The Australian Ballet is one of the most renowned ballet companies in the world. Chanel has been named as ‘Living Heritage Partner’ and will sponsor the creation of an internal digital asset management (DAM) system for The Australian Ballet archives. A fairytale match made in heaven.
Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Artists of The Australian Ballet in Anne Woolliams’ Swan Lake, circa 1970s. Photography Gregory McCloskey.
Left: Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Juliette Solley, Lucyna Sevitsky and Joanne Endicott backstage, circa 1960s. Photographer unknown.
Right: Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Marilyn Rowe in rehearsals, 1971. Photography Paul Cox
Founded in 1962, the Australian Ballet is the resident ballet company of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre Melbourne and regularly tours major international capitals as a proud Australian cultural ambassador. Now fast approaching its 60th year, the company has deemed it an utmost priority to protect and preserve its remarkable history.
Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Nathan Brook, Imogen Chapman and Andrew Wright in David Bintley’s Faster, 2017. Photography Jeff Busby.
Left: Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Artists of The Australian Ballet in Peggy van Praagh’s Swan Lake, 1962. Photography David Mist.
Right: Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Maria Costello, wardrobe mistress with Borovansky Ballet Company, JC Williamson workrooms, circa 1960s. Photographer unknown.
The French luxury Maison has forever been a long-time supporter of the arts, and ballet in particular - an intimate connection forged a century ago by founder and forever icon, Gabrielle Chanel. Fascinated by innovative experiments, from Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Igor Stravinksy, Pablo Picasso and other leading creative forces of her time, she was a key devotee of contemporary culture.
Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Ann Fraser, Beverley Dean, Heather Macrae, circa 1964. Photography Derek Duparcq.
Gabrielle’s first act of patronage was the Ballets Russes’s revival of The Rite of Spring in 1913 composed by Stravinsky and choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, while also designing the costumes for several ballets, including Le Train Bleu in 1924 by Bronislava Nijinska. Iconic creative director of our lifetime Karl Lagerfeld was also a passionate force for the arts, having collaborated with numerous choreographers, most notably creating Elena Glurjidze’s outfit for The Dying Swan as part of the English National Ballet’s Ballets Russes season.
1937, Gabrielle and Chanel and Serge Lifar. Photography Jean Moral and Brigitte Moral.
The DAM, digital asset management system will become a primary and highly important research tool for The Australian Ballet’s artistic teams. Housing all past, present and future audio-visual history, including the archival of performances, dancers, costumes, sets and lighting design, DAM will offer the most effective means of storage, cataloguing and retrieval of digitised assets.
Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Exterior, The Australian Ballet’s headquarters, Flemington, 1968. Photography Paul Cox.
Chanel’s patronage of The Australian Ballet is a new initiative for the luxury House, with an ongoing support of achievement, innovation and excellence in the arts. The partnership started earlier this year in 2020, and is scheduled to conclude in 2022.
Celebrating Chanel’s rich and enduring lineage to dance, the two disciplines of fashion and performance will forever be inseparable at the House of Chanel.
Photo courtesy of The Australian Ballet. Valerie Tereshchenko, Broken Hill, 2019. Photography Georges Antoni.
