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A Thousand Encores: the Ballets Russes in Australia A Thousand Encores: THE BALLETS RUSSES IN AUSTRALIA A STUDY GUIDE BY KATE RAYNOR http://www.metromagazine.com.au http://www.theeducationshop.com.au A Thousand Encores tells the fascinating and important story of how one of the greatest ballet companies of the twentieth century – the celebrated Ballets Russes – came to Australia and awoke the nation, transforming the cultural landscape of conservative 1930s Australia and leaving a rich legacy that lasts to this day. N 1936, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo stepped off a boat into the Ibright Australian sunlight. With avant- garde music by great composers like Stravinsky, and exotic sets and cos- tumes designed by leading modernist artists, the Ballets Russes was a sensa- tion. Over five years from 1936 to 1940 they came to Australia three times, win- ning the hearts and minds of Australian audiences and ultimately sowing the Curriculum links seeds for Australian ballet today. A Thousand Encores should be compulsory viewing for all secondary school teachers and A Thousand Encores is brought to life costumes for the ballet Icare fostered students with a genuine interest in the history of Australian art and culture. The Ballets using a rich archival resource. Australia a lifelong involvement with ballet and Russes tours laid the foundations for our own has the largest collection of Ballets theatre, and changed the direction of involvement in ballet as an art form. Indeed, Russes footage in the world and an im- his art. the world-renowned The Australian Ballet pressive photographic record, with the would be impossible to imagine without this most famous pictures taken by a young At the end of their Australian tour in history. In addition, the Ballets Russes offered Australian audiences an entrée to the great Max Dupain. His glamorous shots 1940, a number of Ballets Russes modernist artists of the European avant- transformed the dancers into overnight dancers chose not to return to war- garde, and this film is wonderful in the way celebrities. Seeing this material and torn Europe. They established ballet in which it ultimately celebrates all the arts. hearing the vivid recollections of former schools and companies in their new A Thousand Encores has relevance Ballets Russes ballerinas (now in their country, setting the stage for profes- to the following Key Learning Areas: Art 90s) and Australians who witnessed sional ballet in Australia today and (Dance, Music, Theatre, Art and Design), Cultural Studies, History (Australian and the ballets in the 1930s, the excitement igniting a passion for dance in future 1930s–1940s) and SOSE/HSIE. It could also fit and impact of this remarkable company generations of Australians. into themed English units focusing on identity emerges. Despite the conservative (cultural, historical, artistic), character and climate of the time, with the prevailling A Thousand Encores travels from the relationships. focus on sport, rather than high art, past to the present, weaving history Victorian teachers are encouraged to Australians were hungry to experience with a contemporary tale. We follow ac- contact The Australian Ballet for information about their engaging education programs. the best in avant-garde music, dance claimed choreographer Graeme Murphy and art – all that the Ballets Russes as he returns to his old company, The embodied. Seeing the radical sets and Australian Ballet, to breathe new life into costumes of European modernists like perhaps the most famous Ballets Russ- of this classic ballet. The film follows Miró, Picasso and de Chirico inspired a es creation of all, The Firebird. Based the sometimes stormy process from generation of Australia’s greatest artists, on a Russian fairytale, The Firebird was rehearsal through to opening night. The SCREEN EDUCATION including Grace Cossington Smith, first performed in Paris in 1910 to great Australian Ballet, Murphy, Vernon and Jeffrey Smart and Sidney Nolan. Some acclaim. Murphy and his partner Janet the magical Firebird ballet that finally went on to add their own unique talents Vernon are very much aware of the emerges, are all part of a living legacy to Ballets Russes productions. For a weight of history and the huge expec- that goes back to those 1930s Ballets young Nolan, designing the set and tations that greet any new production Russes tours of Australia. 2 ABOVE: THE COVER OF THE HOME MAGAZINE, 1 MARCH 1940, FEATURING TATIANA RIABOUCHINSKA WITH HER HUSBAND DAVID LICHINE. AltHOUGH RIABOUCHINSKA WAS KNOWN FOR HER SPEED AND GRACE, SHE WAS ALSO THE MODEL FOR THE HIPPOPOTAMUS BALLERINA MISS UPANOVA IN THE WAlt DISNEY ANIMATED FILM FANTASIA (1940). PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION MELBOURNE. 