Moira Claux: Bodenwieser dancer on tour

Just recently I was alerted to a presentation, Deborah Beck: Revealing the lives of three Sydney artists’ models, in which Beck, currently a lecturer, archivist and collections manager at the National Art School in Sydney, discussed three women who had worked as artists’ models at various stages in their careers. One was Moira Claux, who danced for a number of years with Gertrud Bodenwieser’s Sydney-based dance company, including in the 1950s when the Bodenwieser dancers travelled around Australia and internationally.

The tours, both regional and international, were often quite long and usually involved extensive travel between towns. A tour to New Zealand in 1950 for example took in Auckland, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dannevirke, Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, Hastings, Hawera, Invercargill, Lower Hutt, Masterton, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Oamaru, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Timaru, Wanganui, and Wellington (listed alphabetically as in the Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser, MS 9263, in the National Library of Australia).

A trip to India in which Claux was involved lasted several months beginning in May 1952 and concluding in September of that year. Claux kept a diary of her experiences and also created an album of photographs from the tour. The company consisted of just six dancers—Claux along with Eileen Kramer (then spelled Cramer), Jean Raymond (called Jeanne, sometimes Jeane, Raymond on programs), Margaret Fraser, Nina Bascolo (often referred by her colleagues as Tanya or Tania) and Basil Pattison. Bodenwieser herself accompanied the group.

The dancers travelled to India on board the P & O liner SS Maloja. Claux boarded the ship on 2 May and (according to Claux’s diary) the Maloja departed Melbourne on 7 May at 5 pm.

Margaret Fraser, Moira Claux and Nina Bascolo on board the SS Maloja prior to its departure from Melbourne. Papers of the Claux Family, MS 10157, Box 8, Folder 30. National Library of Australia

During the trip on board the Maloja the dancers were involved in rehearsals, sunbaking, eating and sewing. (Eileen Kramer notes in her book Walkabout Dancer that the dancers were committed to making clothes for themselves that they felt they could wear in India, but Claux also records that they were sewing costumes as well, if a little later once they had arrived in India). The ship arrived in Colombo on 23 May and of that city Claux recorded in her diary that she found it to be one of ‘narrow streets, bullock carts, bicycles, beggars, guides, and honking horns’.

After a few days in Colombo the dancers arrived in Bombay on 26 May where they spent time in the Taj Hotel before moving on to Calcutta. They arrived in Calcutta on 29 May. Opening night for the tour occurred there on 2 June (according to Claux’s diary) and took place in the Grand Hotel with Danse Soudanaise performed by Claux, a pas de deux from Raymond and Pattison (Rosamunde according to Claux’s diary, Arlequin and Colombine on a program for 3 June), Gipsy Dance from Bascolo, Claux, Cramer and Fraser and The French Can-can danced by the company. Four different programs were performed in Calcutta.

After two months in Calcutta the company arrived in New Delhi by train on 30 July and settled into the Maiden’s Hotel. The company worked across two hotels in Delhi, the Imperial and Maiden’s. The hotels were five miles part although this didn’t seem to be a big problem. In a letter to her parents written from Delhi on 4 August Claux writes, ‘…the good floors, lighting and extra good bands make up for so much running around.’ Given that there was a shortage of theatres in India at the time, the gala night in New Delhi was held in the ballroom of the Imperial Hotel on 1 August with the next performance at Maiden’s on 2 August.The program included Danse Soudanaise, Gipsy Dance and Can-can.

While in Delhi the company made a trip to Agra and from there visited the Taj Mahal. ‘It really is such a breathtaking wonder of craftsmanship—that I felt like crying,’ Claux remarked. Her photography album records some of the architecture that she found so compelling as well as the street scenes that aroused her interest.

Pages from Moira Claux’s photo album documenting her trip to India in 1952. Papers of the Claux Family, National Library of Australia, MS 10157, Box 8, Folder 34.

At some stage Bodenwieser was accorded a personal audience with Pandit J. Nehru, then prime minister of India. Bodenwieswer had written in advance to Nehru hoping for a meeting. She was delighted when she received a positive response and regarded it as her highlight of the India trip. She wrote of Nehru, ‘In meeting Pandit Nehru one had the immediate impression of dignity, kindness and wisdom of a man combining the qualities of a philosopher with those of a great statesman.’ (Quote from ‘Personal impressions’ by Gertrud Bodenwieser. Personal collection of Barbara Cuckson).

Nehru and Bodenwieser are seen together in the image below.

