WA Ballet presents George Williamson world premiere at Metamorphosis: Ballet at the Quarry for Perth Festival

While George Williamson’s obsession with dance began at an early age, it has always been the choreographic side that appealed to the Englishman most. Trained at vocational boarding school Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham from 13 years old, before moving to London’s English National Ballet School at 16, it was here the Worcestershire-raised Williamson’s focus began to gravitate to the creativity of choreography. “It was always what I wanted to do, so I actually only danced professionally for a few years,” says Williamson, who joined Polish National Ballet upon graduating in 2010. “I’ve just always been connected to ballet and dance and movement through that side of things. It’s always been for me about working and collaborating with, at first my peers and now different dancers who I meet. So it feels to me more natural and instinctive than performing did. It’s a natural fit for me.” Returning to his home base of London, Williamson’s first profession choreographic commission was an interpretation of The Firebird for English National Ballet, performed at London Coliseum in 2012. The rising star of British dance has since become known as a versatile freelance choreographer who moves between making narrative and abstract modern ballets for the stage, winning the Milwaukee Ballet Genesis Competition for his work Wonderers in 2017. It is this piece for six dancers, inspired by the body’s rhythms and percussion, and featuring a punchy pas de deux, which will have its Australian premiere as part of WA Ballet’s Metamorphosis: Ballet at the Quarry season at Quarry Amphitheatre, part of Perth Festival 2024. One of four works on the program, Wonderers will be joined by the world premiere of Extension to Boom that Williamson was commissioned by WA Ballet to create especially for this year’s Quarry season. “A lot of the time as a freelance choreographer, you’re in conversations with directors. Every time you make a new piece you might share that round and it starts a conversation,” the 33-year-old explains. “Then the director of the company (former WA Ballet artistic director Aurelien Scannella) asked me to also make a new piece because they needed something else. It’s a much shorter piece (than Wonderers), so it’s only six minutes. He wanted to add something else to the program, I think to showcase a different element of my choreography, but I think also just to provide a slightly different tone for the evening.” Having arrived in Perth on New Year’s Eve, Williamson has since spent his days with the WA Ballet dancers as they both rehearse Wonderers and create Extension to Boom together, which Williamson reveals is an abstract work for 14 dancers. “It’s called Extension to Boom because of the rolling booms within the music which is a beautiful double piano concerto by a composer called Bryce Dessner that’s very American sounding and has a really fantastic range,” he says. “When I found that piece of music, I just thought, ‘Wow, this is epic.’ I wanted to come to Perth with something that could really showcase my work as a choreographer and not be overly reliant on a theme or story or narrative. “It’s been great for me because I’ve done a lot of narrative work in the last few years, and this has been really refreshing to just get down into movement. “I also think the Quarry suits maybe more of an abstract work, because you can’t really have huge amounts of sets and you’re surrounded by nature. So Extension to Boom is really just a response to this beautiful score and then the booms are kind of the literal booms within the music, but then there are these sparks of creativity or connection between myself and the dancers, or the dancers with one another. It’s like a showcase for them, but also a work that they can really dig into and keep making more individual or bespoke as the time goes on.” Despite Wonderers having already been debuted by Milwaukee Ballet in the US, this will be the first time the heavily lighting-reliant work has been challenged by an outside performance under a moon and starlit sky. “There’s something quite magical about performing in a space like this,” he says. “There’s no set narrative in either of the pieces, so I’d love the audience to take away that kind of visceral attachment to ballet and what it can offer you … it’s more about just showcasing ballet as a fresh and joyful art form.” Completing the program is the Australian premiere of choreographer David Dawson’s Metamorphosis and the main stage debut of In 3 min 40 by WA Ballet principal dancer Gakuro Matsui, created for the company’s 2023 Genesis season. Metamorphosis: Ballet at the Quarry is at Quarry Amphitheatre, City Beach until March 9. Tickets at waballet.com.au.