Edouard Borovansky 1902-1959

Writing in 1947, Allan Aldous singled out the popularity of ballet, and the Borovansky company in particular, as a phenomenon unparalleled in other Australian performing arts: ‘The extreme popularity of ballet is one of the most gratifying things in Australian theatre. In a country which prides itself on its rugged philistinism, the success of such an aesthetic form is at first sight difficult to understand. Perhaps it is due partly to the fact that the homegrowing product eschews the pathological vagaries which are such an unhealthy characteristic of most ballet abroad...’

The Borovansky Ballet’s repertoire was, by today’s standards, unadventurous: mainly colourful, large-scale, popular pieces, very much in the commercially successful Diaghilev–de Basil tradition. Audiences responded warmly – for Australians, ‘Borovansky’ and ‘ballet’ became inextricably linked. Over the years, highlights of the repertoire included Laurel Martyn’s Sigrid (first presented by Borovansky in 1940), Petrouchka (1951), the complete Sleeping Princess (1952), Massine’s Symphonie Fantastique (1954), Cranko’s Pineapple Poll (1954) and, from Lichine, a full-length Nutcracker (1955) and the specially-commissioned Corrida (1956). Borovansky himself explored Australian themes for three original ballets, Terra Australis (1946), The Black Swan (1949) and The Outlaw, a 1951 retelling of the Ned Kelly saga – proving that Borovansky had become, in his own words, ‘a dinkum bloody Aussie’.

The Borovansky Ballet achieved increased status when four principal artists of the Royal Ballet participated as guest artists for the 1957 season: Margot Fonteyn, Michael Somes, Rowena Jackson and Bryan Ashbridge. But it is for the local talent that he nurtured that Borovansky must be remembered. The roll call is too long to list in its entirety, but a representative sample must include dancers John Auld, Laurence Bishop, Edna Busse, Max Collis, Helen Ffrance, Elaine Fifield, Kathleen Gorham, Paul Hammond, Strelsa Heckelman, Marilyn Jones, Phyllis Kennedy, Eve King, Barry Kitcher, Charles Lisner, Tom Merrifield, Bruce Morrow, Audrey Nicholls, Robert Pomie, Martin Rubinstein, Peggy Sager, Frank Salter, Graham Smith, Dorothy Stevenson, Eileen Tasker, Raymond Trickett, Vassilie Trunoff, Garth Welch; stage director William Akers; musical directors Kurt Herweg, Verdon Williams, Dudley Simpson and Noel Smith; and designers William Constable and Elaine Haxton.

Having seen his ballet company become an integral part of Australian cultural life, Borovansky turned his attention to the Trust’s Elizabethan Opera Company, which he decided was badly run. He discussed with William Akers how it could be reorganised, but on 18 December 1959, just seven days after the start of a major season at the Empire Theatre in Sydney, he died suddenly. He was 57. The news was broken to the dancers before the performance, and at its conclusion the company and the audience stood for two silent minutes in tribute to ‘the father of Australian ballet’. There was no heir apparent: Xenia Borovansky survived her husband, but her interest was in teaching, not choreography and administration; she died in 1985.