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Interview with Lucette Aldous, Senior Lecturer in Dance, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and former prima ballerina [sound recording] / interviewer, Michelle Potter
Bib ID 2247010
Format AudioAudio
Author
Aldous, Lucette, 1938-
 
Access Conditions Access open for research, personal copies and public use. 
Description 1999. 
5 digital audio tapes (ca. 272 min.) 
Series

Keep dancing oral history project

Summary

Aldous speaks of her family background and early dance training, her work at the Frances Scully School in Sydney including the influence of her teacher Kathleen Danetree and winning the Frances Scully scholarship. She describes how she went to London to take up a scholarship with the Royal Ballet School, her education there and how she had to lose weight. She speaks about how she auditioned for the Rambert Company, working with Ballet Rambert, the Rambert repertoire, her work with Violette Verdy, how she travelled to China on tour with Ballet Rambert and various roles in London such as the lead in La Sylphide, the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and the Snow Queen in Nutcracker, the Rambert production of Don Quixote, leaving Rambert and joining Festival Ballet; and the repertoire of Festival Ballet. Aldous discusses joining the Royal Ballet, her work with Sir Frederick Ashton & Leonide Massine, her first Swan Lake at Covent Garden, her work with Nureyev and the early plans with Nureyev's production of Don Quixote, how she danced Don Quixote with Nureyev, other roles at the time including Roland Petit's Carmen, the Kniaseff floor technique.

Aldous talks about touring America as a guest artist with the Australian Ballet and how she left the Royal Ballet for the Australian Ballet. She speaks of making the film of Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty at the Sydney Opera House, other productions including Cinderella, John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet, Merry Widow and the film Turning Point. She discusses her decision to have a child, filming Don Quixote, how she prepares for a role, how she gave up performing, her thoughts on teaching and of her own teachers, her studies at the Kirov School and the philosophy behind the Kirov system of training, her reflections on Nureyev, teaching at the VCA, how she set up the dance course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Perth, guest teaching, revisting institutions overseas on long-service leave, the new Kniaseff system, studying at the Royal Danish Ballet and in Paris, Paris point work, preparation of pointe shoes for performance, the challenge of working with all kinds of bodies and her retirement.

Notes

Joint project with the National Sound and Film Archive.

Preservation and user cassette copies made.

Recorded on Feb. 12, 15-16 1999 in Perth, W.A.

Index/Finding Aid Note Summary available (1 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 85 leaves) 
Subjects Aldous, Lucette, - 1938- - Interviews.  |  Australian Ballet.  |  Royal Ballet (Great Britain)  |  Ballet Rambert - History.  |  Ballet dancers - Australia - Interviews.  |  Ballet - Study and teaching - Australia.
Occupation Ballet dancers.  |  Academics.
Other Authors Potter, Michelle, 1944-  |  National Film and Sound Archive (Australia)
Details Collect From
ORAL TRC 3826
Copy: tapes
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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ORAL TRC 3826 (transcript)
Copy: Transcript
Petherick Reading Room (Oral History)
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Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this catalogue contains names and images of deceased people. All users of the catalogue should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written.