Australia Dancing - Vassilkovsky, Kiril (1919

Vassilkovsky, Kiril (1919 - 2008)

Photographer unknown: Portrait of Kiril Vassilkovsky, c.1953

Kiril Vassilkovsky was born Kiril Bernstam in Riga to Russian parents and later took his mother's maiden name 'Vassilkovsky' as his stage name. In 1924 he migrated with his parents to England where he was educated at Dane Court, a boarding school in Kent for 'British gentlemen'. He began his dance training in England at the age of fifteen with Marie Rambert. After two years with Rambert, he took evening classes with Igor Schwezoff who had recently opened a ballet school in London. Schwezoff and Vassilkovsly both successfully auditioned for Colonel de Basil's company in 1939 and came to Australia with de Basil's Original Ballet Russe tour of 1939-1940. In Australia Vassilkovsky danced a wide range of the company repertoire including in the world premiere season of David Lichine's Graduation ball.

At the end of the Russian season in Australia Vassilkovsky left with the company for America and spent the next few years dancing across North and South America. When the company disbanded in 1947 he worked in a number musicals in New York. In the following years he danced across Europe with a variety of ballet companies and also produced extracts from Leonide Massine's Symphonie fantastique for a film The gentlemen of the night. In 1954 he was personal assistant to Bronislava Nijinska who was then working in Paris with the ballet company of the Marquis de Cuevas.

At the end of 1953 Vassilkovsky met Edouard Borovansky in Paris and was invited by Borovansky to come to Australia. Vassilkovsky returned to Australia for the 1954 season of the Borovansky Ballet. He was engaged as a dancer and repetiteur/ballet master. For the Borovansky Ballet he staged Symphonie fantastique and Graduation ball and created an original work for the company, Candide. Candide was set to music by Rossini and had sets by William Constable and costumes by Jean Miotte. It premiered on 2 April 1954 with Vassilie Trunoff and Peggy Sager in the leading roles. As a dancer in the company, Vassilkovsky was particularly renowned as the Drummer Boy in Graduation Ball, the role he had first danced in the Ballets Russes final London season of 1951. His engagement with the Borovansky Ballet lasted until the end of the 1957-1958 season after which he worked in Sydney with Robert Pomie and his company. In Sydney he also produced a number of ballets for ABC Television including a version of Petrushka in which he danced the title role. He also directed and choreographed for the student group the Young Australian Ballet.

Vassilkovsky worked with West Australian Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, teaching and producing several original ballets for the company. One of these, Black or White, had an oriental theme and was possibly the first intercultural ballet created by a Caucasian choreographer and an Indonesian composer. Vassilkovsky regarded it as his best work. While in Perth he again produced a number of ballets for ABC Television including Petrushka, with himself in the lead and Terri Charlesworth as the Ballerina; Nijinska's Baiser de la Fee ('The Fairy's Kiss'); and Candide, with himself in the title role and Margaret Mercer as Cunegonde, the role danced by Kathleen Gorham to his Candide for the Borovansky company. In 1980 he worked with Ken McSwain and the Tasmanian Ballet staging a full program for this company. He also established a ballet school at Busselton and other south eastern regional towns, which required him to drive thousands of kilometres every year. He taught there until his retirement in 1991.

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