Australia Dancing - Baynes, Stephen (1956

Baynes, Stephen (1956 - )

Lynkushka, Angela: Stephen Baynes rehearsing 'Beyond Bach' with dancers of the Australian Ballet, 1995

Adelaide-born Stephen Baynes received his early dance training with Joanna Priest, who encouraged him to choreograph and who nurtured his interest in music and theatre. From Priest's school he was accepted into the Australian Ballet School and he subsequently joined the Australian Ballet in 1976. He left the company in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984 worked with Stuttgart Ballet where he danced in Stuttgart's extensive John Cranko repertoire. In Stuttgart he also worked with leading choreographers, including Kenneth MacMillan, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian and John Neumeier, and took part in the choreographic workshops that were part of the Stuttgart Ballet's activities. He returned to the Australian Ballet in 1985 and was promoted to soloist in 1992.

While Joanna Priest and Peggy van Praagh had both encouraged Baynes to consider choreography, his choreographic talents first came to public attention in 1986. In that year, when the Australian Ballet was under the direction of Maina Gielgud, Baynes created Strauss Songs for an Australian Ballet choreographic workshop. His first commissioned work for the company was Catalyst, which premiered in 1990, which toured to London in 1992 and the United States in 1990 and 1994, and which was staged for the Royal Danish Ballet in the late 1990s. Baynes was appointed resident choreographer at the Australian Ballet in 1995. He made his highly successful Beyond Bach for the company in that year.

Baynes' choreographic talents were also nurtured by Ross Stretton during his tenure as artistic director of the Australian Ballet. Under Stretton Baynes created At the edge of night in 1997, which premiered at the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts. He also made his first full length work, 1914, under Stretton's directorship. Based on the novel Fly Away Peter by David Malouf, and set to a commissioned score by Graeme Koehne, 1914 featured Lisa Bolte and Steven Heathcote in the leading roles. It premiered at the Sydney Opera House on 7 April 1998. Baynes was awarded an Australian Dance Award for outstanding choreographic achievement that year. For the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival he made Personal Best.

Under the directorship of David McAllister, Baynes continues to work as resident choreographer with the Australian Ballet. In 2003 he made Molto Vivace. This work, with costume design by Anna French, set design by Richard Roberts and lighting by Rachel Burke, was danced to music by Handel and premiered at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, on 28 August 2003. Molto vivace won two 2004 Green Room Awards - the Betty Pounder Award for original choreography and the award for best setting/lighting/costume. For 2004 the Australian Ballet commissioned a triple bill program, Southern Lights, composed entirely of works by Baynes. Southern Lights opened in Canberra on 21 May and comprised Imaginary Masque, a work for eight dancers to music by Ravel, Unspoken Dialogues, a duet for Steven Heathcote and Justine Summers to music by Schnittke, and El Tango a work for ten dancers to music by Piazzolla. Baynes created a new Raymonda for the flagship company in 2006. In 2007, his commissioned piece, Constant Variants, was a work for eight dancers, set to Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. In 2008, he collaborated with composer Richard Mills to create Night Path for 'Interplay', a program that paired renowned choreographers with Australian composers to create three world premieres with new musical scores.

In addition to works made for the Australian Ballet, Baynes has created works for La Scala Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, West Australian Ballet, the Queensland Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and New York City Ballet's Diamond Project.

Bibliography:

Edited extracts from Baynes' oral history interview for the National Library of Australia, and a list of his choreography to 1996 is in Michelle Potter, A Passion for Dance (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1997), pp. 1-13

Research Materials

Oral history | Picture | All

Other resources

Find more about Baynes, Stephen in:

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