Wendy Moyle (1946-)
Ballet scrap books 1958-1968
MSS 0228
Biographical Note
This set of nine ballet scrap books was compiled by Wendy Moyle, a dancer, choreographer and former member of the Australian Ballet. It appears to have been compiled mostly during the years of 1961-1968 although a newspaper article from the 26th April, 1958 appears in one of the scrap books.
In 1961 Wendy was awarded the Cecchetti Scholarship and two years later became a foundation member of the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. Wendy as part of the Australian Ballet danced in the productions of ‘Prince Igor’, ‘Giselle’ and ‘Melbourne Cup’ during 1965 in Adelaide. In 1966 she danced in both ‘Raymonda’ and ‘Giselle’ in Melbourne before going on tour overseas with the company in 1967.
The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd. and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and director Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director.
Contents Listing
Scrap Books I-II
The first two scrap books are dedicated solely to the Australian Ballet overseas tour of 1967. The two books list, on their covers, the countries and cities visited during the six months of touring. New Zealand, Honolulu, Vancouver, Montreal, Kingston, Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, San Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Bogota and Mexico City are all places where they performed. Both books I and II contain newspaper and magazine articles collected from Australia and overseas.
Scrap Books III-IX
These seven scrap books contain a mix of newspaper and glossy magazine articles on local and overseas ballet. There are also letters, programmes, autographs, photographs of Wendy Moyle and other ballet dancers. Many of the articles and items span the dancing career of Wendy Moyle and her contemporaries.
Featured prominently throughout these scrap books are many articles on Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and the South Australian born, Robert Helpmann. Wendy had been in Australian Ballet productions starring both Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Sir Robert Helpmann was the company’s artistic director from 1965-1976 during which time Wendy was in the Australian Ballet’s 1967 overseas tour.
Robert Franchini
19/07/2017
