Australian Ballet Company - The Merry Widow ballet

The national ballet company of Australia. Founded in Melbourne in 1962, it grew out of the Borovansky Ballet Company and School founded by Edouard Borovansky in 1942. The British dance teacher, Peggy van Praagh, jointly became its artistic director with Robert Helpmann, and together they created ballets such as Yugen (1965) and Sun Music (1968), based on Australian themes. The company's first international success came with Don Quixote (1970), choreographed by Nureyev. Under Marilyn Jones (1940– ) as artistic director, the staging of full-length ballets on literary themes continued with André Prokovsky's Anna Karenina (1979). The company, though based in Melbourne, tours extensively and is renowned for the athleticism and vitality of its dancers. David McAllister, formerly a dancer with the company, became artistic director in 2001.

The Australian Ballet was founded in 1962.

The ballet's first performance was at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney.

Today the company, based in Melbourne, regularly tours to all the major cities within Australia, with lengthy seasons in Melbourne at the Victorian Arts Centre. When in Brisbane, The Australian Ballet performs at the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

The Australian Ballet works in close cooperation with The Australian Ballet School, of which many of the company’s dancers are graduates. Giving approximately 185 performances a year, The Australian Ballet is one of the busiest ballet companies in the world. The Australian Ballet Company also receives funding from the Australian Federal Government, the Victorian and New South Wales state government bodies, corporate sponsors, private donors and bequestors.

The company's current Artistic Director is David McAllister, who was a Principal Dancer until being appointed artistic head of the organisation in 2001.

The Merry Widow ballet

The Franz Lehár ballet "The Merry Widow" was created by Sir Robert Helpmann and choreographed by Ronald Hynd especially for the Australian Ballet Company. The orchestrations, from operetta score to ballet score, were done by John Lanchbery (then musical director of The Australian Ballet Company) and his colleague Alan Abbot. Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was guesting with the Australian Ballet Company, danced the leading role of Hanna Glawari in 1976.