The Australian Ballet gave its first
performance on 2 November 1962 at Her
Majesty's Theatre, Sydney. The company
was led by principal artists Kathleen
Gorham, Marilyn Jones, Garth Welch and
Caj Selling and the opening night production
was a full length
Swan Lake with guest stars
Sonia Arova and Erik Bruhn dancing the
principal roles. Many of the soloists
in that first company were former members
of the Borovansky Ballet, as were Gorham,
Jones and Welch.
Since the company's foundation it has
been directed by Peggy van Praagh (1962-1974)
- a position she shared with Robert Helpmann
between 1965 and 1974; Robert Helpmann
(1975); Anne Woolliams (1976-1977); Peggy
van Praagh (1978); Marilyn Jones (1979-1981);
Marilyn Rowe (1982) as caretaker ballet
director; Maina Gielgud (1983-1996),
Ross Stretton (1997-2001) and David McAllister
(2001-).
The company is a touring repertory company,
a model it inherited from the Borovansky
Ballet and, before it, from the Ballets
Russes companies that toured in Australia
between 1936 and 1940. From the beginning
the Australian Ballet aimed to present
a variety of works to its audiences.
The company's founding documents stated
that the company would stage the great
classics from the nineteenth century,
the most distinguished ballets of the
twentieth century from all countries
in both classical and contemporary styles,
and new works of Australian origin. In
effect the company's repertoire has largely
reflected the background and experiences
of its various directors. The English-ness
of van Praagh, the European background
of Gielgud and the American experiences
of Stretton have all been noticeable,
for example, although each director has
to a greater or lesser degree also encouraged
the development of Australian choreography.
Throughout its history the company has
had five resident choreographers. In
1976 Graeme Murphy rejoined the company
after a period spent dancing overseas.
He rejoined not as a dancer but as the
company's choreographer, although by
the end of 1976 he had left the Australian
Ballet to take on the direction of Sydney
Dance Company. In 1995 Maina Gielgud
appointed Stanton Welch and Stephen Baynes
as resident choreographers. Both have
choreographed a number of works for the
company since their appointment. In 2000
Ross Stretton gave a similar appointment
to Natalie Weir who held her position
until 2001. In 2003 David McAllister
appointed Adrian Burnett as the fifth
resident choreographer in the company's
history. Burnett held his position until
2006, leaving Baynes and Welch as the
continuing resident choreographers.
For a panorama of images showing dancers
of and productions by the Australian
Ballet take the
Picture
Australia Australian Ballet trail.
This trail showcases images from the
National Library of Australia's W. F.
Stringer and Don McMurdo Collections.
The Australian Ballet runs an extensive
community education programme, details
of which are available on the company
website's
'Education' page.
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