The Australian Archives of the Dance (also known as the Australian Dance Archives) is Australia’s oldest specialist dance archive. Established by

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

in 1972, the Archive was transferred to the

Performing Arts Collection The Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne, formerly known as Performing Arts Museum (PAM), is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia, with over 780,000 items relating to the history of circus, danc ...

of the

Melbourne Arts Centre Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a Performing arts center, performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, ...

in 1998.

Collection

The Archives include over 50,000 items covering the breadth of Australia’s dance history, with particular reference to the main Melbourne-based ballet companies: the Borovansky Ballet, the

Victorian Ballet Guild Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

Ballet Victoria Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, the National Theatre Ballet and

. The Archives include costumes, costume elements, costume and set designs, lighting plans, props, business records, correspondence, photographs, albums, scrapbooks, programs, personality files, and newspaper clippings. Material relating to The Australian Ballet within the Archives is largely in the form of personality and, to a lesser extent, performance photographs, programs, and scrapbooks. The personality photographs are notable for their extensive coverage of principal dancers (e.g. Garth Welch,

Kathleen Gorham Kathleen Ann "Kathy" Gorham (7 September 1928 - 30 April 1983) was an Australian ballerina. Early life Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, the second of four children of Marcus Gorham, an Irish-born railway employee, and his English-born wi ...

, Kathleen Geldard,

Kelvin Coe Kelvin Coe OBE (18 September 19469 July 1992) was an Australian ballet dancer and the first male artist to be promoted from the corps de ballet in the Australian Ballet principal dancer. He died of AIDS related illness in 1992. Dancing career ...

) and guest dancers (e.g. Margot Fonteyn and

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

) who performed with the major Australian ballet companies.

Formed Collections

The Archives include a number of subsidiary formed personality collections, donated by their creators, these include: * the Peggy van Praagh Collection * the Joyce Graeme Collection * the

Laurel Martyn Laurel Martyn (; 23 July 1916 – 16 October 2013) was an Australian ballerina.Wassily de Basil Vassily Grigorievich Voskresensky (16 September 1888 – 27 July 1951), usually referred to as Colonel Wassily de Basil, was a Russian ballet impresario. De Basil was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1888 (his year of birth is given alternately as 1 ...

’s

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

companies (1936-1940) * the Australian tours of

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th ...

(1926, 1929)

External links

Collections & Research, the Arts Centre, Melbourne
{{Authority control Archives in Australia Dance in Australia