Andrews, Shirley (1915 - 2001)

Dorian: Portrait of Shirley Andrews, 1947

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Shirley Andrews was born and educated in Melbourne and by profession was a biochemist. By inclination she was a social activist and throughout her life fought strongly for the rights of Indigenous Australians.

Andrews also had a lifelong interest in dance. She took classes from Edouard Borovansky, was an extra during the last Ballets Russes tour to Australia in 1939-1940 and appeared in early performances by the Borovansky Ballet. She learnt folk and national dancing as part of her training with Borovansky and folk dancing became her abiding interest. Traditional Australian social dancing became her area of expertise. In the 1950s she was a member of the Unity Dance Group and worked on the production of Reedy River, which was the first attempt to use Australian folk dance and music in the theatre.

Andrews began researching, collecting and reviving Australian traditional social dances, which resulted in the publication of her first book Take Your Partners (1974). Her second book, written as a Bicentennial project in conjunction with Peter Ellis, was Two Hundred Dancing Years and How to Celebrate Them with a Colonial Ball (1988). In conjunction with Lucy Stockdale she also produced a four volume set of instructional videos and booklets, How Australia Danced Last Century.

Andrews conducted workshops throughout Australia based on the results of her research and was active in many folk dance organistions. She was chairperson of the first National Folk Festival.

For more about Shirley Andrews' contribution to Australian life see Jennifer Clark, 'Shirley Andrews: Adding a personal note to history', National Library of Australia News, August 2004.

See also: Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Borovansky Ballet ; Borovansky, Edouard ; National Folk Festival, The ; Walker, Margaret

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Research Materials

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• Music - MusicAustralia
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• Collection - OzLife
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• Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection