“Matinee Ballet Academy”
Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
May 31, 2026
by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf
Excitement permeated the Vienna State Opera as its auditorium filled for the Ballet Academy’s end-of-the-year performance last Sunday. One could feel the jitters of both the young artists and their families and friends who flocked to the performance. Their worries were unfounded; everything went as smoothly as could be wished.
Music by the Strauss family accompanied the opening Presentation, which assembled students of the 1.- 8. class. Its compilation of polkas, marches, gallops, and ball dances choreographed by the Academy’s director, Patrick Armand, and some ballet teachers showed 
off the progress made with each year of training. The older the students, the more experienced and self-assured they were on stage. They were confident in solos but also worked as a unit in group scenes. I admired the students’ musicality, the calm and ease of their pas de deux, and the brio of the older ones. The jumps and turns of some spunky boys thrilled the audience. Watching the youngest take their place in the crowded stage’s front row was particularly heartwarming.
Presentation was substantial, but, to my surprise, Jorma Elo’s Double Evil, a piece created for the San Francisco Ballet, set an even higher standard. It employed eight of the twelve dancers from the Vienna State Ballet’s Jugendkompanie, for whom Elo revised his original choreography. I found nothing devilish in it but intriguing contrasts. Sharp, pacy scenes (accompanied by Philip Glass’s frenetic, percussion-heavy Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra) alternated with lyrical adagios (set to Vladimir Martinov’s slow, romantic Come In!). The seamless shifts of the tempo and Elo’s shrewd injection of modern movements into the classical vocabulary are tricky. Moreover, the choreography is complex but must look fluid and dynamic. It only works with the right timing.
I know from a conversation with the school management that the matinee was long and meticulously prepared. All young dancers worked hard. Still, the result that the Jugendkompanie achieved in Double Evil by far surpassed everything I’d expect from young dancers. They were completely unbothered by technical demands and visibly relished the dance. Watching them at the curtain call, I saw eight sympathetic, open faces. Each of these young talents will be an asset to a company.
The divertissements of the third act of Arthur Saint-Léon’s Coppélia (which Maina Gielgud and the team of the Academy adjusted to the abilities of the dancers) included students and members of the Jugendkompanie alike. The former contributed various corps dances, the latter performed solo parts.
The students’ czardas was neat in both the solemn and spirited parts, their tableaux in the waltz pleased the eyes, and they gracefully moved through the patterns of the Le Travail variation. Ailey Osaki, rising from their midst, was a graceful L’Aurore whose elegant arms stuck in my mind. The tender lightness of Uta Yamazaki’s La Prière reminded me of Giselle in Act II. (Yamazaki was the only student soloist; she attended the graduation class.) Charlie Keffert and Elisa Anna Murg portrayed the leading couple. Keffert’s Franz was a composed and reliable partner to Murg, for whom the role of Swanilda seemed tailor-made. She was fresh, smart, and simply brilliant.
| Links: | Website of the Vienna State Opera’s Ballet Academy | |
| Website of the Vienna State Opera’s Jugendkompanie | ||
| Photos: | 1. | Students of the Ballet Academy, “Presentation” by Patrick Armand et al., Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 |
| 2. | Students of the Ballet Academy, “Presentation” by Patrick Armand et al., Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 |
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| 3. | Sophie Schippani and Andria Potskhishvili, “Double Evil” by Jorma Elo, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 4. | Oriel Milton and Charlie Keffert, “Double Evil” by Jorma Elo, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 5. | Students of the Ballet Academy, “Coppélia” by Maina Gielgud, Patrick Armand et al. after Arthur Saint-Léon, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 6. | Students of the Ballet Academy, “Coppélia” by Maina Gielgud, Patrick Armand et al. after Arthur Saint-Léon, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 7. | Students of the Ballet Academy, “Coppélia” by Maina Gielgud, Patrick Armand et al. after Arthur Saint-Léon, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 8. | Uta Yamazaki (La Prière), “Coppélia” by Maina Gielgud, Patrick Armand et al. after Arthur Saint-Léon, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| 9. | Charlie Keffert (Franz) and Elisa Anna Murg (Swanilda), “Coppélia” by Maina Gielgud, Patrick Armand et al. after Arthur Saint-Léon, Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera 2026 | |
| all photos © Vienna State Opera/Ashley Taylor | ||
| Editing: | Kayla Kauffman |
