If too many cooks spoil the broth, the waters of The Australian Ballet’s reimagined Swan Lake are a little muddy.

For the crowning jewel of its 60th anniversary season, the company set out to find a version that was both homegrown and traditional, hoping to set a new benchmark for the future while paying homage to the work’s status as a repertoire mainstay. It is, after all, the ballet with which the fledgling company announced itself to the world back in 1962, and thereafter became the most performed work in the company’s catalogue.

And so they landed on Anne Woolliams’ 1977 version – not seen for 25 years – now reworked under the direction of Artistic Director David Hallberg. But this tidy billing belies a much longer list of credits.

Benedicte Bemet and Joseph Caley in The Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake. Photo © Kate Longley

Woolliams formally choreographed after Petipa and Ivanov, whose most famous passages remain intact, and borrowed heavily from John Cranko’s staging, with whom she worked closely at Stuttgart Ballet. Woolliams, apparently doubting her choreographic skills, also outsourced the foreign dances in Act III to Australian maker Ray Powell.

In...