Guide to the Theatre programmes, ephemera relating to the Ballets Russes in Australasia, 1936-1940

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Summary

Collection number:

Russes

Extent:

212 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use this material should refer to the Ephemera PROMPT collection.

Citation of items from this collection should include references to author's/organisation's name, date, item title, Publisher and place of publication.

Example: J.C. Williamson (Firm). Theatre Royal (Adelaide, S.A.). 1950, Gilbert Sullivan opera season [theatre program] : The gondoliers J. C. Williamson Ltd [Adelaide]

Availability:

Available

Background

Content Summary:

This finding aid lists programs and ephemera which document 1936-1940 Australasian tours of the Ballets Russes, primarily based on material in the National Library of Australia's Performing Arts Programs and Ephemera (PROMPT) collection.

Biographical / Historical:

Ballets Russes is a generic name given to a succession of ballet companies which emerged in Europe after the demise of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1929. These companies were founded and managed by Colonel Wassily de Basil and Rene Blum, either jointly or separately. They continued the Diaghilev tradition performing much of his repertoire and using some dancers from the Diaghilev companies.

During the 1930s and 1940s there were several Ballets Russes companies which toured throughout Europe, the Americas and to Australasia. Three Ballets Russes companies were formed for touring to Australia between 1936 and 1940. Two of these tours, in 1936-1937 and 1938-1939, included New Zealand. J.C. Williamson Theatres Ltd entrepreneured all three Australasian tours.

Audiences in Australia had previously seen a sampling of the Diaghilev tradition through earlier tours by companies built around prominent ballerinas. In 1913, Adeline Genee toured to Australia with members of the Imperial Russian Ballet. Anna Pavlova toured to Australia twice with her own companies in 1926 and 1929.

In 1934, the Dandre-Levitoff Russian Ballet Company toured to Australia, headed by the famous Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtzeva. These companies had strong links to each other, eg. Victor Dandre was Pavlova's Manager. As well, dancers such as Algeranoff came to Australia with Pavlova in 1926 and 1929, and later returned with the Ballets Russes.

The National Library also holds collections of programs for each of these earlier visiting companies.

Names: A Ballet Company by any Other Name?The various companies formed by de Basil and Blum tended to use parts of each other's names, which can lead to confusion.

For the Australasian tours the first company in 1936-1937 was called Colonel W. de Basil's Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, sometimes abbreviated to The Monte Carlo Russian Ballet.

The second company in 1938-1939 was called the Covent Garden Russian Ballet.

For the third company touring in 1939-1940 three names were used: Colonel W. de Basil's Covent Garden Ballet, Colonel W. de Basil's Ballet Company and The Original Ballet Russe. The last name was used from 1940 until the company ceased operating in 1952.

Further details on the companies' lineages are given in various references such as Walker, Pask and Cargher (see Related Materials note).

Arrangement:

The Ballets Russes PROMPT files may requested by eCall-slip for use via the Library's catalogue [https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/]. It is important to note that individual theatre programs and ephemeral items are not listed in the catalogue record. Using the PROMPT collection files is a browsing exercise in which the user may be confronted with a single item in a manila folder or a large number of folders in many boxes.Selected items have been digitised and use of those digital copies helps preserve the printed originals.

The Ballets Russes files in the PROMPT collection are arranged as follows and may be requested by tour:- Ballets Russes: Tour No. 1, 1936-1937- Ballets Russes: Tour No. 2, 1938-1939- Ballets Russes: Tour No. 3, 1939The most complete holdings of cast lists for certain portions of the three tours are held within the bound volumes of the J.C. Williamson segment of the PROMPT Collection. These are referred to in this Finding Aid as "JCW/BS Vol …".Copies should be requested in the following manner, example:PROMPTJCW/BS Volume…. The following search strategies are suggested to maximise discovery of other Ballets Russes material in the Library's catalogue:- Personal names of key personnel involved- Title keywords: Ballet(s) Russe(s), Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, Covent Garden Russian Ballet, Original Ballet Russe, de Basil, de Basil's, J.C. Williamson and Educational Ballets- Subject keywords: Ballet(s) Russe(s), Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, Covent Garden Russian Ballet, Original Ballet Russe, de Basil, de Basil's, J.C. Williamson Firm, Educational Ballets, Ballet Australia History and Ballet companies Australia

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