Set to the music of Ravel’s Bolero, Shanghai Bolero was created by French choreographer Didier Theron for the World Expo in China in 2010. A triptych of epic proportions, this special piece will be presented in an Australian premiere under the stars amongst the plane trees in the FAC Front Garden. Shanghai Bolero presents three different performances to the complete score on a bare, blank stage. Initially separated by gender, this work brings both male and female dancers together in its final section, which alternates between stillness and movement and brings into question the desire and beauty of the human form. The quality of the still poses towards the end of the work range from Baroque and sublime to flat and disconnected, but the drama of the composition of the group’s stillness, after so much movement, is complete and thrilling.