Carnaval, Le

McMurdo, Don: Lisa Bolte as Columbine and Steven Woodgate as Harlequin in 'Le Carnaval', the Australian Ballet, 1991

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Michel Fokine's ballet Le Carnaval was first seen in Australia in 1934 when it was presented by the touring Dandre-Levitoff Russian Ballet. The production opened on 13 October in Brisbane with Olga Spessivtseva as Columbine and Anatole Vilzak as Harlequin. Carnaval also featured in all three tours to Australia by the Ballets Russes companies. During the first tour by the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet from 1936 to 1937 Helene Kirsova and Igor Youskevitch scored major personal successes as Columbine and Harlequin. Fokine came to Australia to supervise the staging of the work during the second of the tours, that of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet between 1938 and 1939, when Tatiana Riabouchinska and Yura Lazovsky led the cast.

The first production by an Australian company took place in Sydney in 1937 when Moya Beaver and Gordon Hamilton appeared as Columbine and Harlequin with the First Australian Ballet. It was first danced by the Borovansky Ballet in 1945 with Laurel Martyn as Columbine, Edouard Sobishevsky as Harlequin and Edouard Borovansky as Pierrot, a role which Borovansky had also performed in Australia with the Covent Garden Russian Ballet. Martyn later produced the work over many seasons for her Ballet Guild and it was first staged by the Australian Ballet in 1964 when Elaine Fifield danced Columbine, Karl Welander Harlequin and Alan Alder Pierrot. It was revived for the flagship company in 1991 as part of the company's 'Tribute to Diaghilev' program.

Le Carnaval was created by Fokine on members of St Petersburg's Imperial Ballet for a charity ball for the magazine Satyricon. The first performance was held at the Pavlova Hall in St Petersburg on 5 March 1910. The cast was led by Tamara Karsarvina as Columbine and Leonid Leontiev as Harlequin.

See also: Alder, Alan ; Australian Ballet, The ; Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Beaver, Moya ; Borovansky Ballet ; Borovansky, Edouard ; Fifield, Elaine ; First Australian Ballet, The ; Fokine, Michel ; Hamilton, Gordon ; Kirsova, Helene ; Martyn, Laurel ; Riabouchinska, Tatiana ; Youskevitch, Igor

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