Edouard Borovansky 1902-1959

Algeranoff, William Akers and Paul Grinwis managed the company until J.C. Williamson’s arranged for the distinguished English dancer, teacher and producer Peggy van Praagh to take over as artistic director. She ran the Borovansky Ballet from early 1960 until its final performance at Her Majesty’s in Melbourne on 19 February 1961.

From the stage that night van Praagh pleaded for the formation of a subsidised national ballet company. Fortunately, the Federal Treasurer, Harold Holt, was in the audience and he and H.C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs accepted the challenge. Within months, the Australian Ballet was established under the wing of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, with van Praagh as its first artistic director. The new company debuted at Her Majesty’s in Sydney on 2 November 1962.

Some of Borovansky’s dancers transferred to the new company, some went overseas, and some founded their own companies: Laurel Martyn’s Victorian Ballet Guild evolved into Ballet Victoria, and Charles Lisner’s Brisbane-based company became the Queensland Ballet. Others, like Edna Busse and Kathleen Gorham, taught; Martin Rubinstein became an international dance examiner; Tom Merrifield carved a new life as a noted sculptor; William Constable had an international career designing for stage and screen; William Akers played a pivotal role in the design of the Victorian Arts Centre’s stage facilities; Paul Hammond became the Australian Ballet’s first archivist; Frank Salter wrote Borovansky’s biography; and Barry Kitcher became the unofficial custodian of the dancers’ collective memories. 

Among van Praagh’s successors as artistic director was Marilyn Jones, whose budding career Borovansky had nurtured. In homage she created ‘A Tribute to Borovansky’ – a trio of his most popular ballets, Pineapple Poll, Schéhérazade and Graduation Ball – which was presented by the Australian Ballet in 1980.

Borovansky’s papers and a striking self-portrait are held in the National Library of Australia. In Melbourne, another self-portrait graces the foyer of Her Majesty’s Theatre, for so long the Borovansky Ballet’s home base; and a portrait by John Rowell, together the Borovansky orchestral scores and other memorabilia are in the Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre in Melbourne.

But Borovansky’s real legacy is the love of dance he instilled in several generations of Australians, the theatre people that he nurtured, and the Australian Ballet, the national flagship company that was built on the foundations he so carefully and lovingly constructed.

Frank Van Straten, 2007