Bodenwieser meets Nehru. Photo courtesy of Barbara Cuckson

Much of Claux’s diary records the social activities in which the dancers were involved in the cities they visited in India. There was much late night talking, eating and drinking for example, and frequent bouts of socialising with gentlemen of European backgrounds, including staff from European embassies. ‘Things just keep jogging along,’ was Claux’s comment as she wrote about the length of time that had passed in India. The company returned to Bombay from Delhi on 13 September and then arrived in Colombo for the journey back to Australia on 14 September. They arrived in Fremantle on 24 September and Melbourne on 29 September.

Some newspaper reports from Australia, published before the company left for India, suggest that the tour would last for six months. An extensive repertoire was discussed in these reports, more extensive than what actually occurred. Cities other than those that Claux mentions also appear in newspaper reports, Madras in particular. Why the tour happened the way it did (at least as can be gleaned from Claux’s writing) is not entirely clear. Hopefully more information will come to light in due course from which we can fill in details and, if necessary, make corrections.

MIchelle Potter, 15 January 2026

Featured image: Moria Claux (1931-2017) at the Rozelle School of Visual Arts, 2007. Photo: © Barbara Cuckson

For a brief article on Gertrud Bodenwieser and her company, which I wrote for National Library of Australia News in 1999 is this link.

Deborah Beck’s comments on Moira Claux are included as part of YouTube presentation below.

Dance diary. October 2022

Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2023

Bangarra’s 2023 season will see the revival of the Dance Clan series for the first time in ten years. The series began in 1998 and fostered new work by choreographers, dancers and designers, most of whom were emerging artists in those fields. Artists whose careers were advanced by appearances in Dance Clan performances have included Deborah Brown, Tara Gower, Yolande Brown and Frances Rings, who will shortly take on the artistic directorship of Bangarra. In 2023 Beau Dean Riley Smith, Glory Tuohy-Daniell, Ryan Pearson and Sani Townson will create new works focusing on their own storytelling. Costume designs will be by Clair Parker, mentored by Jennifer Irwin, lighting by Maddison Craven mentored by Karen Norris, and set design by Shana O’Brien under the guidance of Jacob Nash. Separate scores for each work are being composed by Brendon Boney, Amy Flannery and Leon Rodgers.

Dance Clan choreographers for 2023 (l-r) Ryan Pearson, Glory Tuohy-Daniell, Sani Townson and Beau Dean Riley Smith. Photo: © Daniel Boud

The major production for 2023 by the main company will be Yuldea being created by Frances Rings in collaboration with Jennifer Irwin (costumes), Jacob Nash (set), Karen Norris (lighting) and Leon Rodgers (score). The show will premiere at the Sydney Opera House on 14 June as part of the 50th anniversary season before touring across Australia including to Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Bendigo. The work is inspired by the story of the Anangu people of the Great Victorian Desert. Rings says:

Within my family lineage lie the stories of forefathers and mothers who lived a dynamic, sophisticated desert life, leaving their imprint scattered throughout Country like memories suspended in time. Their lives were forever changed by the impact of colonial progress.

Further details on the Bangarra website.

A new work by Meryl Tankard

Given that Meryl Tankard’s Wild Swans* has long stayed in my mind as an exceptional collaborative work between Tankard as choreographer, composer Elena Kats Chernin and visual artist Régis Lansac, it was more than exciting to hear that this trio will be presenting their latest collaboration, Kairos, as part of the 2023 Sydney Festival. Commissioned and produced by FORM Dance Projects, Kairos will open at Carriageworks on 19 January and will feature dancers Lillian Fearn, Cloé Fournier, Taiga Kita-Leong, Jasmin Luna, Julie Ann Minaai and Thuba Ndibali.

Publicity shot for *Kairos.* (Thuba Ndibali, In homage to Jack Mitchell from
Alvin Ailey’s *Hermit Songs*) Photo: © t Régis Lansac

‘Kairos’ in ancient Greek means ‘the right or opportune moment for doing, a moment that cannot be scheduled’. Publicity for the show suggests that the work responds to the current ‘uncertain and challenging times’ in which we currently find ourselves.

News from Houston Ballet

News recently announced in Houston, Texas, is that Julie Kent, currently artistic director of Washington Ballet and former principal artist with American Ballet Theatre, will leave Washington Ballet at the end of the 2022-2023 season. She will join Stanton Welch as co-director of Houston Ballet with Welch keen to be able to devote more time to choreography.

