Brenan, Jennie (1877 - 1964)

Research Materials | Other Resources

Born in Carlton, Victoria, Jennie Brenan took dancing classes in Melbourne from Mary Weir and Rosalie Phillipini. She went to London in the first years of the twentieth century to continue her studies with Alexander Genee, uncle of Adeline Genee. Brenan made her stage debut as Mimi in the J. C. Williamson show, Trilby, which opened in Bendigo in 1896, and over the next few years appeared in other Williamson shows including the pantomime The Forty Thieves (1898-1899).

Brenan's own stage career was, however, short-lived as she quickly turned her talents to teaching. She opened her first dance studio in Melbourne in 1904 and she and her two sisters taught ballet, ballroom and fancy dancing over the next several decades. The studio supplied dancers to J. C. Williamson musicals for many years. Brenan's pupils included musical comedy stars Dorothy Brunton and Ivy Schilling, and principal artist with the Borovansky Ballet during the 1940s, Martin Rubinstein. One of Brenan's pupils described her in the 1910s as 'a tall, graceful creature with a cloud of dark hair, lovely eyes, long legs like a race horse and elegant ankles'. Over an extended period Jennie Brenan also arranged dances and ballets for Williamson musicals, pantomimes and operettas.

Brenan was deeply involved with the Association for Operatic Dancing (later the Royal Academy of Dancing/Dance) and organised the teaching of the association's syllabus in Australia. Brenan was the first president of the Royal Academy in Australia and was the first overseas representative to be elected to the organisation's grand council.

See also: Borovansky Ballet ; Genee, Adeline ; J. C. Williamson Ltd. ; Rubinstein, Martin ; Schilling, Ivy

---

Research Materials

Ephemera | Oral history | All

---

Other resources

Find more about Brenan, Jennie in:

• Internet - Google