Australia Dancing - Kooree and the Mists (1960

Kooree and the Mists (1960 - )

Kooree and the Mists was choreographed by Kira Bousloff for West Australian Ballet (at the time the W.A. State Ballet Company) in 1960. It was set to a commissioned score by James Penberthy, as were a number of the company's other Australian themed ballets of the time - The Beach Inspector and the Mermaid (1958), the two-act Fire at Ross’ Farm (1961), after Henry Lawson’s famous poem, and Death of a Kangaroo Paw (1964). Design for Kooree and the Mists was by Michael Page.

The 1960 program, 'A Season of Ballet', contains the following description of the 'story of the ballet':

A young girl comes to a swamp in the evening and sees the white mists rising like spirits. These shapes and airy forms seem like spirits of all that is beautiful and good to the girl. She dances as if aspiring to join in their elevated movements. The mists swirl or float around her. No matter how hard she tries she remains earth bound. She believes that the other baser side of her human nature binds her to the earth. She notices gnarled trees with their roots delving into the slimy mud. Strange grotesque shapes seem to move from the darkness. Their movements easy to follow [sic] and soon she is dancing with the figures the darkness of the night and her mind have conjured. Gradually the monsters take on an evil and menacing nature. When she fully realises that this terrifying manifestation of her own nature is destructive and the imagined creatures become real and terrifying she loses control of her mind and escapes by throwing herself into the dark waters of the swamp. The monsters are now seen no more: only the white mists rising from the surface of the water, up through the still branches of the trees.

Mary Miller, possibly Australia's first indigenous ballet dancer, danced as the Girl, a role described in the program as 'specially created for her with her great sensitivity to the atmosphere and drama created by the music'. The role of the Spirit of the Mist was performed by Gerard Sibbritt.

Research Materials

Manuscript | Printed music | All

Other resources

Find more about Kooree and the Mists in:

Internet - Google
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