In Justin Peck’s Copland Dance Episodes, 30 dancers of The Australian Ballet move through 22 episodes to music by legendary American composer Aaron Copland, performed by Orchestra Victoria.

Born in 1900, Copland created a new American classical music idiom earning him the title of “Dean of American Composers”.

The ballet features his orchestral work Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) and excerpts from his ballets Rodeo (1942), Appalachian Spring (1944) and Billy the Kid (1938). All draw heavily on American folk music, and the coming together of these separate compositions feels right.

While the music is from almost a century ago, the ballet vocabulary is contemporary. Peck, currently resident choreographer with the New York City Ballet, is continuing the innovations of American choreographers such as George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Fast, joyous and unrelenting, the dancers kick and flick, slide and point – and sometimes even chill and chat. But the ballet never stops.

The 22 episodes allow space for solos, duos, pas de deux and trios. Many are masterful. The often........

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