Guide to the Papers of Harcourt Algeranoff, 1830-1967

Summary

Collection number:

MS 2376

Creator:

Algeranoff, Harcourt, 1903-1967

Extent:

3.78 metres and (27 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Harcourt Algeranoff, National Library of Australia, MS 2376, [series and file/item number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers primarily relate to Algeranoff's employment in various companies and organisations including the Anna Pavlova Company, Ballets Russes, International Ballet, Australian Children's Theatre, Carl Rosa Opera Company, Borovansky Ballet, Australian Ballet and the North West Victoria Ballet Society. There is also family, personal, business and financial correspondence; family papers; diaries; lectures and articles; financial papers; cuttings and cutting books; photographs; programs; publications; and material relating to writings by Algeranoff including his ballet For love or money and his memoirs My years with Pavlova.

Biographical Note:

Harcourt Algernon Leighton Essex was born in London on 18 April 1903, the son of Thomas Richard Essex (1865-1916) and Alice Kendall (1863-1939). He attended dance classes during his youth and in 1921 joined Anna Pavlova's dance company. Essex adopted the Russianised name Algeranoff at this time.

Algeranoff toured North America (1921-1925), Asia (1922, 1928-1929), Europe (1925) and South Africa (1926) with Pavlova's company. He partnered Pavlova at Covent Garden in Russian Dance and Oriental Impressions, and in Don Quixote at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Algeranoff toured Australia with Pavlova in 1926 and 1929, touring mainland state capitals, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg. Algeranoff described his experiences in his memoirs My years with Pavlova (Melbourne: Heinemann, 1957). In the 1920s Algeranoff studied Japanese dancing with Matsumoto Koshiro VII in Tokyo at the Fujima School, later adding to his repertoire of Japanese dances with Yasoya Kineya in Los Angeles. He also studied Indian dancing with Uday Shankar, having partnered the Indian dancer Menaka in Bombay.

After Pavlova's death, Algeranoff danced with the Dandré-Levitoff Company (which visited Australia in 1934), the Markova-Dolin Ballet (1936) and the Ballets Russes (1933-1934 and 1937-1942). From 1938-1940 he toured Australia with the Ballets Russes, his roles including the Astrologer (Le Coq d'Or) and Pierrot (Carnaval). In 1943 he joined the International Ballet and was commissioned to write and choreograph the ballet For love or money for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

In April 1945 he married the French dancer Claudie Leonard in Glamorgan, Wales, and in 1953 accompanied her to Australia, where she appeared as prima ballerina with the Borovansky Ballet. Algeranoff used his early years in Australia to study Aboriginal music and legends and taught at the National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne. In 1955-1956 Algeranoff and Claudie, with New Zealand dancer Ronald Reay, toured Central and Eastern Australia for the Australian Children's Theatre. They performed Stories in dance, based on excerpts from the classical repertoire and traditional Japanese dances.

In 1957 the Algeranoffs and Reay toured Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Dutch New Guinea for three months as the Algeranoff Ballet Group (under the aegis of the Bond van Kunstkringen). Algeranoff and Claudie separated in 1957 and divorced in 1959.

Algeranoff later worked as choreographer with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, as ballet master with the Norwegian Opera Ballet (1957-1959) and in Australia again in 1959 as ballet master with the Borovansky Ballet. Algeranoff also participated in performances of the newly formed Australian Ballet (1962-1963). In 1962 he moved to Mildura as ballet master of the North West Victoria Ballet Society.

Algeranoff was killed in a motor accident on 7 April 1967.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

• Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 13, p. 24-25.
• Harcourt Algeranoff, My years with Pavlova, Melbourne : Heinemann, 1957.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The Algeranoff Papers were donated to the Library by Algeranoff's son, Noel Essex, in 1969 and 1971.

Container List:

Series	File	Box
1	1-8	1
1	9-16	2
1	17-22	3
2	1-2	3
2	3-7	4
3	1-2	4
3	3-10	5
3	11-18	6
3	19-26	7
3	27-33	8
4	1-2	9
5	1-4	9
5	5	10
6	1-6	10
6	7	Folio Box
7	1-4	11
8	1-4	11
8	5-6	12
9	1-3	12
10	1-2	12
11	1-2	13
11	3	Folio Box
11	4	13
12	1-4	13
13	1	13
13	2	14
14	1-7	14
14	8-15	15
14	16	16
15	1-5	16
15	6-11	17
15	12	Folio Box
15	13-14	17
15	15	18
16	1-6	18
17	1-8	19
17	9-16	20
17	17-18	21
18	1-5	21
19	1	21
19	2-7	22
20	1	22
20	2	23
20	Poster from Vol. 2	Folio Box
20	3-5	23
20	6-14	24
20	15-17	25
21	1-4	25
21	5	Folio Box
22	1	25
22	2-5	26
23	1-2	Folio Box
23	3	27
24	1-6	27

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

Selected items from Series 1, Series 3 and Series 6 have been digitised, and are available online through this finding aid and via the Library's catalogue (http://nla.gov.au/catalogue).

Indexed terms

Names:

Algeranoff, Harcourt, 1903-1967

Conditions Governing Access:

Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3008205).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Harcourt Algeranoff, National Library of Australia, MS 2376, [series and file/item number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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