Australia Dancing - Burnett, Adrian

Burnett, Adrian

Busby, Jeff: Miranda Coney and Adrian Burnett in Jiri Kylian's 'Bella Figura', the Australian Ballet, 2000

Born in New Zealand, Adrian Burnett graduated from the Australian Ballet School in 1987 and joined the Australian Ballet in 1988. He was promoted to soloist in 1992 but left Australia the following year to dance with the Basel Ballet in Switzerland. He rejoined the Australian Ballet in 1994 and was promoted to leading soloist in 1996. In 1999 Burnett received the Lissa Black Award and, with added assistance from the Australia Council's emerging artists' scheme, spent time in the United States and Europe studying choreography. He was promoted to senior artist in 2003 and during that year he co-directed, with David McAllister, the Australian Ballet's 40th anniversary program, Beyond Twelve.

Burnett's first choreographic piece was Pitch 'n' Sway created for an Australian Ballet choreographic workshop, New Moves, in 1995. The following year he developed the piece into Motion Pool for the Dancers Company. Since then he has been commissioned by several companies in Australia and overseas, including Houston Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet, the Australian Ballet, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and, notably, West Australian Ballet where his career was nurtured by the then artistic director Ted Brandsen. For West Australian Ballet he created Current Air Freight Issue in 2000 for the odyssey season and In Near Ruins in 2001 for the Terra Incognita season. His Subtle Sequence of Revelation was performed as part of a joint season by the Australian Ballet and West Australian Ballet in 2002.

Burnett was appointed a resident choreographer with the Australian Ballet in 2003. In 2004 he created his first piece for the company as resident choreographer - Aesthetic Arrest to John Adams' Fearful Symmetries.

Research Materials

Oral history | Picture | All

Other resources

Find more about Burnett, Adrian in:

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