photography, courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has a guiding principle that perhaps wouldn’t work for everyone. She simply says ‘yes’ to requests and sees where that takes her. Soon that will be Brisbane, where her ballet Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon will be staged by Queensland Ballet, one of 80 companies around the world where Lopez Ochoa’s dances have been seen.

True, Lopez...