Now in its third year, the Bespoke contemporary season continues to challenge boundaries – for Queensland Ballet’s developing and established artists, and audiences alike. 2019’s triple bill extends this further than previously, not only choreographically through its award-winning trio of guests, but also in design: staging, costuming, lighting, sound and multimedia, including cutting edge virtual reality. It provides opportunities for technical and creative expression outside the classical canon, in ways that also ask viewers to reframe the role and range of classical dancers. Odds are you will never have seen QB’s artists work in the way Lucy Guerin, one of Australia’s most lauded choreographers, challenges them to. As is usually the case with mixed bills, people will have favourites, and the bookends by classically-trained choreographers Loughlan Prior and Amy Hollingsworth are more readily accessible and familiar in their core vocabulary.

Loughlan Prior’s The Appearance of Colour. Photograph © David Kelly

Taking its title and score from composer John Metcalfe’s The Appearance of Colour, Prior’s program-opener charts a sharp ascendancy for this emerging talent claimed by both New Zealand and Australia. Made primarily on the eleven Jette Parker Young Artists (augmented by company artist...