Australia Dancing - Sydney Festival Ballet (1971

Sydney Festival Ballet (1971 - 1972)

In 1971 ex-Borovansky Ballet dancer William Gill founded and became artistic director of the Sydney Festival Ballet. The company made its debut at the Orpheum Theatre, Sydney, opening on 3 May 1971. The opening season featured guest artists Australian ex-patriot Marilyn Burr and her husband Ivan Nagy, Barbara Chambers and Karl Welander. The inaugural repertory featured a series of divertissements selected from Flower Festival at Genzano, Don Quixote, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker (Act Two).

In 1972 The Sydney Festival Ballet offered its second season, again at the Orpheum Theatre, Sydney, from 26 August to 15 September. The second season also featured international guest artists, with Zsuzsa Kun from the Hungarian State Ballet, Budapest, Georgina Parkinson, Royal Ballet, London, Ivan Nagy and Peter Mallek from the American Ballet Theatre, New York, and Roni Mahler from the Washington National Ballet. Featured Australian dancers were Barbara Chambers, Warren de Maria, Priscila Mould, and Laurence Ruffell.

The 1972 repertory included in program one: Swan Lake (Act Two), excerpts from Le Carnaval, the Balcony Scene pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, Paquita Pas de Deux, and Coppelia (Act Three). Program two featured a two act Giselle.

Bibliography:

Edward H. Pask, Ballet in Australia. The Second Act 1940-1980 (Melbourne: OUP, 1982); ‘Sydney Festival Ballet Company 1972 Season’, Australasian Dance, August 1972, p. 15, 18-19 ; James Kelsey, ‘Sydney Festival Ballet Company’, Australasian Dance, October 1972, p. 5-6 ; James Kelsey, ‘$15,000 loss on Sydney Festival Ballet Season’, Australasian Dance, November 1972, p. 16-17.

Research Materials

Ephemera | Oral history | All

Other resources

Find more about Sydney Festival Ballet in:

Internet - Google
Libraries - Libraries Australia