A graduate of The Australian Ballet School,
Perth-born Madeleine Eastoe joined the company in 1997.
She featured in a variety of works, notably in Tchaikovsky
Pas de Deux, William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Nacho Duato’s Por vos muero
and Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances before receiving her promotion to Soloist in 2000. She has performed in a number
of principal roles with the Company, including those in Don Quixote; Coppélia;, Nutcracker (Murphy); Romeo
and Juliet (Cranko); La Fille mal gardée, La Sylphide; and in Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake.
Madeleine has toured internationally with The Australian Ballet
to China,
Singapore, New Zealand
and the US. On home soil she has worked closely with
Australian choreographers Stephen Baynes, Stanton Welch, Stephen Page, Adrian Burnett and Graeme Murphy. In January 2004 Madeleine
was promoted to Senior Artist.
2005 was a big year for Madeleine,
performing as the opening night Odette on the company’s Swan Lake tour to the UK, as well as dancing the roles of Aurora and the Canari Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty
later in the year.
Madeleine was promoted
to Principal Artist in May 2006 after her debut performance as Giselle in Sydney.
Madeleine has
particularly enjoyed working one-on-one with choreographer Stephen Baynes to create the lead role in 2007’s Constant
Variants, and dancing with guest artists such as Angel Corella in La Fille mal gardée and Cédric Ygnace in Giselle.
Her career highlight so far, however, was dancing Odette on the opening night of Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake in
London, a role she reprised on the company’s 2007 Japan
tour. Madeleine has also toured internationally with The Australian Ballet to China,
Singapore, New Zealand
and the US.
credit:
the Australian Ballet
Awards:
- Madeleine
was nominated for Best Female Dancer in 2007 at the Green Room Awards, for her role as Clara
in Peter Wright's The Nutcracker.
- Madeleine
won the award for Best Female Dancer in 2006 at the Green Room Awards, for her year's
work in 2005.
- Madeleine won the People's Choice Award - a $5000 prize, at
the Telstra Ballet Dancer of the Year presentation in 2006.
- She was also nominated for the Telstra Ballet Dancer
of the Year award in 2006, the second time for this award.
- She was nominated for a Green Room Award in 2005.
- Madeleine
was nominated for 'Best Female Dancer in a Ballet or Dance Work' at the 2004 Helpmann Awards for her role
as Juliet in the classic Romeo and Juliet.
- Madeleine was shortlisted for Outstanding
Performance by a Female Dancer for her role in Swan Lake at the Australian Dance Awards
in 2004.
- Madeleine was nominated for an award in 2003 at the Helpmann Awards.
- She was nominated
for the prestigious Telstra Ballet Dancer Award in 2003.
- Madeleine won bronze at the Genée Competition
in 1996.
Interesting facts:
- Madeleine
was Dancing Times Magazine's Dancer of the Month in October 2005
- She married fellow Australian Ballet dancer - former Senior Artist Timothy Harbour
in December 2004. They welcomed their first child, daughter Ella Sache Eastoe, on 20 April 2009.
- Madeleine's preferred
mode of transport is her bicycle - she rides it to and from work in Melbourne every day!
- Madeleine played
the role of Lori in the 2009 film Mao's Last Dancer, based on the true story of dancer Li Cunxin.
