Australia Dancing - Rowell, Kenneth (1920

Rowell, Kenneth (1920 - 1999)

Australian News and Information Bureau: Portrait of Kenneth Rowell, 1947

Born in Melbourne, Kenneth Rowell's career as a visual artist spanned easel painting and theatrical design. He came from a family with wide-ranging interests in the theatre - two of his uncles worked periodically as scenic artists and two of his aunts were dancers. Rowell's first job was as a window dresser in Melbourne and he continued to dress windows for a number of years while investigating various theatrical opportunities, in the first instance in amateur theatre. He made his first stage designs in the 1930s for an amateur production of The Arcadians for the Melbourne Little Theatre in South Yarra.

Rowell began taking dance lessons in the late 1930s and was a student at the Borovansky Ballet Academy in Melbourne from 1940. He danced minor roles in some early Borovansky studio and stage performances in 1940 and 1941, sometimes under the stage name of D. Barrie. He also designed some studio works for Xenia Borovansky, Dorothy Stevenson and Laurel Martyn. For Martyn he made a backcloth for studio performances in August 1941 of Sigrid, as well as a backcloth for Puddlestone-on-sea, a work Martyn choreographed for junior pupils of the Borovansky Academy. For Dorothy Stevenson he made backcloths for two works - Bach Suite in October 1941 and Theme on Preludes by Scriabine in December 1941. For Xenia Borovansky he made a backcloth and costumes for Bees for studio performances in September 1942.

Rowell's first professional engagement as a scenic designer was a commission from Joanna Priest for a ballet called Winter Landscape. With choreography by Priest to music of Sibelius, this work was performed by the South Australian Ballet Club in association with the Adelaide Concert Orchestra. It played for a short season in November 1947. Priest also commissioned Rowell to design The Listeners, which was first performed in Adelaide at the Tivoli Theatre in December 1948 with the Elder String Quartet. It was restaged the next year, 1949, by the Melbourne-based National Theatre Ballet. Other works designed for the National Theatre Ballet in 1949 included Aurora's Wedding, Joyce Graeme's Romantic Suite, and Les Sylphides. Rowell was also commissioned by Ballet Rambert when that company was touring Australia. For Ballet Rambert Rowell designed Walter Gore's Winter Night, which premiered in Melbourne in 1948.

Rowell left Australia for England in 1950 and spent the next few decades in England and Europe with frequent visits back to Australia. In England and Europe he designed works for many dance companies including London Theatre Ballet, Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, Ballet Rambert, Western Theatre Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and Den Norske Ballett. As he had done, and would continue to do, he also worked with diverse range of opera and drama companies.

In Australia he established a close association with the Australian Ballet and designed many works for the company from the 1960s onwards. Those works included Peggy van Praagh's production of Coppelia made originally for the Borovansky Ballet in 1960, the award-winning Giselle of 1965, and The Sleeping Beauty in 1973. In addition he designed John Butler's Threshold and Sebastian, Robert Helpmann's Sun Music, George Balanchine's Ballet Imperial, Frederick Ashton's Birthday Offering, and Timothy Gordon's My Name is Edward Kelly and Symphonic Poem.

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Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
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