Australia Dancing - Aurora's Wedding

Aurora's Wedding

Shier, Spencer: Irina Baronova and Anton Dolin (centre) with dancers of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet in 'Aurora's Wedding', 1938

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The single-act ballet Aurora's Wedding (Le Mariage d'Aurore) was first presented by Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in Paris in 1922. This was the year following his company's London staging of The Sleeping Princess (Diaghilev's production of Petipa's Sleeping Beauty), the full-length work from which it is largely drawn. While Aurora's Wedding is generally based on the marriage feast in the third act of Sleeping Beauty, different productions have varied in their inclusion of a range of more widely sourced divertissements. A selection of fairy solos from the prologue, such as the 'Finger' variation and Lilac Fairy solo, are frequently included. The Rose Adagio from the first act also appears in many versions, and featured in productions by the Borovansky and Australian Ballet companies in the 1950s and 60s. Other frequently incorporated divertissements – such as the Chinese and Arabian dances - come from The Nutcracker.

The first performance of Aurora's Wedding in Australia was by the visiting Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, on 27 October 1936 in Adelaide. At the premiere, Valentina Blinova and Valentin Froman danced as Princess Aurora and her Prince, with Helene Kirsova and Roland Guerard as the Bluebirds and Leon Woizikowsky leading the Three Ivans. The company included the work in the opening program of its Melbourne season, which took place during a heatwave, when the performance of 28 November became renowned for Kirsova collapsing on stage during the Bluebird divertissement. She was carried off by Guerard, and Nina Golovina immediately took her place.

Aurora's Wedding also featured strongly in the following two de Basil Ballets Russes tours of 1938-39 and 1939-40, with both companies presenting it in their opening and closing performances. For all Ballets Russes productions in Australia, scenery was by Leon Bakst, with costumes by Alexandre Benois. The opening cast for the Covent Garden Russian Ballet included Irina Baronova as Aurora, Paul Petroff as her Prince, and Tatiana Riabouchinska and Roman Jasinsky in the Bluebird pas de deux. During this tour, Alexandra Denisova also performed as Aurora. The performances by the Original Ballet Russe featured Tamara Toumanova as Aurora, partnered by Paul Petroff, with Tatiana Riabouchinska and Roman Jasinsky as the Bluebirds.

The first Australian staging of Aurora's Wedding was by the First Australian Ballet during the war years following the Ballets Russes tours. In 1949 the National Theatre Ballet then performed the work in their debut. This production, with design by Kenneth Rowell, was staged by Joyce Graeme, who performed as Aurora, with Rex Reid as her Prince, Bruce Morrow leading the Three Ivans and Maxwell Collis and June Wood as the Bluebirds. Lynne Golding was promoted to the rank of Ballerina after her debut as a Bluebird with this company in Perth late in 1950.

In 1951, Miro Zloch staged his version for the Borovansky Ballet, with decor and costumes by William Constable. This production premiered in Sydney in May and was a prelude to the company's staging of the full length Sleeping Princess just months later in December 1951. On opening night of the Borovansky Ballet's production of Aurora's Wedding Peggy Sager and Charles Boyd danced the leading roles, with Kathleen Gorham and Zloch in the Bluebird pas de deux. During their 1957 Australian tour dancing with the Borovansky Ballet, Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes danced as Princess Aurora and her Prince, with Peggy Sager and Robert Pomie as the Bluebirds.

The first production of the work by the Australian Ballet, staged by Peggy van Praagh with decor by Warwick Armstrong and costumes by Kristian Fredrikson, opened on 14 March 1964. At the premiere, Marilyn Jones and Bryan Lawrence performed the lead roles, with Karl Welander and Kathleen Geldard as the Bluebirds. During the season that year, visiting guest artist Royes Fernandez danced as the Prince, partnering Kathleen Gorham. Visiting Bolshoi artists performed the work in Australia in 1970, and in 1991 the Australian Ballet presented a new version based on Maina Gielgud's 1984 staging of The Sleeping Beauty, with design by Hugh Colman, as part of a 'Tribute to Diaghilev' triple-bill. In the program notes, Gielgud expressed her pleasure at presenting Aurora's Wedding at the Sydney Opera House, which remained at the time unsuitable for her full length Sleeping Beauty that featured in other cities that year. This production of Aurora's Wedding opened with Lisa Pavane and Greg Horsman as Aurora and Prince Florimund, and Anna de Cardi and David McAllister as the Bluebirds. The work is also in the repertoire of the Dancers Company, and was a feature of the Australian Ballet School's 40th Anniversary performance in 2004.

Bibliography:

Edward H. Pask, Enter the Colonies Dancing. A History of Dance in Australia 1835-1940 (Melbourne: OUP, 1979); Edward H. Pask, Ballet in Australia. The Second Act 1940-1980 (Melbourne: OUP, 1982).

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Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
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