It was a relief not to see the grand pas de deux from Don Quixote. The Swan Lake Black Swan pas de deux was also absent. The Australian Ballet’s first appearance of the year, a Melbourne-only gala-style program presented over the weekend, featured some interesting choices by TAB artistic director David Hallberg.

Ballet Imperial, danced to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2, occupied the entire second half. It looked elegant and had the requisite magisterial air with Andrew Dunlop as the fine piano soloist. (Jonathan Lo conducted Orchestra Victoria throughout the evening.)

The Australian Ballet: Signature Works. Photo © Kate Longley

The first half opened with a somewhat truncated Kingdom of the Shades act from La Bayadère and continued with short pieces that mostly don’t belong to the category of signature company works but were of interest for a variety of reasons.

It was understandable although disappointing that The Kingdom of the Shades was performed entirely on the flat, with no entrance ramps to give the sense of spirit women coming from on high to haunt Prince Solor. That is its point. Robyn Hendricks as...