Barbara Cuckson

In October I had the pleasure of recording an oral history interview with Barbara Cuckson, owner and director of Rozelle School of Visual Arts, whose dance training was largely with Gertrud Bodenwieser. The interview, which will eventually be available online from the National Library of Australia, is not only an exceptional insight into the Bodenwieser heritage and Cuckson’s training within and beyond that heritage, but it also contains a wealth of information about Cuckson’s parents, Eric and Marie Cuckson, and their outstanding contribution to the growth of the arts in Australia.

Michelle Potter, 31 October 2022

* There is no review of Wild Swans on this website as it was produced and performed in 2003, that is before I began …on dancing. But here is a link to a post in which I mention it as a result of a BBC program I heard.

Featured image: Hero image for Bangarra’s 2023 production Yuldea. Photo: © Daniel Boud

Elaine Vallance (1932–2021)

Elaine Vallance, who has died aged 89 in Melbourne, was a much admired member of the Bodenwieser Ballet from 1949 to 1954 before moving to Melbourne in 1955. In Melbourne she opened a dance school, keeping up connections with Dory Stern, Bodenwieser’s music director, and also teaching at schools in Melbourne, including Ivanhoe and Camberwell Girls’ Grammars. She continued to teach for the rest of her life, stopping only shortly before her death.

Vallance began dancing as an eight year old with Gertrud Bodenwieser at her Sydney school and by 1948 had been chosen as a demonstrator for classes. On joining the Bodenwieser Ballet in 1949 she performed with the group in Sydney and toured with them to South Africa and New Zealand in 1950, then across Australia in 1951 as part of the Arts Council’s Jubilee Tour to celebrate the establishment of Federation.

Bodenwieser Ballet on tour in New Zealand, 1950. Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser (MS 9263), National Library of Australia

When a small group of dancers accompanied Bodenwieser to India in the second half of 1952, Vallance, along with Emmy Taussig, took charge of the Bodenwieser School in Sydney. Then, on Bodenwieser’s return and throughout 1953, Vallance danced with the Bodenwieser Ballet on an extensive tour of regional towns in New South Wales and in a variety of concerts in and around Sydney. The following year, 1954, Vallance performed and toured as one of the Spirits of the Whirlwinds, along with others from the Bodenwieser company, in Beth Dean’s Corroboree, staged in celebration of the visit to Australia by Queen Elizabeth II.

Elaine Vallance (centre front) with, (clockwise from top left), Nina Baron, Moira Claux and Biruta Apens in a study for Gertrud Bodenwieser’s *The Blue Danube*, Victorian tour 1950. Photographer unknown. Photo courtesy of Barbara Cuckson

During her time with the Bodenwieser Ballet, Vallance appeared in most of Bodenwieser’s major works and many smaller works as well. Her solo, The Moth, from Life of the Insects, became a popular inclusion in Bodenwieser programs and Vallance, in a costume of draped grey chiffon, received constant praise from critics with words such as ‘a vision of beauty and grace’.

Elaine Vallance as ‘The Moth’, c. 1949. Photo courtesy of Barbara Cuckson

Like so many of her Bodenwieser colleagues, Vallance continued to be aware of the impact Gertrud Bodenwieser had on her life and career. Writing to Barbara Cuckson, director of the Rozelle School of Visual Arts, she recalled:

I was intrigued and fascinated by the comprehensive way in which she explored movement. When Bodenwieser had a new movement idea she always explored it to the full.
A movement could be done in different directions, forwards, sideways, backwards; it could be performed on different levels, standing, kneeling, sitting, lying. There were different intensities to try out, flowing, swinging, impulsive, or it could be done with strength, possibly using straight lines or sharp angles. There was the possibility of the movement being performed in opposition or parallel to the rest of the body, and of course carried into space with steps, jumps or turns.
Then came the option of combining any two or three of these aspects, or combining the new movement with another previously explored, and the exploring the various relationships of these two movements.

Vallance often returned to Sydney where she taught master classes and oversaw reconstructions of Bodenwieser works at the Rozelle School of Visual Arts. Her last visit was in 2017 when she worked on a reconstruction of Sunset.

(left Elaine Vallance teaching Gertrud Bodenwieser’s *Blue Danube* at the Rozelle School of Visual Arts, 1994; (right) Portrait of Elaine Vallance, 2017. Photos courtesy of Barbara Cuckson

Elaine Vallance is survived by her daughters, Julia and Sue, and their respective families.

