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Dandre-Levitoff Russian Ballet tour   The Dandre-Levitoff Russian Ballet, which toured Australia from late 1934 to early 1935, was directed by Victor Dandre in conjunction with the impresario Alexander Levitoff. Dandre was Anna Pavlova's manager and this new company, formed after her death in 1931, featured a number of dancers from the earlier Pavlova company. The Dandre-Levitoff Ballet was brought to Australia by the J C Williamson organisation, and performed here as the 'Russian Ballet Company' and the 'Russian Classical Ballet'...more...		Olga Spessivtseva   Born in Rostov, Olga Spessivtseva trained at the Imperial Ballet school in St Petersburg, graduating in 1913. Later studying under Ekaterina Vazem and Agrippina Vaganova, she danced with the Maryinsky Theatre as a soloist from 1916 and ballerina from 1918 and was a ballerina with the Ballet de l'Opera, Paris, from 1924 to 1932. She appeared intermittently with the Diaghilev Ballets Russes in the United States, London, Monte Carlo and Paris, notably dancing Princess Aurora in Diaghilev's 1921 landmark production of the Sleeping Princess and creating the title role in Balanchine's La Chatte in 1927...more...
Spartacus   Laszlo Seregi’s Spartacus was the first full-length ballet by a Central-European choreographer to be staged for an Australian company. Choreographed for the Hungarian State Ballet in 1968, it entered the repertoire of the Australian Ballet on October 26, 1978. Seregi came to Melbourne to stage the work, and was accompanied by his assistant Ildiko Kaszas, ballerina of the Hungarian State Ballet, and by the production designer Gabor Forray and costume designer Tivadar Mark...more...		Nina Verchinina   Born in Moscow, Nina Verchinina was raised in Shanghai, where she began her ballet training, and in Paris where she studied with Olga Preobrajenska and Bronislava Nijinska. Her professional career began in 1929 with the company of Ida Rubinstein. In 1933 she joined Colonel Wassily de Basil and Rene Blum's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. While dancing for this company she was frequently cast by Leonide Massine, who created roles on her in his symphonic ballets...more...

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