Luke Marchant training with Ballet Mistress Megan Connelly. Photography Kate Longley via Australian Ballet
Preparing for Frederick Ashton’s ballet The Dream, male dancers have had to learn the unfamiliar skill of dancing en pointe.
The ballet is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ashton ​choreographed the scenes where the comedic character Bottom is magically transformed into a donkey. The pointe shape with the male legs is designed to evoke the look of a donkey’s hooves.