Elaine Vallance (Featherstone): born Sydney, 20 January1932; died Melbourne, 3 October 2021

Michelle Potter, 3 October 2021

Featured image (detail): Elaine Vallance in her solo as the Moth from Gertrud Bodenwieser’s Life of the Insects. Photo: Sun Newspapers. Full image below.

NOTE: The death of Elaine Vallance means that there is now only one dancer from those early Bodenwieser days who is still living. It is Eileen Kramer who is approaching her 107th birthday in November.

Dance diary. December 2013

The Johnston Collection, Melbourne

I was surprised to be contacted earlier this month by the curator of the Johnston Collection, Melbourne. David McAllister, artistic director of the Australian Ballet, will be a guest curator there in the first part of 2014 and will be adding some Australian Ballet costumes to the rooms of Fairhall, the house in which the collection of antiques amassed by dealer William Robert Johnston is displayed. I will be presenting a lecture at Fairhall in June—From bedroom to kitchen and beyond: women of the ballet. More later.

Fantasy Modern: Andrew Montana

Over the holiday break I enjoyed reading Andrew Montana’s biography of Loudon Sainthill, Fantasy modern: Loudon Sainthill’s theatre of art and life, published in November 2013 by NewSouth Books. There are a few irritating typos and errors (Alicia Markova wasn’t married to Colonel de Basil—at least not as far as I know!) and some odd references in the notes. But, as ever, Montana has researched his topic very thoroughly and, while it is essentially a book written by an art historian, it gives a fascinating glimpse of the cultural background in which Sainthill and his partner Harry Tatlock Miller operated. That background of course includes Sainthill’s commissions for Nina Verchinina during the Ballets Russes Australian tours, as well as his work as a designer for Hélène Kirsova, and his activities during the Ballet Rambert Australasian tour of 1947–1949. In addition it was Harry Tatlock Miller who was responsible (in conjunction with the British Council) for bringing the exhibition Art for Theatre and Ballet to Australia. There is some interesting information too about the 1940s documentary Spotlight on Australian Ballet. So Fantasy Modern is interesting reading for dance fans as well as historians of theatre design.

Bodenwieser news

I was pleased to hear recently from Barbara Cuckson that Sydney-born Bodenwieser dancer, Eileen Kramer, had returned to her city of birth. Not only that, she has reached the grand old age of 99. She is seen below on her 99th birthday wearing a Bodenwieser costume, which she designed all those years ago.

Eileen recorded an oral history interview for the National Library in 2003. It is available for online listening at this link.

Site news

In December I am always interested to know what tags have been accessed most frequently over the preceding year. Here is the list of the 10 most popular tags for 2013:

Hannah O’Neill; Ty King-Wall; The Australian Ballet; Ballets Russes; Paris Opera Ballet; Olga Spessivtseva; Dandré-Levitoff Russian Ballet; Leanne Stojmenov; Athol Willoughby; Meryl Tankard.

Visitors to the site may also be interested in what is probably the last comment for 2013. I am attaching a link to a book review I wrote in January 2012. Scroll down to the comments in which one reader queried whether the author of At the Sign of the Harlequin’s Bat, Isabelle Stoughton, is still alive. As you can read, she is.

Past and future grace

And finally I couldn’t help but notice a sentence in a roundup of events for 2013 by Fairfax journalist Neil McMahon. Writing of Australian political happenings over the past year he said: ‘The policy pirouettes on both sides were en pointe, but graceless’. I’m not holding my breath for a graceful political scene in 2014. The dance scene might be better odds!

Michelle Potter, 31 December 2013

Dance diary. January 2013

The Upshaw album

A recent meeting with Anna Volkova clarified one of the issues that went through my mind as I looked through the album assembled by James Upshaw, which was the subject of a recent post. I was interested in several photos that showed some of the dancers wearing sweatshirts with a logo for an organisation with the acronym F.A.E on them. F.A.E., it turns out, stands for an organisation in Rio de Janeiro called, in English, Student Assistance Foundation, and in Portuguese, Fundação de Assistêcia ao Estudante. Volkova explained that some of the dancers, including Volkova herelf, gave a performance for this Foundation while in Rio. She identified the dancers in the photos for me, with the exception of a Brazilian dancer who had only recently joined them and whose name she no longer recalled. At this stage I’m not entirely sure when the performance took place.

Left to right: Lydia Kuprina, Leda Youky, Tamara Grigorieva, Anna Volkova, