Tweedie, Valrene (ballet dancer & teacher), 1925-2008

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Dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. Valrene Tweedie was born in Sydney in 1925 and received her early dance training with Mischa Burlakov, Louise Lightfoot and Leon Kellaway. Tweedie commenced with the First Australian Ballet and the Polish Australian Ballet, and was the only Australian dancer to audition successfully for the Ballets Russes companies that visited Australia from 1936 to 1940. At 14 she auditioned for Colonel de Basil in Sydney, and in 1940 joined his Original Ballet Russe. As Irina Lavrova, she danced with the company in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. She left Australia with the Original Ballet Russe in 1940, and over the succeeding years danced extensively in North and South America with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Ballet Theatre. Tweedie returned to Australia in 1952, and in 1953 became third artistic director of the National Theatre Ballet. She choreographed her own works for the company, including Caprice to Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. After the demise of the National Theatre Ballet, she joined the cast of the Cole Porter musical Can-can. She began full-time teaching in 1956 working within the Cecchetti system. She founded Ballet Australia to encourage the creation of new Australian choreography. Tweedie retired from full-time teaching in 1985, but returned to the stage in 1992 as Clara the Elder in the premiere season of Graeme Murphy's Nutcracker for the Australian Ballet. Tweedie also appeared in later revivals of the work, and was cast by Stephen Baynes in Requiem, 2001, for the Australian Ballet. Tweedie died in Sydney in 2008. Link to catalogue record.

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