Australia Dancing - Vltava (1940

Vltava (1940 - )

Hall, Hugh P.: Borovansky Australian Ballet Company in 'Vltava' [1], 1940

Edouard Borovansky's ballet Vltava premiered at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, on 9 December 1940 as part of the first season of the Borovansky Australian Ballet Company. Danced to the symphonic poem Ma Vlast by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, the work was a meditation on Borovansky's homeland, Czechoslovakia. The leading role of the Spirit of the River was danced by Laurel Martyn and the main male roles of the Hunters were taken by Noel Neville, George Hale, Reg Bartram and Laurie Rentoul. For these early performances the music was played on two pianos by Marjorie Summers and Edna Bennet.

Program notes stated: 'Mr Borovansky, himself a Czech, has endeavoured to express the spirit of the young Czecholslovakia'. Dancers who performed in the original production recall being asked to buy white shorts and shirts for their costumes and suggest that Borovansky was interested in making a political comment about Czechoslovakia, especially in relation to its nationalistic youth movements, with which Borovansky was familiar from a youth spent in Czechoslovakia. They also suggest that the choreography recalled that of Leonide Massine for Choreartium, with which Borovansky would have been familiar from time spent as a member of Colonel de Basil's touring Ballets Russes companies.

Vltava remained in the repertoire of the Borovansky Ballet until at least 1945 when it was toured extensively in New Zealand.

Bibliography:

Michelle Potter, 'Personal gestures: early choreography by Edouard Borovansky', in The Europeans: Emigre Artists in Australia 1930-1960, ed. Roger Butler, (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1997), pp. 25-36.

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