Guide to the Papers of Peggy van Praagh, 1912-1986

Summary

Collection number:

MS 7223

Creator:

Van Praagh, Peggy, Dame, 1910-1990

Extent:

7.2 metres and (22 boxes + 8 medium folio boxes + 1 small phase box)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Peggy van Praagh, National Library of Australia, MS 7223, [series and file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers provide a record of van Praagh's long and distinguished career as a dancer, teacher, producer and director of ballet. They include personal and business correspondence, diaries, newscuttings, photographs, first night messages, theatre programs, greeting cards, post cards, journal articles, reports and other memorabilia.

Biographical Note:

Margaret (Peggy) van Praagh was born in London in 1910. Her father, Harold John van Praagh, a doctor of Dutch-Jewish descent had established a successful practice in the Hampstead district.

In 1916, while on summer holidays in Paignton, Devon, van Praagh appeared in a children's talent competition. She won first prize and was invited back to appear in the evening performance along with professional actors. In August of 1917, she appeared at the Torquay Pavilion and received her first press notice.

From the age of seven she attended King Alfred School, Hampstead, where she was to complete her formal education and develop her creative talents. She combined her lessons in dancing with private lessons in piano and elocution. On finishing school van Praagh decided to commit herself to a life of dance.

She continued training and in 1930 opened her first dance school. Around this time she began studying with Margaret Craske who introduced her to the Cecchetti Method of dance. She began studying and taking exams and became a qualified teacher of the Cecchetti Method.

In 1933, she was invited by Marie Rambert to join her company, the Ballet Club, (later Ballet Rambert) which at that time was giving Sunday night performances at the small Mercury Theatre in London. The dancers were not paid for these performances and so van Praagh supported herself by teaching ballet to children. She remained with the Ballet Rambert until 1938, and was then a principal with the London Ballet in 1938-1940. In wartime London, ballet had to struggle to survive. London's famous lunch-hour series 'Ballet for a Bob' by the London Ballet was her brainchild.

In 1941 van Praagh joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet. Her most notable roles with the company included Swanilda in Coppelia and the Blue Girl in Les Patineurs. She was also assigned to take company classes as well as private lessons to the principals who at that time included Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann and Moira Shearer.

In 1946 the Sadler's Wells Trust formed a second company known as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. Van Praagh became the company's Ballet Mistress and Producer. In 1951 she was appointed Assistant Director to Ninette de Valois and remained in this capacity until December 1956. During this period the company toured Great Britain, Europe, Rhodesia and South Africa in addition to giving its regular London seasons.

On leaving the company, at the end of 1956, she became a freelance teacher, lecturer and producer of British ballet overseas. She produced Ninette de Valois' The rake's progress in Munich for the Bavarian State Opera Company, Frederick Ashton's Les rendevous for the National Ballet of Canada, The sleeping beauty for the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen and Tudor's Gala performance for the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm.

In 1958 she became Dance Director for the Edinburgh Festival Ballet, which appeared at the Festival in August of that year. In a three week season, twelve new ballets by twelve new companies were produced.

In 1959 she visited the United States of America and taught at Ted Shawn's Jacob Pillow as well as examining and giving master classes in many states.

In December 1959, van Praagh was invited to direct the Borovansky Ballet in Australia and became its Artistic Director in its last two years. She did this with great success, staging Rendevous and the three-act Coppelia. After the final performance, she addressed the audience, and encouraged them to prevail upon the Australian Government to raise money for an Australian Ballet. Harold Holt, then Federal Treasurer, approached van Praagh after the show and pledged his personal support. The Australian Ballet was launched in 1962.

Van Praagh was Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet in 1962-1974 and again in 1978. During this time she led the company on several exceptionally successful overseas tours, expanded the company's repertoire with a series of commissioned works from notable Australians and overseas choreographers, and invited guest artists of the stature of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev to perform with the company.

On leaving the Australian Ballet she maintained an active role in ballet in Australia. She was a founding member of the Australian Association for Dance in Education and one of its chief architects, and she was a member of the Theatre Board of the Australia Council. Dame Peggy van Praagh died in Melbourne in 1990.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

• Sexton, Christopher. Peggy van Praagh, a life of dance. South Melbourne : Macmillan, 1985.

Honours and Awards

Date	Event
1965	The Queen Elizabeth Award - Royal Academy of Dancing, London
1966	Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to ballet
1970	Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to ballet
1970	Encyclopaedia Britannica (Australia) Award for the Arts
1974	Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) University of New England
1975	Distinguished Artist Award from the Australia Council
1981	Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) Melbourne University

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The papers were donated to the National Library in four instalments in 1986, 1995, 1999 and 2001. The original instalment was donated by Peggy van Praagh. The additional instalments were forwarded by the executors of her estate.

Arrangement:

The three instalments have been amalgamated and arranged into fourteen series. Lists which were prepared for the first two instalments have been incorporated into this guide. Where possible the original arrangement of the papers and file titles have been preserved by the Library.

Container List:

Series	File	Box
1	1-6	1
1	7-11	2
2	1-5	3 (folio)
2	6-9	4 (folio)
2	10-12	5 (folio)
3	1-6	6
3	7-12	Drawer 39 (map folio)
4	1-4	7
5	1-3	7
5	4	8 (folio)
5	5-10	9
5	Photographs	10
5	12-14	11 (folio)
5	15-19	12 (folio)
6	1-6	13
6	7-12	14
6	13-15	15 (folio)
6	16-18	16 (folio)
7	1-4	17
8	1-3	17
8	4-10	18
9	1-5	19
9	6-12	20
9	13-19	21
9	20-23	22
10	1-2	22
10	3-9	23
11	1-7	24
11	8	25
12	1-6	25
12	7-13	26
12	14-20	27
13	1-14	28
13	15-25	29
13	26-32	30
14	Printed material	31

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The scores and choreographic notes from Series 13 have been digitised and are available online through this finding aid.

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is available for research.

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 Peggy van Praagh, National Library of Australia, MS 7223, [series and file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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