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Madame Ballet' As Establish a Perth-Based Ballet Company Western Australian Author Ffion Murphy As a Result of Those Who Had Prepared the Ground for Her

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Madame Ballet' As Establish a Perth-Based Ballet Company Western Australian Author Ffion Murphy As a Result of Those Who Had Prepared the Ground for Her Michelle Potter reveals how Bousloff, whose youth had been lived out Russian dancer Kira Bousloff boldly of a suitcase as she travelled the world as a dancer with the Ballets Russescompanies created an environment for dance of Colonel de Basil, decided to remain in to flourish in Western Australia Australia in 1939 at the end of a tour by the Covent Garden Russian Ballet. She recalls When I came to the airport here in little Perth, that decision in an oral history interview at the end of the world, I put my feet on the recorded for the National Library in 1990: ground, I looked around, and I said loudly and strongly 'That's where I'm going to live and I was sitting in my hotel room in Melbourne that's where I'm going to die'. on my own and I had a strong feeling that my father (who had died many years ago) -Kira Bousloff touched my shoulder. It was a physical feeling practically. Then I had suddenly this strong ira Bousloff, or Kira Abricossova as feeling that I had to stay in Australia. So she was known during her early without even thinking twice (of course, you see, Kperforming career, was the founder of I'm a bit queer, eccentric, but that's the truth, the West Australian Ballet, one of Australia's that's what happened) I ran down the stairs and earliest state-based ballet companies-the rang up ... a very good friend and I said, 'I want first, in fact, to call itself a state company. to stay in Australia. How [do] I go about [it]?' Bousloff's first few years in Australia called her. There was a succession of visits with her first husband, Serge, were spent from international stars and companies, in Melbourne. She worked with newly including Anna Pavlova in the 1920s and emerging Australian ballet companies, American modern dance pioneer, Ted Shawn, including the National Theatre Ballet and in the 1940s. Shawn was even inspired to Ballet Guild, and Serge made ballet shoes write a special note in the program for his and danced with the Borovansky Ballet. season of performances and lectures at But by the early 1950s she had moved to Perth's Patch Theatre: Perth with her second husband, composer Perth, due to its unique isolation, is ideally a James Penberthy, and her two children. place where a new dance form, growing out Never one to stand still, after seeing of this continent, using the forms of other talented dancers in the local ballet schools countries and the past as a sort of cultural she decided Perth needed its own ballet 'humus' can be born, nourished until its company. The lack of money, and studio integrity is fully established, and then ray out and professional dancers did not stand in to the rest of Australia and the world. her way. In 1952, as a result of a public meeting called by Bousloff and Penberthy, There were also two determined and a new company called the West Australian inspired women, Linley Wilson and Alison State Ballet emerged. This company gave Lee, who nurtured dance in Western its first season, backed by entrepreneur Eric Australia from the 1920s onwards. Wilson Edgley, in Her Majesty's Theatre in 1953. In established Caravan Ballet, a semi- the program for that season Edgley wrote: professional company that gave senior 'this season will be the dawn of a new era dance students performing experience. in [the] Perth theatre world, for it will mark Lee.gave self-funded solo dance recitals in the premiere of what is hoped to be its own Perth and also danced as Helena Lineva in State Ballet'. Australia with the Original Ballet Russe. Of course there was dance in the west In many respects Bousloff was able to before Kira Bousloff, or 'Madame Ballet' as establish a Perth-based ballet company Western Australian author Ffion Murphy as a result of those who had prepared the ground for her. For example, both 1953 probably was 'the dawn of a new era' Wilson and Lee were teachers in Perth in as Edgley had predicted. the years that preceded Bousloff's arrival, Recent photographic acquisitions by the and their well-trained students formed National Library of works by Perth-based a nucleus of dancers on which Bousloff photographers Ashley de Prazer and Jon could draw for her new company. But Green show just how diverse the state's as a Russian dancer with an impeccable dance culture now is. Although Perth can dance heritage, Bousloff had a certain currently boast two professional companies glamour that mesmerised many. She offering dancers long-term contracts-the also had strong musical support from West Australian Ballet and Buzz Dance Penberthy who, as the West Australian Theatre-much of the dance presently Ballet began to develop, composed many being made in Western Australia, .a.ndin original scores for her choreography, thus most other Australian states, is created by bringing to the fore the tradition of the independent artists or by groups of people Ballets Russes companies of engaging in coming together specifically for individual collaborative associations across artistic projects. The work of de Prazer documents, disciplines. And Bousloff had the nous to for example, the work of Co.loaded, a approach a backer, the theatrically and project-based company established by financially well-connected Eric Edgley, Margrete Helgeby and Stefan Karlsson' as well as the courage, perhaps even to give opportunities to mature dancers, impertinence, to refer to her very young mostly dancers over the age of 35. The and largely inexperienced company as a work of Co.loaded has attracted much state company. public interest both for its spirited support Stories of intuition and fate pepper her of older yet"still vibrant performers, and for interviews: 'I believe in fate: she said. 'I its daring repertoire. believe in intuition, and I believe that every De Prazer has also photographed many one of us is chosen for a certain job.' But of the state's independent artists, often even if she did often highlight, a little too outside the confines of the proscenium ingenuously perhaps, the ease with which arch theatre. His portrait of Olivia Millard she was able to get a ballet company up and Paul O'Sullivan, both independent and running, Kira Bousloff undoubtedly performers, was taken as a promotional created an environment for dance to image for Millard's work, Warning, and was flourish in the west. That first season of shot in the Swan River in 1997. Millard also features in the Library's recent acquisition Jacinta Ross Ehlers, who are technically from Jon Green in shots that highlight accomplished artists with a strong stage striking moments in exceptional individual presence and developed dramatic abilities, performances, capturing Millard's unique rather like their predecessor from the Ballets sense of freedom and balance. Russes. De Prazer and Green have also Since 1985, when a company called produced images of the West Australian 2 Dance was established to introduce Ballet's contemporary repertoire, which modern dance to school children, youth reveal the company's ongoing engagement dance has had a strong profile in Perth. with new choreography and with the The 21st century manifestation of this enterprise of collaboration. This company, company, Buzz Dance Theatre, continues to still active over 40 years after Kira Bousloff operate as 2 Dance did, that is as a dance- was bold enough to suggest that the state in-education group. It focuses on bringing needed a ballet company, can claim an accessible dance to children and young enviable legacy. Through Bousloff, it stands people. Sometimes these works are inspired in a direct line of descent from the Ballets by well known stories or fairy tales, such Russescompanies that visited Australia as Rumplestiltskin and Rabbit (based on between 1936 and 1940. 'Madame Ballet' Alice in Wonderland). But Green has also was one of a number of artists who stayed documented works from Buzz, such as their in Australia following one or other of the recent Beat Routes, that are less inspired Ballets Russestours and went on to make a by narrative than by the more abstract contribution to the development of dance in elements of dance such as rhythm and time. Australia. In the west the diaspora has been The Library's recent acquisitions a fruitful one. documenting dance in the west also highlight the continued growth of the MICHELLEPOTTERisCurator of Dance at the West Australian Ballet. Both de Prazer and National Library and Adjunct Associate Green have produced outstanding images Professor at the Elder Conservatorium, of past and present company dancers such University of Adelaide as Benazir Hussain, Callum Hastie and.
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