Australia Dancing - Edgley International (1920s

Edgley International (1920s - )

Stringer, Walter: Dancer of the Nederlands Dans Theater in 'Carmina Burana', 1972

Website | Research Materials | Other Resources

The theatrical entrepreneurial organisation Edgley International Pty Ltd, known variously as Edgley & Dawe Attractions, Edgley Ventures, Edgley International, and Michael Edgley International, has had a significant impact on Australian dance since the sixties through their touring of foreign, largely Russian, dance companies to Australia.

Eric Edgley and his brother Clem Dawe, born Eric and Clem White, were invited to Australia by J. C. Williamson Ltd. in 1920 to star in the pantomime Sinbad the Sailor at the King's Theatre, Melbourne. The subsequent success of this production saw their families join them in Australia and the establishment of the production company Edgley & Dawe in the mid 1920s. Producing variety shows under the banner 'The Midnight Frolics', the company saw significant early success touring Australia.

Edna Luscombe, who had previously performed in J. C. Williamson pantomimes and musicals, joined Edgley & Dawe in the 1930s as a ballet mistress and 'feed' for the comic duo. In 1940 Edna married Eric, and in 1943 Michael was born.

In the early fifties Edgley and Dawe settled in Perth and took up the lease on His Majesty's Theatre. After the death of Dawe in 1955, Eric and his wife Edna became full time entrepreneurs and theatrical managers. Later purchasing His Majesty's Theatre in 1958. During these early years in Perth Eric Edgley supported the development of local theatre including the first seasons of West Australian Ballet.

Edgley's long-term involvement with Russian dance ensembles began during the early 1960s. An initial buying trip to Moscow in 1960 saw the beginning of a relationship with the Russian Ministry of Culture, which enabled Edgley, under the name Edgley & Dawe Attractions, to import an ensemble from the Bolshoi Ballet in 1962. This 1962 tour presented some of the lesser known dancers of the company - to John Cargher they were 'little more than a group of Russian dancers picked from the middle ranks of the Bolshoi'. The Edgley enterprise was to bring members of the Bolshoi Ballet to Australia regularly over the subsequent decades, with ensembles returning in 1970, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988.

Michael Edgely's involvement in his family's theatrical management business began at the age of 19. In 1967 at the age of 23 Michael Edgley took over management of the company - a position he still holds - following the death of Eric Edgley.

Following on from the Bolshoi Ballet's inaugural performance in Australia the Edgley group presented a series of Russian and Eastern European folk dance ensembles throughout the 1960s, which proved influential in stimulating a revival of European folk dance traditions within Australia with companies such as Dance Concert in Sydney and Kolobok in Melbourne. Folk dance ensembles brought to Australia by the Edgley group included Georgian State Dance Theatre (1963, 1970, 1974, 1990, 1999, 2004), Omsk Siberian Dance Company (1964), Berioska Company of Russia (1966), Mazowsze Dance Company of Poland (1966), and the Moiseyev Dance Company (1968).

Russian classical ballet companies proved a staple for the Edgley group during the 1970s and onwards with Australian tours by Forty Stars of the Russian Ballet (Young Classical Ballet) (1969), Novosobirsk Ballet (1971), Lenningrad Kirov Ballet (1973, 1989), Stars of the Russian Classical Ballet (1973), Baryshnikov & Makarova with Ballet Victoria (1975), Stars of World Ballet (1978), Tchaikovsky Ballet Company (1979), Stars of World Ballet 1979, The Siberian Cossacks (1976, 1988), Russian Dance Company of Moscow (1987), St Petersburg Ballet Theatre (2000, 2004).

The Edgley group has also regularly toured classical and contemporary companies from Europe and America, such as Royal Winnipeg Ballet (1972), Nederlands Dans Theater - Jaap Flier (1972), Ballet Folklorico de Mexico (1972), Scottish Ballet with Dame Margot Fonteyn and Ivan Nagy (1974), Stuttgart Ballet (1974), London Festival Ballet with Rudolf Nureyev (1975, 1977), The Red Army Song and Dance Company (1979), Dance Theatre of Harlem (1980), Nureyev and Friends (1981), Royal Ballet (1988), Rudolf Nureyev Farewell Tour (1991), White Oak Dance Project (1995, 1996), English National Ballet (2001), and Royal Ballet (2002).

Edgley International continues to tour dance companies to Australia, and has broadened its interests from theatrical management to encompass interests in the film industry, sporting teams and venue management.

Bibliography:

John Cargher, 'Edgley & Co.', Opera and ballet in Australia, Stanmore, N.S.W. : Cassell Australia, 1977, pp. 301-310.

Research Materials

Ephemera | Oral history | Picture | Website | All

Other resources

Find more about Edgley International in:

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