Australia Dancing - Welch, Stanton (1969

Welch, Stanton (1969 - )

McFarlane, Jim: Portrait of Stanton Welch, 1995

Stanton Welch began his dance training in 1986 at the relatively late age of 16. He was taught initially at the dance school run by his parents, the renowned Australian dancers Marilyn Jones and Garth Welch. He then spent a year as a scholarship student at San Francisco Ballet School before being accepted into the Australian Ballet in 1989 where he rose to the rank of leading soloist. With the Australian Ballet his solo roles included the Adolescent in Beyond Twelve, Alan Strang in Equus, the Blue Boy in Songs of a Wayfarer, the Man in Four Last Songs, two roles in Return to a Strange Land, Des Grieux in Manon, two roles in The Competition, Camille in The Merry Widow and Lensky in Onegin.

Welch's choreographic abilities surfaced early. He made is first piece, Hades, during the first year of his dance training. It won a collection of eisteddfod prizes, was bought by the Queensland Youth Ballet and was seen and praised by Maina Gielgud, then artistic director of the Australian Ballet. In 1990 he received his first choreographic commission, which resulted in A Time to Dance for the Dancers Company of the Australian Ballet. Of Blessed Memory for the Australian Ballet followed in 1991 and by 1995 Welch had been appointed a resident choreographer with the Australian Ballet. For the Australian Ballet Welch has made more than fifteen works including Corroboree made for the UNited We Dance program to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations charter, Divergence, Red Earth and the full length Cinderella.

Welch unashamedly uses the vocabulary of classical ballet in his choreography and, in addition to works made for the Australian Ballet, has made new works for several companies in other parts of the world. They include American Ballet Theatre (Clear 2001 and two one-act ballets as part of Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison 2002), Atlanta Ballet (A Dance in the Garden of Mirth 2000 and Wild Life - previously called Corroboree - 2001), Birmingham Royal Ballet (Powder 1998), Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Houston Ballet (Indigo 1999 and Bruiser 2000), Royal Danish Ballet (Onsket 1998 and Ander 1999), Texas Ballet Theater, Tulsa Ballet and San Francisco Ballet (Maninyas 1996, Taiko 1999 and Tutu 2003). His first evening-length work, Madame Butterfly, originally made for the Australian Ballet in 1995, has been staged by a number of other companies including Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Singapore Dance Theatre and Royal New Zealand Ballet. He has also worked in Moscow with Nina Ananiashvili and principals of the Bolshoi Ballet creating, notably, Green in 2000.

Following a short period of time as artistic associate with BalletMet Columbus, Ohio, Welch was appointed artistic director of Houston Ballet and took up his appointment in 2003. In May 2003 he created the second act of the full-length Hereafter for American Ballet Theatre. Welch worked on Hereafter in collaboration with Natalie Weir, who created the choreography for the first act. Welch's most recent work for the Australian Ballet was Velocity. Made on 9 female and 9 male dancers, and with designs by Kandis Cook, music by Michael Torke and lighting by Francis Croese, Velocity premiered in Melbourne on 28 August 2003. The cast for the premiere performance was led by Kirsty Martin and Damien Welch.

In February 2004 Welch staged Divergence for Houston Ballet and in March 2004 premiered his three act Tales of Texas with a commissioned score by Matthew Pierce and designs for the third act, 'Pecos', by Kristian Fredrikson. In 2005 Welch will create a new Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet.

Bibliography:

Edited extracts from Welch's oral history interview for the National Library of Australia, and a list of his choreography from 1990 to 1997, have been published as 'Boundless dreams' in Michelle Potter, A Passion for Dance (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1997), pp. 135-143.

Research Materials

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Find more about Welch, Stanton in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia
Collection - OzLife