Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Etham Frome and Of Mice and Men. Not only are they classic novels, they have all been adapted into ballets by award-winning British choreographer Cathy Marston. 

Now, she is creating a new work for Queensland Ballet, based on Miles Franklin’s classic Australian novel My Brilliant Career.

Cathy Marston

Cathy Marston. Photo © Rick Guest & Olivia Pomp

“My parents were both English teachers and I grew up reading lots of books and going to see plays, musicals and so on, not only dance. I loved the storytelling aspect of theatre. For me, dance has always made sense if there is a ‘meaning’ or ‘intention’ behind the movements,” Marston tells Limelight.

“When I was a child doing RAD [Royal Academy of Dance] exams, I would write down my own mini-stories for each exercise, but now I love drawing on works of literature, as well as biographies and myths to create works. I love the emotion that is held in movement, and while it’s possible to create emotional abstract dances, I enjoy the specificity of stories about particular characters, emotions and relationships. For...