The Australian Ballet Presents PEGGY!, 6/25-7/5

From June 25th to July 5th,The Australian Ballet presents Peggy! - a tribute to the woman who shaped The Australian Ballet: Dame Peggy Van Praagh. On the centenary of Dame Peggy's birth and as The Australian Ballet's 50th anniversary draws closer, Peggy! will dip into the company's history to celebrate the lady, the legend and her ballets with a gala-style programme of highlights from her long and glittering reign. This Melbourne-only season opens at the Arts Centre with Orchestra Victoria. Bookings can be made at australianballet.com.au or 1300 369 741.

The programme will present a series of divertissements choreographed and commissioned by Dame Peggy - including ballet favourites Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle - culminating in a full-length performance of Anthony Tudor's Gala Performance.

Set to a brilliant score by Sergei Prokofiev, Gala Performance satirises ballet's backstage machinations, as three prima ballerinas - each with an ego bigger than the last - try to grand jeté the others from the limelight.

Peggy! will be complemented by The Combined forces of The Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet School in Mark Annear's Birthday Celebration.

Peggy Van Praagh was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970 for services to dance, but in the Australian ballet world she was already reigning queen. A visionary and "one woman dance institution" she laid the very foundations of The Australian Ballet and
nurtured the company to greatness.

English-born van Praagh first stepped onto the ballet stage at the age of six and didn't leave the theatre for the rest of her life. In 1958 she was lured to Australia to take the reins of the Borovansky Ballet, and in 1962 became The Australian Ballet?s founding Artistic Director.

Her vision for the company was dizzying in its scope and ambition. The Australian Ballet, she declared, would present the classics alongside the best contemporary choreographers, designers and composers. It must engage the world's finest dancers, teachers and guests; tour internationally; and establish its own ballet school to train tomorrow's stars. In three short years van Praagh achieved all this and more.

Tireless, determined and formidable, she brought Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn to Australia, orchestrated the company's first international tour (where the number of curtain calls it received in Berlin still holds the world record) and mentored young choreographers like Graeme Murphy.

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