Australian Ballet

The Australian Ballet is the foremost classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh in 1962 and is today recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies.

History

The roots of The Australian Ballet can be found in the Borovansky Ballet, a company founded in 1940 by the European dancer Edouard Borovansky. Borovansky had been a dancer in the touring ballet company of the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova and, after visiting Australia on tour with the Covent Garden Russian Ballet, he decided to remain in Australia, establishing the country's first ballet school, then later the Baronovsky Australian Ballet. Following his death in 1959, the running of the company was taken over by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh.

Peggy van Praagh had made her professional dance debut in 1933 with Britain's earliest ballet company The Ballet Club, which was founded by Dame Marie Rambert and was the predecessor of today's Rambert Dance Company. She later danced with The London Ballet run by Sir Antony Tudor and in 1941, Dame Ninette de Valois offered her a contract as a dancer and teacher with the Sadler's Wells Ballet, the forerunner of today's Royal Ballet company. During this time she taught extensively throughout Europe, also staging and directing ballets in England, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. After arriving in Australia, she directed the Borovansky Ballet for two years from 1960 to 1961.

In 1962, van Praagh dissolved the Borovansky Ballet, establishing a new company, today's Australian Ballet. She based the structure of the company on London's Royal Ballet, which was the most influential ballet company in the world at that time, however she mainly employed the former dancers of the Borovansky Ballet. The first performance by The Australian Ballet was staged at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney and the company has since become recognised as Australia's national ballet company, building an international reputation. The Principal dancers in The Australian Ballet's first season were Kathleen Gorham, Marilyn Jones and Garth Welch. Van Praagh was also successful in securing the services of the Royal Ballet's Ray Powell, who temporarily became the company's first Ballet Master, with Leon Kellaway, a former dancer with the Covent Garden Russian Ballet, as the company's first ballet teacher. In 1967 to complete her aim of re-creating the structure of the Royal Ballet, van Praagh established the Australian Ballet School, which was formed specially to train dancers for the company and remains the company's associate school to this day.

Today

Today the company is based in Melbourne and regularly tours to all the major cities within Australia, with lengthy seasons in Melbourne at the State Theatre and in Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. For only one week per year, The Australian Ballet performs at the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, and in Adelaide. The company also occasionally tours internationally, and performs annually in an intimate outdoor setting on Hamilton Island^[1].

The Australian Ballet works in close cooperation with the Australian Ballet School, of which many of the company's dancers are graduates. Giving approximately 200 performances a year, The Australian Ballet is the busiest ballet company in the world. With a vast repertoire which includes the major classical and heritage works as well as contemporary productions, it follows its artistic vision of ‘Caring for Tradition, Daring to be Different’. Each year, the company also presents an extensive national education programme, run by Colin Peasley a former Principal Dancer with the company, to further inspire and educate its audiences.

Box office sales, derived from its strong and loyal audience base, are the foundation of the company's income stream. The Australian Ballet Company also receives funding from the Australian, Victorian and New South Wales governments, corporate sponsors, private donors and bequests.

The company's current Artistic Director is David McAllister, who was a Principal Dancer until 2001. The company's previous Artistic Directors were: Ross Stretton (1996-2001); Maina Gielgud (1983–96); Marilyn Jones (1979-82); Anne Woolliams (1976-77); Sir Robert Helpmann (1965-76) and the founding Artistic Director, Dame Peggy van Praagh (1962-74; 1978).

The most recent appointment to the position of Executive Director is Valerie Wilder, succeeding Richard Evans.

Don Quixote

In 1973 the Australian Ballet released a film version of the ballet Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus, starring Rudolf Nureyev as Basilio, Lucette Aldous as Kitri and Sir Robert Helpmann in the title role, along with artists of the Australian Ballet. Set and costumes were designed by Barry Kay. Future artistic director Ross Stretton staged the stage production during his artistic directorship of The Royal Ballet.

The Merry Widow

The ballet The Merry Widow, with music from Franz Lehár's operetta of the same name, was created by Sir Robert Helpmann and choreographed by Ronald Hynd especially for The Australian Ballet. The designer was Desmond Healey. The adaptation from operetta score to ballet score was done by John Lanchbery (then musical director of The Australian Ballet) and his colleague Alan Abbot. The ballet premiered on 13 November 1975 at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne. Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was guesting with The Australian Ballet, danced the leading role of Hanna Glawari in 1976.

The Company ^[2]

Principal Artists

Senior Artists

Soloists

Coryphees

Corps de Ballet

References

External links

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