Natalie Weir on Four Last Songs

“Four Last Songs has been on my bucket list for a while… It looks at a couple in their last days, and they're looking back on their life through four seasons… What I loved about it is they look back, there're highs, there're lows, there're joys, there’re sorrows, but they look at their life and they're happy with what they had.

“I have I had a long history over time with Queensland Ballet, so it’s a very precious company for me… my first ballet ever was with Queensland Ballet. I started choreographing when I was just 18, so it has been my career, but it has also been my passion.

“To work with the dancers is the most important thing for me and I always think that my choreography is a bit like an intimate conversation with the dancers where I’m not telling them what to do, I’m making suggestions, I’m giving them imagery… it’s like a conversation backwards and forwards and between us, we come and grow into a whole ballet.

“I have such admiration for them. They are so beautiful, they’re so creative. They’re not afraid to try things, they take on board the imagery that I present and they're also very organic and obviously extremely strong technically, but they also are able to give such touching, intimate performances.

“I think that’s important to note, that this ballet – my name is on it but it’s the sum of a whole. It’s not just me, without the dancers – there would be nothing.”

– Natalie Weir