Colin Peasley, whose dance career was extraordinarily varied, has died in Melbourne at the age of 90. In 2000 he was interviewed by Bill Stephens for the oral history collection of the National Library of Australia. The interview is open for research purposes but is not yet available online: Peasley asked that written permission be sought before it was made available for public purposes. The restriction was to last until his death so I am hoping that it might be made available online in the near future. In the meantime, the catalogue summary of the content of the interview gives an idea of the depth of the discussion. Here is a link to the information from the NLA catalogue—Colin Peasley interviewed by Bill Stephens [sound recording] | Catalogue | National Library of Australia—and, as a taster, below is the summary of the content as extracted from the catalogue entry. The interview lasts for over seven hours!
Peasley speaks of his childhood and introduction to ballroom dance and live theatre, visit to the Sydney Tivoli, discovery of the Kathryn Dunham Dance Troupe and their performances, his lessons in ballroom dancing and Adagio dancing from Leslie Rutherford. He talks about his discovery of Gertrud Bodenwieser, the dance scene in Australia and obstacles facing male dancers. He discusses his course in tap and acrobatic dancing with the Rudas School of Acrobatic Dancing, jazz and classical dance with Valerie Tweedie, recollections of Estelle Anderson, his work on television, his parents reaction to his dancing career, industrial action taken by Channel 9 dancers and his decision to audition for Garnet Carroll in his theatrical productions, auditioning for George Carden for a Tivoli show in 1958 and the craft of auditioning and his lessons with Martin Rubinstein. He discusses his meeting with Peggy van Praagh, classes with the Borovansky Ballet dancers, detailed comparison of dancing teaching methods, differences between the roles of corps de ballet and principal dancer, his first days with the Australian Ballet, its structure, early history, the strain of their touring schedule and the campaign to displace Peggy van Praagh. He discusses of the dance styles of Rudolph Nureyev, Eric Bruhn, Garth Welch and Karl Welander and describes Robert Helpmann’s ballet ‘The Display’, Helpmann’s appointment as co-Artistic Director and overall significance to the Australian Ballet, Anne Woolliams period as Artistic Director to eventually be replaced by Peggy van Praagh, Marilyn Jones as Artistic Director, a major strike by the Company dancers, his view of Maina Guelgud as Artistic Director, why he was asked to resign as Regisseur General and instead took the job of Director of Education; and his great enthusiasm for teaching.