1: TAMARA TCHINAROVA AS ZOBEIDE IN SCHEHERAZADE. TCHINAROVA CAME TO AUSTRALIA IN 1936 ON THE FIRST BALLETS RUSSES TOUR, STAYED IN AUSTRALIA AFTER THE END OF THE TOURS AND MARRIED ACTOR, PETER FINCH (© NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA) 2: IGOR YOUSKEVITH AS THE HARLEQUIN IN CARNAVAL IN 1936 OR 1937 (© MAX DUPAIN) 1 DISCUSSION POINTS & ACTIVITIES 2 The main aim of this guide is to present a wide variety of teaching and learning opportunities based on the film, the history of these two fascinating ranging in sophistication and complexity. Teachers are men and their turbulent relationship. encouraged to pick and choose tasks that suit the particular • ‘Stravinsky’s name should be prominent in any account of the interests and abilities of their students and the timeframes legendary Ballets Russes.’ Discuss. within which they are operating – not to work through the • ‘Diaghilev’s true talent was as a guide systematically. Most of the activities target literacy “collector of geniuses”.’ Discuss. outcomes: speaking and listening, reading and writing. There • What can you find out about the are also activities that address film analysis, ICT and creative magazine Diaghilev founded, World of Art? thinking. Some of the statements presented in quotation • In what ways could Diaghilev’s marks are intended to be thought-provoking or controversial Ballets Russes be considered to and can be used in a number of ways: as a focus for embody the principles of ‘total thea- discussion, debate or oral presentations; and as a direction tre’? (Consider Graeme Murphy’s for further research, analysis or creative writing tasks. comments on Firebird’s blend of music and dance: ‘It’s no longer dance or music, it’s something even more communicative and important, The Flaming Stars of the Consult the Resources section at something sublime that arises out Ballets Russes the end of this guide for some pos- of their encounter.’ Murphy speaks sible starting points. of ‘a mosaic of sounds’, where ‘THESE FASCINatiNG PEOPLE FROM THE • Diaghilev and Stravinsky’s relation- the music, the movement and the other SIDE OF THE WORLD.’ – Max Dupain ship was intensely productive on dancers’ bodies form symbiotic an artistic level, but stormy and relationships alongside the other • Compile a list of the key figures tempestuous on a personal level. crucial elements: lighting, sets and in the Ballets Russes. Divide the They died estranged and many costumes.) class into small groups to re- years apart, but, perhaps fittingly, • Nicolette Fraillon, The Australian search one of these figures and they were reunited in death, buried Ballet’s Music Director and Chief present their findings to the class. just metres away from each other Conductor, describes Diaghilev as SCREEN EDUCATION Consider: Sergei Diaghilev, Igor on the island of San Michele in Ven- ‘an incredible force majeure’. What Stravinsky, Michel Fokine, Colonel ice. Stravinsky once said: ‘Diaghilev do you think she means by this? Wassily de Basil, René Blum, Léon and I were on good terms and bad • There were in effect two Ballets Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Léonide terms, in good times and bad times, Russes companies: Diaghilev’s and Massine, George Balanchine, but, after all, he was my brother.’ the later Monte Carlo company of Serge Lifar and Vaslav Nijinsky. Conduct some further research into de Basil and Blum. What continui- 3 1 ties and differences can you trace between these two versions of the troupe? • The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo premiered in Paris in 1932. Why was the company called ‘de Basil’s kin- 1: HOLLYWOOD PUBLICITY SHOT OF IRINA BARONOVA, WHO STARRED dergarten’ prior to this performance IN SEVERAL MOVIES, INCLUDING and what happened afterwards? (De FLORIAN AND A TRAIN OF EVENTS. Basil recruited a number of teenage (© PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION ballerinas for the refashioned com- MELBOURNE) 2: IRINA BARONOVA IN CHOREARTIUM, EITHER 1938 OR 1939 pany and the press were sceptical (© MAX DUPAIN) about this, but the premiere was a 2 huge success.) • ‘The key to understanding the significance of the original Bal- ing of ballet changed since the ‘PEOPLE AFTER SIXTY YEARS STILL REMEM- lets Russes lies in identifying the 1930s and 1940s? Has the audi- BER US AND I THINK that’S A WONDERFUL founding impulse in visual arts and ence for ballet changed? THING to BE VERY PROUD OF. THE BALLETS design – think of Bakst and Benois • The early Ballets Russes dancers RUSSES: WE MADE A COLOSSAL DIFFER- – not primarily in dance.’ Discuss. were predominantly trained in the ENCE.’ – Anna Volkova • Michel Fokine, The Firebird’s cho- style of the Imperial Russian Ballet. reographer, is credited with fusing What does this style emphasise? • Mention is made in the film of the acting and dance, and extending Choose one of the key ballet hardships endured by the dancers the limits of ballet as an art form. training techniques (for example, on tour (‘tours of hell’, to quote Compile a list of his major works Cecchetti, Vaganova method, Nicolette Fraillon): the frantic pace, and achievements. Bournonville School, Balanchine the long hours on trains and the • Who were the Baby Ballerinas and or Royal Academy of Dance), and tremendous dedication required. why were they important to the in bullet points outline its main On the American tours, over a hun- success of the Ballets Russes’ principles and goals.
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