Australia Dancing - Walsh, Christine (1954

Walsh, Christine (1954 - )

Stringer, Walter: Christine Walsh as Aurora in 'The Sleeping Beauty', the Australian Ballet, 1984

Christine Walsh was born in Sydney where she received her early dance training with Lorraine Norton. She continued her training at the Australian Ballet School, joining the company in 1972 and being promoted to soloist in 1975.

In 1976, Walsh left the Australian Ballet to study with Madame Besobrasova in Monte Carlo. She then joined Roland Petit's Ballet National de Marseilles in which she danced principal roles in Carmen and Coppelia. In 1978 she rejoined the Australian Ballet and was promoted to principal artist. Returning to Europe in 1980, she danced with the Nantes Opera Ballet as well as performing other guest engagements. In 1984 she again rejoined the Australian Ballet, dancing as principal artist until retirement from the stage in 1989.

Throughout her career Walsh danced principal roles in many ballets. At the Australian Ballet these included Swan lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Sylphide, Romeo and Juliet, Onegin, La Fille Mal Gardee, Coppelia, La Bayadere and Don Quixote. She also created roles in Graeme Murphy's Tekton (1978) and Beyond Twelve (1987), and Glen Tetley's Orpheus (1987). Notable international engagements include performing as guest artist for the 40th anniversary of UNESCO in Moscow and as Giselle with the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg. Other performance highlights include dancing the title role of Sleeping Beauty for the Australian Ballet bicentennial gala performance in London, and performing with the Central Ballet of China and the Shenyang Ballet following the Australian Ballet's Japan-China tour in 1987.

Since her retirement from performing, Walsh has, in conjunction with her partner Ricardo Ella, established a classical ballet school, the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet (formerly the Christine Walsh Dance Centre), and the production companies Christine Walsh Enterprises and Onstage Artists. The school uses her own training and assessment program, based on the Vaganova method, which Walsh teaches and examines in Australia, Japan and the Phillipines. Onstage Artists has organised events such as tours to the Phillipines by the Australian Stars of Ballet and the West Australian Ballet, and a Ballet Philippines Australian tour.

In 1991 Walsh was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to ballet.

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