You could say the contemporary ballet triple bill Strings is a slice of Ivan Gil-Ortega’s history. Gil-Ortega joined Queensland Ballet as Artistic Director last year and 2026 is the first season he has programmed.

It’s not surprising that Strings features the work of European choreographers he has worked with frequently or knows well.

Alison Pukkinen and Taron Geyl in Chamber Minds, one of the works in Queensland Ballet’s triple bill Strings. Photo © David Kelly

Christian Spuck, Artistic Director of Staatsballett Berlin, returns to Brisbane with The Seventh Blue following his monumental Messa da Requiem, which was the first production staged in Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s new Glasshouse Theatre in March this year. (It featured QB’s dancers and was a big get for Gil-Ortega.)

Also on the Strings program is Goyo Montero’s Chacona from 2003, in which Gil-Ortega danced decades ago (the two are compatriots who hail from Spain). Romanian choreographer Edward Clug’s Chamber Minds opens the QB triple bill. Choreographed in 2015, it was commissioned by Spuck, who was then Artistic Director of Ballett Zürich, for a triple bill called, yes, Strings. (The Seventh Blue was also on that...