I "got in"!
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Australian Ballet School has been inviting reminiscences from former students. We thought we’d join the fun – here is a memory from Margaret Mercer, who was in the very first intake.
In November 1963, when I was ‘16 going on 17,’ and with my teacher Madame Kira Bousloff’s encouragement, I went along to an audition in Perth. The Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, Miss Peggy Van Praagh (before she became a Dame), and Miss Margaret Scott (before she became a Dame), Director-Designate of the about to be established Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, were selecting students for the School. To my surprise, and probably that of a few other people, I "got in". And I have been forever grateful for the opportunity I was given.
I’d arrived in Melbourne two weeks ahead of the 2nd of March, the beginning of the first term of the ABS. Classes were organised at the ABS studios in East Melbourne for the few of us who had arrived. On the first day I was wandering along Albert Street, East Melbourne, looking for 268 Albert Street, the address we’d been given. I noticed a girl about my age walking up and down looking for street numbers so I approached her and together we eventually found our way to the studios, which were in Victoria Parade. That’s how I met Judy Donovan from Brisbane, who I later shared accommodation with, and who remains a good friend to this day, although we live far apart. Judy is now better known as Judith Wright and is a successful and much admired artist.
An evening formal reception was organised for the students, but I didn’t attend. I was not allowed to travel alone at night in Perth so assumed the same rules must apply in Melbourne. Instead I went to Lunar Park with a friend, thereby blotting my copy-book before the year had even officially begun.
Poul Gnatt, a Royal Danish Ballet former principal, who established and directed the (Royal) New Zealand Ballet, was our teacher. He taught Bournonville technique classes based on Hans Beck’s six daily classes, one for each day of the week, and pas de deux classes. He taught us the Flower Festival pas de deux and was a very encouraging and supportive teacher. We were also taught by Leon Kellaway. He too was the kindest of teachers and he walked around with a stick, which he’d only use to gently correct our placement at the barre. Our day was divided into four one-and-a-half hour classes with three dance classes - classical, pointe, pas de deux, character - with Marina Berezowsky - repertoire, "modern" dance which was jazz ballet, choreography, drama classes, music classes and art education classes which were held at the National Gallery.
The Australian Ballet used the same two studios, which must have been a nightmare to schedule when the company was in Melbourne. The boys also went to gym classes at Carlton Baths. We had Betty Pounder and sometimes Robina Beard for the "modern" classes, Sally Gilmour taught us Peter and The Wolf, and Barbara Langley taught us Act 2 Swan Lake.
Cosmopolitan Melbourne was nothing like Perth in any way at all. The cold Melbourne weather was a challenge for many of us and I took to wearing pyjamas under my clothes and coats when out at night so they were warm when I went to bed. In June I joined the crowd outside the Southern Cross Hotel where The Beatles, who were touring Australia, were staying, and they made an appearance on the balcony and waved to us all.
Poul Gnatt had nick-names for us; I was "Mercer-Percer". As students, we were privileged to observe the beautiful, friendly Elaine Fifield who joined us in class as she was returning to the Australian Ballet. And I remember the day her very young children, who were in the building being minded by their grandmother, escaped and raced into the studio to hug their mother who was at the barre. Among the stellar group of students that year were Marilyn Rowe, Carolyn Rappell and Soo Khim Goh from Singapore who founded and directed the Singapore Dance Company. Judy and I moved around a lot, living in Windsor, East St Kilda and two different addresses in Kew and, as Judy has reminded me, we bought and ate Wagon Wheels when we got off the tram at Kew Junction on our way home.
Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and Lupe Serrano were guest artists with the Australian Ballet for a lengthy season at the Palais Theatre and we were cast in very minor roles. I was a page with three others in Swan Lake. We each carried a cushion and walked around the stage with Nureyev following us, and we were terrified we might trip and ruin his entrance. On one occasion the ABC came and filmed Act 3 during the day. We were allowed to sit in the auditorium and watch, and company dancers were the pages. Peggy Van Praagh spoke to the whole company and stressed that on no account could they stop during the filming. However Nureyev was unhappy with the way his solo was going and he strode to the front of the stage. The orchestra had to stop playing and the filming had to stop as Peggy Van Praagh rushed on stage to appease people.
And I also remember the ABC filming us all in the studio, resulting in a documentary, which we all went to the ABC studios in Melbourne to view.
At one stage, in those un-enlightened times, the "girls" were weighed weekly, but this practice did not continue. Performance opportunities at the ABS in those days were rare, however the year concluded with a performance at the iconic, heritage Princess Theatre in Spring Street.
Margaret Mercer went on to dance with the WA Ballet and later became assistant to the Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet School, Dame Margaret Scott. She is a valued writer for ‘Dance Australia’.
The Australian Ballet School students 1964:
Robert Barlow, Helen Beinke, Geraldine Bryant, Gary Cox, Kaye Crawford, Frank Croese, Judy Donovan, Frances Ferguson, Colin Griffith, Gary Hill, Joseph Janusaitis, Garry Kidd, Pamela Meakins, Margaret Mercer, Wendy Moyle, Josephine Mutton, Anthony Old, Carolyn Rappell, Carole Rogers, Marilyn Rowe, Pauline Stead, Inara Svalbe, Susan Thomson, Soo Khim Goh.
The Australian Ballet School is holing a 60th Anniversary Gala Performance on Sunday October at the Regent Theatre.
