 
Australia's cultural revolution.
In June 2005, the University of Adelaide and the Australian
Ballet signed a memorandum of understanding, the aim of which was to increase collaborative endeavour
and relations between the two organisations. The Memorandum follows the receipt of a major ARC Linkage
Project grant awarded to the University of Adelaide, the Australian Ballet and the National
Library of Australia. The grant ($370,000 over four years) focuses on the impact of contemporary
Australian culture and society of three tours to Australia made by the Ballets
Russes under the direction of Colonel Wassily de Basil between 1936 and 1940.
Exploring the interface between performance and reception in both the immediate and broader senses,this
collaborative project draws on the significant resources of the National Library of Australia and the Barr
Smith Library to complement what is over the next four-years a number of seasons by the Australian
Ballet that will either feature Ballets Russes work or be informed by them. An equality between choreography,
set design, music and costuming was integral to the Ballets Russes collaborative ethos. The impact upon
Australian culture of these works was profound, and served as a creative impetus for a number of significant
Australian artists, including Margaret Sutherland, Thea Proctor, Sidney Nolan, Loudon Sainthill, Max
Dupain and Donald Friend. Yet despite the seminal importance of the tours in shaping our national cultural
practice, there is very little work, academic or popular, on the impact of the tours on Australian culture.
This project addresses this lack by investigating the realities and manifestations of this impact on
the cultural landscape of the period and beyond.
Dr Mark Carroll of the Elder Conservatorium is the
Adelaide-based chief investigator for the project, and the research partners are Professor Nicolette
Fraillon, Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Australian Ballet, and the National Library of Australia's
Mr Lee Christofis, Cura of Dance, and Ms Robyn Holmes, Curator of Music. Dr Carroll maintains that
this ARC Linkage grant will serve to highlight the possibilities of collaboration between cultural and
learning institutions. Working with the Ballet challenges the notion of research and exploration to include
performance as itself a stage in the research and exploration process. Key outcomes expected of the project
include the publication of research papers and monographs; historically informed performances by the
Australian Ballet; and touring exhibitions that include new technological interfaces and methods of engaging
the audience and accessing information.
As the project aims to foster an increased research culture in the Australian performing arts, it
has garnered significant media attention and has been reported in a number of major national news broadsheets
such as The Australian and The Independent Weekly. Indeed, whilst the Ballets Russes
Linkage Project is a significant achievement in terms of the development of collaborative research structures
and models, opening new frontiers and concepts of research and research output, it is, in the long term,
just a beginning. Dr Carroll draws a parallel between the project and the ballets staged during the Australian
tour; each piece is a masterwork of collaboration, mutual support and combined creative energy. So too
is the linkage collaboration, the ramifications of which will shape Australian cultural criticism, research
and exploration for a long time to come.
For further information contact Dr Mark Carroll.
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