Australia Dancing - Stretton, Ross (1952

Stretton, Ross (1952 - 2005)

McFarlane, Jim: Portrait of Ross Stretton, 1996

Ross Stretton, born in Canberra, began his dance training as a tap dancer. He was twice national champion before taking up ballet at the age of seventeen. He trained in Canberra with Janet Karin and Bryan Lawrence before joining the Australian Ballet School in 1971. In his first year at the Australian Ballet School he was awarded the Nureyev Bursary and as he began his second year he received the Harold Holt Memorial Scholarship. He joined the Australian Ballet in 1973 and was promoted to soloist in 1974 and principal in 1978. With the Australian Ballet he danced leading roles in the company's classical repertoire including Swan Lake, Giselle, La Fille mal gardee, Spartacus and Onegin.

In 1979 Stretton left Australia to pursue a career in the United States. He joined New York's Joffrey Ballet in 1979, then American Ballet Theatre (ABT) for the 1981-1982 season. In between these engagements he also danced briefly with Northern Ballet Theatre in Manchester. In 1983 he was appointed principal with ABT and during that time also toured during the summer months with Mikhail Baryshnikov's company, Baryshnikov & Co. Stretton retired from dancing in 1990 and acted as assistant to the directors of ABT. In 1991 he was appointed the company's regisseur and in 1993 assistant director.

Stretton became the sixth artistic director of the Australian Ballet in 1997. He chose three words to encapsulate his vision for the Australian Ballet: creativity, energy, passion. Under his direction the company's repertoire was expanded to include a range of contemporary ballets, including new commissions from James Kudelka and Twyla Tharp and works from the existing oeuvre of Tharp, William Forsythe and Jiri Kylian. Natalie Weir was appointed the company's third resident choreographer and the Australian Ballet engaged in a number of collaborations with other theatrical organisations and companies including the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Bangarra Dance Theatre. One of the most notable work to emerge from these cross-company collaborations was Rites choreographed in 1997 by Stephen Page for dancers from both the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Under Stretton the company also produced its first full-length ballet with a commissioned score - 1914 with music by Graeme Koehne and choreography by Stephen Baynes. Stretton's directorship was also distinguished by a tour to New York in 1999 when the company presented five previously unseen Australian works.

After four and a half years at the helm of the Australian Ballet Stretton accepted an appointment as artistic director of the Royal Ballet, London. He took up that position in September 2001 and held it until September 2002 when he returned to live in Melbourne where he died in June 2005. At the 2005 Australian Dance Awards Stretton was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Research Materials

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Find more about Stretton, Ross in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia
Collection - OzLife