MARY DUCHESNE. Sydney City Eisteddfod.

Mary Duchesne (AKA Mary-Frances Doak)
With l5,662 entrants performing in 374 events,
the Victory Eisteddfod had already set a new
world record when it opened on October 21 1946.
Presented by a staff of nine and over a thousand
volunteers, the competition ran for a fortnight with
simultaneous performances in twenty-two halls
across the city.
Venues included Sydney Town Hall, the State Conservatorium, History House, the Royal Empire
Society Hall and the New Theatre. Every day brought exciting new
talent to the platform, but the war gap in training, performance and
dressing was occasionally evident.
Yet, while many entrants in the dancing section wore crepe paper
costumes, adjudicator Christobel Desmazures was adamant that the standard of ballet had not fallen. She had nothing but praise for
dancers and among those she particularly admired was a 14-year-old
Cowra-born schoolgirl called Mary Frances Doak. Despite her lack of
city training, Mary finished the competition with a first, two seconds
and a third. The next year, Mary won a swag of gold medals and by
1950, she had changed her name to Duchesne and was dancing with
Melbourne-based National Theatre Ballet. She quickly graduated to
solo parts and, on many occasions, shared the leading role in the
full-length Swan Lake with blossoming ballerina Marilyn Burr. In 1952,
Mary joined the Borovansky Ballet, and the following year, departed
for London. Over the next seven years, she danced with Ballet
Rambert, the Walter Gore Ballet, Ballet Comique and as Principal
with the London Festival Ballet.
On returning to Australia in 1960, she rejoined the Borovansky
Company for its final season and performed on television. She
enjoyed this diversion, but when The Australian Ballet formed in
1962, she joined as a senior soloist.
In the years that followed, Mary explored every facet of her art as
a teacher, choreographer, director and adjudicator. The career of a
dancer is usually short, but always in demand as a performer, Mary
developed so gracefully as a mature artist that during the 1980’s,
choreographers Graeme Murphy and Barry Moreland both created
works on her for the Sydney Dance Company. In latter years, Mary
continued guesting with The Australian and Western Australian Ballet
Companies; illuminating every role she played with her gracious
presence. She was without doubt a great lady of Australian ballet and
when she died in 1996, the dance world mourned.
Daily Mirror
, 28 October 1946,
Daily Telegraph,
22 & 29 October
1946;
Sydney Morning Herald
28 October, 1946 & Obituary,
25 March 1996;
Who’s Who of Australian Women
(North Ryde:
Methuen, 1982), p.158.

JANET KARIN OAM

http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/674076?c=

RACHEL RAWLINS.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-18/principal-ballerina-rachel-rawlins-resigns/4378146?section=entertainment

Giselle AB 1990 David McAllister Peasant pas de deux 2nd Male variation ...

KATHLEEN GORHAM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Gorham

Giselle AB 1990 David McAllister Peasant pas de deux 1st Male variation ...

LISA PAVANE.

http://www.australianballetschool.com.au/content/aboutus/staff/30.html

EDWARD PASK.

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-an24472871&fullrecord=yes

http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/783713

GARY NORMAN

Gary Norman, Senior Classical Teacher,  Royal Ballet School, UK. Norman trained at The Australian  Ballet School, Norman was taken into The Australian Ballet in 1970 and within two years was promoted to Principal Artist.  He has performed all the leading roles in the major classical ballets as well as creating roles in many new works by international choreographers. Norman has also performed with the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and has appeared as guest Artist with the Hong Kong Ballet and The Philippines Ballet. He was Senior Lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts, and Principal Teacher for many years at The Australian Ballet School moving into the role of  Principal Ballet Master of The Australian Ballet two years prior to moving to London and The Royal Ballet School.

DAVID MCALLISTER.

David McAllister AM

Artistic Director

A graduate of The Australian Ballet School, Perth-born David McAllister joined The Australian Ballet in 1983. He was promoted to Senior Artist in 1986 and to Principal Artist in January 1989. His many principal roles with the company included those in Onegin, Romeo and Juliet, La Fille mal gardée, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, The Sentimental Bloke,Coppélia, Manon, La Sylphide, Sinfonietta andStepping Stones. In 1985 he won a Bronze Medal at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow, which saw him invited to return to the USSR as a guest artist where he made numerous appearances with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Georgian State Ballet and other companies. In 1989 David was guest artist with The National Ballet of Canada, dancing John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet as well as Etudes and The Four Temperaments. He has also been a guest artist with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Singapore Dance Theatre. In London 1992, he took part in the Royal Gala performance of Coppélia in the presence of the Princess of Wales.

David has worked as a guest teacher with The Australian Ballet School, The Dancers Company, the Royal Academy of Dancing, the Cecchetti Society, and the Australian Institute of Classical Dance. In November 2000, he completed a Graduate Diploma in Arts and Entertainment Management at Deakin University. David McAllister danced for the final time in Giselle on 24 March 2001 at the Sydney Opera House and became Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet in July 2001. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2004 Australia Day Honours List and was elected Vice President of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2005.

DANILO RADJOVIC

Dance Reviews : Radojevic Triumph

December 30, 1985|LEWIS SEGAL Los Angeles Times.

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Shortly after Danilo Radojevic became a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, a few angry balletomanes called The Times to insist that a rave review of Radojevic was a mistake--that the diminutive blond virtuoso on stage could have been nobody other than Mikhail Baryshnikov. Rad-jo-who ?

