Maina Gielgud was artistic director
of the Australian Ballet from 1983 to
1996 and is that company's longest serving
director to date. During the fourteen
years of her directorship she brought
over forty new works into the repertoire,
including works by her mentor Maurice
Bejart, as well as many works by Australian
choreographers. For the Australian Ballet
she staged her own productions of
The Sleeping Beauty (1984)
and
Giselle (1986).
Gielgud's directorship was marked by
the appointment to the company of two
resident choreographers, Stanton Welch
and Stephen Baynes. Both Baynes and Welch
made a number of works for the Australian
Ballet during Gielgud's time with the
company, including
Catalyst (1990) and
Beyond Bach (1995) from
Baynes and
Divergence (1994),
Madame Butterfly (1995),
Corroboree (1995) and
Red Earth (1996) from Welch.
Both choreographers have continued to
be respected creators of new ballets
for the Australian Ballet and for a range
of other companies in Australia and overseas.
Gielgud was also the first Australian
Ballet director to commission a work
from an Indigenous choreographer. Stephen
Page made his first work for the Australian
Ballet,
Alchemy, in 1996 for a Gielgud
all-Australian triple bill program, which
also included works by Welch (
Red Earth) and Meryl Tankard
(
The Deep End).
London-born, Gielgud came to Australia
to direct the flagship company after
a twenty year career as a dancer in Europe
and the United Kingdom. She danced with
a wide range of companies including Maurice
Bejart's Ballet du XXe Siecle, German
Opera Ballet Berlin, London Festival
Ballet and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.
She also visited Australia on several
occasions during her performing career.
In the mid 1970s she danced the lead
in Australian Ballet productions of
The Sleeping Beauty,
La Fille mal gardee and
Romeo and Juliet and also
performed her Bejart-choreographed solo
Forme et ligne (Squeaky Door)
with the company in 1974. In the 1970s
and 1980s she choreographed several of
her own works, including the well known
Steps, Notes and Squeaks
of 1978, which subsequently toured to
Australia. Immediately prior to coming
to Australia as artistic director of
the Australian Ballet she was rehearsal
director for London City Ballet.
Gielgud left the Australian Ballet at
the end of 1996. Following a series of
disputes concerning the management of
the company and its dancers, the board
of the Australian Ballet declined to
renew her contract. After leaving Australia,
Gielgud directed the Royal Danish Ballet
between 1997 and 1999. Following her
departure from Copenhagen she worked
as a freelance director and guest repetiteur
and returned to the stage in 2002 in
a Bejart production,
L'Heure exquise, based on
Samuel Beckett's play
Happy Days. In this production
she was partnered by Martyn Fleming.
In July 2003, at the invitation of Stanton
Welch, she took up the position of artistic
associate at Houston Ballet where until
mid 2005 she advised on artistic issues,
staged productions, and coached the company's
dancers. She has since returned to freelance
work.
In August 2008, Gielgud appeared in
Sydney in the Australian premiere of
L'Heure exquise under the
title
The Exquisite Hour, billed
as her farewell performance as a dancer.
The role created by Martyn Fleming in
2003 was performed by Paul de Masson.
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