Australia Dancing - Petrouchka

Petrouchka

Stringer, Walter: Alan Alder in make-up for 'Petrouchka', the Australian Ballet, 1970

Petrouchka premiered in Paris at the Chatelet Theatre on 13 June 1911. The work was created for Diaghilev's Ballet Russe and the opening night featured Vaslav Nijinsky as Petrouchka, Tamara Karsarvina as the Ballerina, Alexandre Orlov as the Blackamoor and Enrico Cecchetti as the Showman. It was danced to a score by Igor Stravinsky, its choreography was by Michel Fokine and it was designed by Alexandre Benois. Stravinsky and Benois were responsible for the libretto.

The first performance of Petrouchka in Australia was produced by Louise Lightfoot for the First Australian Ballet. Lightfoot choreographed her version (called Petrouschka on the program) without ever having seen the Fokine original or any other version. It featured Trafford Whitelock as Petrouchka, Moya Beaver as the Ballerina and Mischa Burlakov as the Blackamoor. It was presented on 18 and 20 July 1936 at the Conservatorium of Music, Sydney.

A few months afterwards, on 14 November 1936, the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, on tour in Australia, opened its production of Petrouchka in Melbourne. Helene Kirsova starred as the Ballerina, Leon Woizikowsky as Petrouchka and Thadee Slavinsky as the Blackamoor. Between 1936 and 1940 the work was performed over 70 times in Australia by three touring Russian Ballet companies, the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, the Covent Garden Russian Ballet and the Original Ballet Russe.

In 1951 Edouard Borovansky staged his production of Petrouchka for his Borovansky Ballet. It opened on 6 April in Sydney at the Empire Theatre with Peggy Sager as the Ballerina, Charles Boyd as the Blackamoor and Miro Zloch, replacing an injured Martin Rubinstein, as Petrouchka. The production featured designs by William Constable.

Since the Borovansky Ballet production Petrouchka has been staged by several major Australian companies. It entered the repertoire of the Australian Ballet in 1970, opening in Sydney at Her Majesty's Theatre on 24 April with Alan Alder as Petrouchka, Kathleen Geldard as the Ballerina and Garth Welch as the Blackamoor. It was staged by Ballet Victoria in 1976 with Galina and Valery Panov and Garth Welch dancing the leading roles. And a new interpretation of the work was commissioned of Leigh Warren by Australian Dance Theatre in 1992. With designs by Meredith Russell, it premiered in Adelaide in April 1993 and was danced by Warren's newly constituted company, Leigh Warren and Dancers. In 2004 Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard will premiere her new version for NDT1 in The Hague.

Footage by Ewan Murray-Will of the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet performing Petrouchka is available on line at the australianscreen site Murray-Will, Ewan: Ballets Russes: Petrouchka: Carnaval: Aurora's Wedding: Home Movie Clip 1: Petrouchka

Research Materials

Other resources

Find more about Petrouchka in:

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