During the Ballet Theatre "Nutcracker" intermission, Saturday afternoon in Shrine Auditorium, you could again hear Baryshnikov being praised for what Radojevic had danced. Small wonder.

DANILO RADOJEVIC

Danilo Radojevic

Associate Artistic Director

Danilo Radojevic, a dancer with a dynamic style and exceptional technical skill, catapulted to international status at the age of 19 when he won the Gold Medal at the 1977 International Ballet Competition in Moscow, the only Australian to win this prestigious award throughout the Moscow competition's long history. Soon after, Danilo left The Australian Ballet to become a Soloist with American Ballet Theatre in New York. He remained with the company for 15 years, visiting his homeland in 1978 and 1979 with Stars of the World Ballet and in 1991 with Rudolf Nureyev's last tour. Danilo was promoted to Principal Dancer of American Ballet Theatre by Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1981 and performed the leading roles in many of the classics, often alternating with Baryshnikov himself. After retiring from dancing, Danilo taught at American Ballet Theatre, New York Dance Studios and leading universities in California, gaining a reputation as an outstanding technical coach. He returned to join the ballet staff of The Australian Ballet in 1997 at the invitation of former Artistic Director Ross Stretton. Danilo was appointed Associate Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet 

Co

DANILO RADOJEVIC

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19830526&id=RH5iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b3cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3641,4372438

DANCERS REVISITED.

http://www.abc.net.au/documentaries/chequerboard/episode5.htm

DALE BAKER.

http://www.australianballetschool.com.au/content/aboutus/staff/22.html

KELVIN COE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_Coe

CHRISTINE HOWARD.

Character/Folkloric

Christine Howard Dip ABS, Grad Dip Ed - Visual & Performing Arts, VGCEDI (Folkloric)*

Christine Howard studied Classical Ballet with Audrey Nicholls and Eve King. She was accepted into The Australian Ballet School in 1969 where she studied Character Dance with Madam Marina Berezowsky AM.
After graduating, she worked extensively under Madam Berezowsky and guest teachers, refining her skills in performance and character dance. Performing regularly with Kolobok Dance Company of Australia in festivals, she was rewarded with Principal Dancer status. Having retired from the stage she commenced teaching for Audrey Nicholls, Eve King and The Victorian College of the Arts.
Ms Howard has choreographed works for The Australian Ballet School for the Winter Arts Program, Morning Melodies and International Workshops. She has been invited to teach over several years at summer schools around Australia, New Zealand and overseas and has been the character teacher for The Australian Ballet School since 1974. Ms Howard has recently completed an International Dance Seminar in Kiev with Professor Sergei Zubatov from the University of Art and Culture (Ukraine - Kiev) and worked with the National Dance Company of Ukraine (Virsky).
Over the past few years, Christine has been invited to perform with The Australian Ballet in ballets such as Anna Karenina, Sleeping Beauty, Manon, Raymonda,Nutcracker – the story of Clara and more recently a featured artist in the ConcordSeason 2009 – Scuola di Ballo.

LEIGH ROWLES.

http://www.bpacdance.org.au/images/stories/leighrowleswebshot.jpg

2012 - Ballet - Leigh Rowles from Australian Ballet - Dip ABS, Grad Dip Ed - Visual & Performing Arts, VGCEBI*

Leigh Rowles danced with The Australian Ballet for 8 years, touring internationally and gaining the privilege of working with many great choreographers and dancers.
She left The Australian Ballet to pursue wider theatrical interests including playing opposite John Waters in the stage play Dracula, together with performing in many music theatre productions, and fulfilling numerous choreographic engagements – The Wizard of Oz, They’re Playing Our Song, and Piaf, for operas Don Giovanni and Faust, and for television series Blue Heelers and Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
Accepting an invitation to become Director of the National Theatre Ballet School, Ms Rowles developed a love of teaching, honing her skills from junior to graduate levels. She also created vast numbers of choreographic works during this time.
Ms Rowles was invited to teach and choreograph at her old home, The Australian Ballet School in 1991.
Working with Director, Marilyn Rowe OBE, the then ‘Junior Associates’ programme evolved into the junior levels of The Australian Ballet School. Ms Rowles also created the ITP (Interstate/International Training Programme) as an adjunct to Levels 1 – 4.
Continuing to seek a creative outlet, Ms Rowles created choreographic works for the School, including Divine Tempest in 1999, Ascension in 2000 and Chopin in 2001. 2002 saw the premiere of her full-length version of Nutcracker, The Gift of a Dream at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, a production that has since toured regional centres across Australia as part of The Dancers Company repertoire, and which was again performed by the School at the Bowl in 2008.
In 2004 Ms Rowles choreographed Ab et Ad performed by Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE, Marilyn Rowe OBE and David McAllister AM for the School’s 40th Anniversary Gala. Continuing her work with the School she has also choreographed The Friends and Grand Trantelle, which debuted at the Arts Centre’s Morning Melodies in Melbourne in 2005 and 2006. These were followed by Batucada and Matya’s Dance, both of which were received by thrilled audiences at the School’s Graduate Exhibition and the Arts Centre’s Morning Melodies series in 2008 and 2009. Ms Rowles was excited to create Overture in 2009 to help celebrate the School’s 45th Anniversary

AUSTRALIAN BALLET COMPANY HISTORY.

http://dancelines.com.au/the-first-decade-snapshots-from-the-early-years-of-the-australian-ballet/

Kathleen Geldard

http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/35285/20120626-0000/www.australiadancing.org/subjects/6901.html

Always enjoyed Kathleen Geldard's performances over the years.  xx