Australia Dancing - Ballet Victoria (1967

Ballet Victoria (1967 - 1976)

Stringer, Walter: Pamela Buckman in 'Les Sylphides', Ballet Victoria, 1975

Ballet Victoria was established in 1967. It can, however, trace its beginnings back to 1946 when Laurel Martyn established Ballet Guild at the request of the Melbourne Ballet Club. Ballet Guild became Victorian Ballet Guild in 1959, Victorian Ballet Company in 1963 and by 1967 had changed its name to Ballet Victoria. It continued under Martyn's directorship until 1973 and continued, as had Ballet Guild before it, to encourage new choreography. Martyn herself continued to choreograph original works during this period as did Rex Reid, Arthur Turnbull, Jack Manuel and Poul Gnatt.

In 1973 Garth Welch took over the directorship of Ballet Victoria by which time the company was mounting works by choreographers from across Australia and around the globe. Walter Gore made Rip Tide and staged Simple Symphony in 1974. In the same year Welch produced Images, John Meehan staged his Memory, Gail Ferguson made Per Due and Una Kai presented George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. In 1975 Margaret Scott created Recollections of a Beloved Place, Welch mounted his Ritual and Jonathan Taylor produced two works, Star's End and Listen to the Music. The company also staged Les Sylphides and works by Charles Czarny, and Vassilie Trunoff reproduced a Bournonville-based work Dances from Napoli.

In 1975 Ballet Victoria brought the Russian stars Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov to Australia for a successful season, which included performances of Giselle Act II with Makarova and Baryshnikov in the leading roles. The company followed up in 1976 with a season featuring Galina and Valery Panov. The Panov season, in which a production of Petrouchka was mounted, was a financial disaster and Ballet Victoria lost its state government funding. The company was placed in the hands of a receiver having given its last performance on a tour to New Zealand in July 1976.

Bibliography:

Edward H. Pask, Ballet in Australia. The Second Act 1940-1980 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 158-182.

Research Materials

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Find more about Ballet Victoria in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia