The West Australian Ballet’s tour of Dracula to Adelaide received much acclaim, although some critics were unhappy that the dancers performed to a recording, since the West Australian Symphony Orchestra had not accompanied the WAB.

After watching the opening-night performance at His Majesty’s, with the dancers back in their old hunting ground and in the presence of WASO, the criticism is understandable.

The late Wojciech Kilar was a film composer of some note (creating the score for Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992), and the disparate tones heard in this ballet performance, accompanied by live musicians, add so much tension to the action on stage.

Aided by Krzysztof Pastor’s fine choreography, involving both classical and contemporary dance, the dancers move, glide and hurl themselves across the stage so fast and impressively that you can almost feel the interchange of skill between dancer and musician.

Charles Dashwood as Young Count Dracula in West Australian Ballet’s Dracula. Photo © Jonathan VDK

That this Dracula was, and has been, received with such acclaim is also understandable. It...