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 History of the Australian Ballet Building a National Ballet The Australian Ballet debuted as the nation's first, government subsidised, professional ballet company in 1962. In the spirit of pioneers such as Edouard Borovansky, who helped lay the foundations for dance in Australia, the company has grown to become a national icon of world-class status. This Performing Arts Museum exhibition celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Australian Ballet, acknowledging the company's contribution to the development of dance and artistic endeavour in this country. The exhibition explores the scope of The Australian Ballet's repertoire, which includes popular nineteenth century classics, alongside contemporary Australian and international works. This repertoire continues to fulfil the vision set out by founding artistic director Peggy van Praagh. In 1998, the archive established by Peggy van Praagh
to document the work of the company was officially donated to the Performing
Arts Museum, the Arts Centre. As The Australian Ballet Collection,
this material is now preserved as part of the nation's heritage and is
a permanent source of inspiration to present and future generations of
dance enthusiasts. Despite Australia's geographic isolation from Europe, local audiences have been exposed to international touring companies featuring ballet, opera and theatre since the mid-nineteenth century. Of particular influence for dance were visits by the Imperial Russian Ballet in 1913, Anna Pavlova's company in the 1920s and the companies of the Ballets Russes in the 1930s. Performances by these companies left a lasting impression on audiences and many of the dancers chose to remain in Australia. Among those who stayed were Helene Kirsova in Sydney, Kira Bousloff in Perth and Edouard Borovansky in Melbourne, each of whom made attempts at establishing Australia's first professional ballet company. The Borovansky Ballet began as a Melbourne-based ballet school in 1939. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the company toured nationally under the management of J.C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. When Borovansky died suddenly in 1959, London-born Peggy van Praagh took over as artistic director for the company's final season. Van Praagh had danced with the Ballet Rambert before joining the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1941, initially as a dancer, later becoming assistant director. Encouraged by the extent of public support for ballet in Australia, Peggy van Praagh continued the campaign to secure government funding for the art form. With the demise of the Borovansky Ballet, she left Australia in early 1961 and then returned in June 1962 when a government grant enabled The Australian Ballet to be established. With her, Peggy van Praagh brought back from Europe some
of Australia's leading dancers with the promise of regular, paid employment.
Three months were then spent conducting nationwide auditions for members
of The Australian Ballet's very first company. |