Seven Days
COMMISSIONED BY the australian ballet
“Stephanie’s revolutionary use of music, pattern and shape is unlike anything our company has performed before.”
Seven Days premiered at
the regent Theatre Melbourne 25 september - 4 october 2025
and at Sydney opera house 7 - 15 November 2025
Following the success of Circle Electric in 2024, Stephanie Lake returned as Resident Choreographer for The Australian Ballet with a striking new world premiere that marks a bold creative departure. Featuring Peter Brikmanis’s reimagining of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and performed by an intimate cast of seven dancers, this work embraces emotional immediacy and razor-sharp precision.
In contrast to Lake’s typically large-scale productions, this performance strips back to focus on the dancers’ physicality and nuanced movement. The Goldberg Aria loops, and seven wildly different versions of the same dance unfold. Sharply lit by long-time collaborator Bosco Shaw and costumed in distinctive designs by Kate Davis, the piece explores the quiet drama of form, rhythm and human connection, delivered with Lake’s signature explosive physicality and wit.
Stephanie Lake on the creation of Seven Days
“It’s really pushed me choreographically. There’s a different dynamic when you collide the forms – my contemporary interests with the dancers’ incredible ballet technique – you’d think they’d be worlds apart when in fact they’re not. They’re all dancers; they all have the same motivation: to express themselves, connect with audiences, to feel something.”
“Entirely unpredictable”