In any field, what cements enduring success and stature is consistency. Queensland Ballet has been on an upward trajectory since Li Cunxin’s artistic directorship commenced in 2013, and it has now become a dance company that audiences can count on to reliably deliver high quality each season in traditional or contemporary programs. Of course, tastes may differ as to individual works, but the standard of the dancing across the ranks and presentation have become uniformly first-class. For audiences, it is readily filling the void left by the Australian Ballet’s infrequent Brisbane visits.

Li has forged that calibre by setting diverse and interesting programming, from classics to commissions, which have challenged his company to step up across the board. Hot on the heels of the smouldering world premiere Dangerous Liaisons – which relied as much on dramatic storytelling ability as sex appeal – comes another season leaving nowhere to hide, for vastly different reasons.

Queensland Ballet in Serenade. Photograph © Darren Thomas

For a start, The Masters Series’ triple bill of contrasting styles eschews set pieces and narratives. Bookending another world first are testing tributes created by choreographic giants of distinctive legacies; their programming together provides not...