Australia Dancing - En Saga (1937

En Saga (1937 - )

Esler, Ronald: Laurel Martyn and Maxwell Collis in 'En Saga', Ballet Guild, 1947

Laurel Martyn first choreographed a version of En Saga to the Sibelius tone poem of the same name in London in 1937. It premiered at a charity matinee and was at first not considered a critical success. In interviews Martyn always recalls that this initial staging was seen by Frederick Ashton who told her she had made 'all the right mistakes'. Martyn reworked En Saga in Australia during her time with the Borovansky Ballet, retaining only the music from her original London version. Her Australian staging premiered in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre on 19 December 1941. The accompanying music was played on two pianos by Winifred McDonnell and Edna Bennet. The original cast comprised:

The Women: Dorothy Stevenson, Jonet Wilkie, Ann MacKintosh, Mara North, Keitha Ross-Munro.
The Men: Laurie Rentoul, Mick O'Neill, George Robinson, Reg Bartram, D. Barrie.

En Saga was performed many times in the ensuing years by the Borovansky Ballet and then by Martyn's own company, Ballet Guild. In some Ballet Guild productions Martyn herself danced the role of the Aggrieved Woman. In 1986 the work was taught by Martyn to students undertaking a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) course at the University of Adelaide as part of the Australian Choreographic Project. At that time it was notated in Labanotation by Cecil Bates.

The Australian En Saga had designs by William Constable although in her own listing of her choreography, published in Brolga, 4 (June 1996), Martyn also credits Norman Bicknell as designer. Set in a non-specific rural scene the work concerns women's attitudes to war. Notes from the program for the inaugural Australian production by the Borovansky Ballet state that the work was inspired by lines from a Finnish poem:

One woman works and waits for the soldiers to return:
Another holds resentment and injustice in her heart;
The end may be reunion or resignation,
But always means the beginning of a new cycle of life.

Martyn's choreography was based on the classical technique but there were many movements derived from character dancing and all the female dancers wore character shoes. Janet Karin danced the role of the Aggrieved Woman, which she inherited from Martyn, Dorothy Stevenson and Ruth Bergner, in a 1962 staging for Ballet Guild. In an article published in 1996 Karin says of that role: 'The Aggrieved Woman hated. She hated war; she hated the effect it had on her life; she hated her man for following the call of duty so blindly; she hated the women who could accept their fate and she hated herself for being so powerless. At the same time she loved desperately - she loved the threatened earth, her labour, her man and living. She was not right nor wrong she was human. With the dreadful frustration of conflicting passion this woman struggled against a life dominated by war'.

Bibliography:

Meg Denton, 'Reviving Lost Works: The Australian Choreographic Project', Brolga 2 (June 1995), pp. 57-67; Janet Karin, 'Laurel Martyn, OBE: A Voyager Ahead of her Time', Brolga 4 (June 1996), pp. 7-17.

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Find more about En Saga in:

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