AusLeisure

The Australian Ballet (AB) experienced a 12% rise in box office last year, thanks to increased ticket prices and the sale of 15,000 more tickets.

Operating in the tough economic climate, the company maintained its sponsorship and philanthropic income and opted for less expensive productions to contain costs. As a result, the nation's flagship dance group reported a small surplus of $220,131.

According to the company's annual report, published this week, audiences in Melbourne increased by 10% to average 81% across the season, and in Sydney they increased 5% to a 91% average.

AB Executive Director Valerie Wilder believes that the company enjoyed âa really good year" but cited the high cost of staging ballet.

"The theatres are only so big and there's only so much you can charge for a ticket and only so much sponsors will contribute, and yet the expense side is always escalating."

AB's artistic expenditure rose last year by $1 million, up from $9.3 million to $10.2 million.

Unlike drama and contemporary artforms, traditional ballet and opera cannot save on costumes, the set or put just a few performers on to the stage to keep costs down. The spectacle is what people come to see.

Last year's most popular show was a triple bill headlined by a new Graeme Murphy work, Firebird and Other Legends. It was seen by 58,000 people, which made it AB's most popular triple bill in a quarter of a century.

Stanton Welch's The Sleeping Beauty sold out in Sydney and Melbourne.

Swan Lake attracted the largest audiences per performance in its limited season at Burswood in Perth, where for a week it played to an average audience of nearly 6,000 people.

AB's modern dance extravaganza Bodytorque 2.2 attracted the smallest average audiences, but it was only staged in Sydney, at the 880-seat Sydney Theatre, which is dwarfed by the Opera House and Victoria's Arts Centre, where the company's main stage performances are held.

Wilder says AB is on track to post another surplus for the current season.

Image: The Australian Ballet performs The Nutcraker.

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