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The Press

 

'Another gem was Alice Topps’ Little Atlas. A trio for Dimity Azoury, Jarryd Madden and Jake Mangakahia it had an appealing freshness that subtly catches the imagination. It is intricate and, at times, acrobatic but without brashness and accompanied by Ludovico Einaudi’s memorable music.' - Maggie Foyer, SeeingDance

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'A volatile work of metaphorical and symbolic monsters manifesting as devastatingly topical pressures and crises, Logos is dark and vital contemporary ballet.' - Brigitte Knight, Danz

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'Logos is the climax of the program and a staggering moment where we remember the beauty of dance, for how we can feel the proximity of beauty even in the sad moments.' - Dance Australia

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'Paragon re-introduces the heavyweights of Australian ballet to a delighted audience. It has power, passion and emotional resonance. It marks The Australian Ballet’s 60th anniversary with grace and style.' - Alex First, The Blurb

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'Paragon also gave the audience a remarkable look at Topp as a choreographer. It showed her working with a vocabulary that is clearly one of contemporary ballet, pushing boundaries, and thinking outside the square when it comes to what ballet can present in a narrative sense. Within it all was a beautiful tribute to the history of the Australian Ballet.' - Michelle Potter

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'Celebrating 60 years of the Australian Ballet, resident choreographer Alice Topp creates a  thrilling scrapbook – a Paragon - of vignettes with current and past star dancers.' - Martin Portus, Stage Whispers

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'Open Heart Story unfolds as a series of duets, trios and quartets. Featuring a costume for the female dancer that is a roadmap of arteries, the opening duet is emotionally haunting, and was exquisitely performed.'- Kim Balfour, Seesaw

 

'The second half of the bill is Paragon, another new work by Alice Topp. Her contribution to last year’s triple bill, Instruments of Dance, was confirmation the ballet’s resident choreographer is a vital voice in Australian dance today.'- Brisbane Times

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'Deeply powerful, Aurum is a showcase in strength and balance, of the true lengths our bodies can go when given the chance.....Underscored by intermingled violin and piano pieces by my favourite composer, Ludovico Einaudi, Aurum is wholly beautiful and quite moving.' - Emma Maguire, The Wellingtonista

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'Annealing..... is visually spectacular, danced on a set of imposing glass panels with the dancers clothed in silver and gold. At one point the full ensemble of 50 dancers assembled on stage, decked in magnificent golden robes which they swished about; I felt I’d been transported to some exotic, futuristic feudal society. There were also lyrical duets and solos interspersed throughout.' - Chantal Nguyen, backtrack.com

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'Topp’s piece Annealing has 50 dancers mastering some of the most diverse steps yet seen from Australian Ballet’s Resident Choreographer. Annealingis a brilliant melding of collective order and individual creativity.' - Paris Wages, classicmelbourne.com.au

 

'Topp has a remarkable grasp of theatrical effects, most evident in the group work that makes up Annealing’s central section. That purity of aesthetic – invoking the retro-futurism of Apple TV’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation – would press the piece into the ethereal if it weren’t for Topp’s earthy sensualism. Gender is malleable here too, with some stunning non-binary flourishes from Elijah Trevitt.' - Tim Byrne, Time Out, Australia.

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'The most interesting piece is Aurum,

choreographed in 2018 by Alice Topp, an

AB dancer who has been moving up the

creative ladder in the past few years.' - Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald

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'Alice Topp struck choreographic gold

with her new dancework Aurum when it was showered with critical praise at its Melbourne

premiere last year, and won an award named for Rudolf Nureyev.' - Matthew Westwood, The Australian

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'... Alice Topp is a choreographer in the making. Her star is about to rise further, if new work Aurum is any

guide.' - Stephanie Glickman, Herald Sun

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'She [Topp] is now a rising star and Logos represents another step in cementing her place as a very fine

choreographer.' - Susan Bendall, Dance Australia

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Alice Topp

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Alice's video reels can be viewed here.

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Born and raised in Bendigo, Alice started dancing at the age of four. After two years dancing with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, she joined The Australian Ballet as a dancer in 2007, where her choreographic identity first emerged. Her first work, Trace, was created for The Australian Ballet’s 2010 season of its choreographic showcase ‘Bodytorque’. Between 2011 and 2014, Alice would go on to create three more works for Bodytorque, refining her craft and gaining the attention of critics and company directors alike. In 2016, Alice choreographed the critically acclaimed work Little Atlas, which appeared on The Australian Ballet’s mainstage 'Symphony in C’ program in 2016 and 2017.

In 2018, Alice created her first mainstage one act work Aurum, which was created with the support of a Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance. It premiered as part of the company’s ‘Verve’ program and went on to its international debut the following year at New York’s leading contemporary dance venue, The Joyce Theater.

 

In September 2018, Alice was appointed one of The Australian Ballet’s Resident Choreographers. In 2019, she was invited to spend a month with Studio Wayne McGregor in the United Kingdom, creating a piece for The Grange Festival. The duet she created on the company, Clay, went on to form the basis for a larger work titled Logos for The Australian Ballet’s 2020 ‘Volt’ program, which included two works by McGregor.

 

Since retiring as a dancer after 14 years with The Australian Ballet, Alice has gone on to create Annealing for the company’s ‘Instruments of Dance’ program in 2022 and Solstice for Dance X. In the same year, she restaged Aurum with The Royal New Zealand Ballet and created a new work for their digital season, Absence of Light. 2023 saw Alice premiere Open Heart Story for West Australian Ballet’s season at The Quarry as part of Perth Festival, restage Logos for the Royal NZ Ballet and create a new work for Singapore Ballet titled After Happy Ever, all whilst continuing to progress the company she founded with longtime collaborator Jon Buswell, Project Animo.

 

Alice has been nominated for a Green Room Award (Little Atlas, 2017) and for three Australian Dance Awards (Aurum, 2018, Same Vein, 2014, Trace, 2010). In 2019, Aurum saw Alice and her creative team win the Helpmann Award for Best Ballet, and a nomination for an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. She has been invited to create works for Houston Ballet II (Lighthouse, 2018), Queensland Ballet (Warm Tears, 2017) and several music videos for celebrated Australian musicians.

 

Most recently, Alice premiered an hour-long commission to celebrate The Australian Ballet’s 60th Anniversary, titled Paragon, as part of their Identity season. The piece premiered at the Sydney Opera House in May this year. In the same year, as part of the company’s anniversary season, they toured to The Royal Opera House in the UK where they performed Little Atlas as part of their celebratory gala.

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In November, 2023, Singapore Ballet premiered Alice's latest creation, After Happy Ever.

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www.projectanimo.com.au

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@atopps

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