With its vivid narrative, Valerie Lawson's Dancing Under the Southern Skies goes far beyond what audiences see on stage to reveal what has been behind the red velvet curtain. The lives of the dancers who toured to Australia, among them Anna Pavlova and Margot Fonteyn, and of those who stayed and of those who created companies in Australia are presented in a fascinating mosaic of interviews, letters and personal stories from dancers, directors, producers, impresarios and critics. She also paints portraits of those who influenced Australia culture over nine decades, among them Laurence Olivier, Edouard Borovansky, Peggy van Praagh, Paul Keating and Graeme Murphy, and tells how the nation escaped from cultural dependence on Britain, fell in love with ballet troupes from the Soviet Union, and then watched the birth of the Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre and many other dance companies.

 

Details

ISBN: 9781925588743
Audience: Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 374
Publication Date: 4 Jul 2019
Publisher: Australian Scholarly Publishing
Publication City, Country: Kew, VIC, Australia
Dimensions (cm): 24(H) x 21(L)

 

Author Biography

Valerie Lawson is an author and journalist, former arts editor of the 'Sydney Morning Herald' and foundation editor of that paper's weekend magazine, 'Good Weekend'. She launched her website, dancelines.com.au, in 2011, has written three non-fiction books, 'Connie Sweetheart', 'The Allens Affair' and 'Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P L Travers' and writes freelance articles for the Australian Ballet and international ballet companies that tour to Australia, including the Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet.