Polish Australian Ballet (1939 - c. 1952)

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As early as 1939, an ensemble named the Polish-Australian Ballet was presenting performances in Sydney. The dancers were Raisse Kousnetzova, Valeri Shavievsky and Edouard Sobichevsky, all formerly members of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet. The first recorded performance, which included student dancers, was in November 1939, at the New South Wales Conservatorium in Sydney. The program included 'Les Sylphides', divertissements and a new ballet, 'Illusions', by guest artist Thadee Slavinsky, who had toured Australia previously with Anna Pavlova and the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet. The Polish Australian Ballet was more formally established in 1943 by Kouznetsova (as founder) and her Polish compatriots, Shaevsky and Sobichevsky. All three had elected to remain in Australia at the conclusion of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet tour of 1938-1939.

Other dancers who performed with the company included Paul Hendl, George Rajewsky, Peter Francis, Pam Vockler, Peggy Harber, Myrtle Reeve, Ken Croser, June Newstead, Maria Biship, Barbara Taylor, Pat Alison, Diana Barnett, Hazel Farnsworth, Lydia Stewart, Diana Collins, Peggy Blewitt, Marina Petunia, Pat Stormon, Lloyd Waye, Erast Dorochanko, Lois Christiansen, Walter Phillips, Myrtle Reeve, and Irina Milova.

The company gave performances for the Polish Relief Fund and other charities and toured extensively to regional centres in New South Wales. They also appeared as the featured ballet in some musicals and other concerts. The company was renamed the Kousnetzova Ballet, possibly as early as 1952 when it presented the first full-length production of 'Coppelia'. The Kousnetzova Ballet continued to present large scale programs with including Kousnetzova's ballets 'Peter and the Wolf' and 'Les nuits des legumes' in 1955.

See also: Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Kouznetsova, Raisse

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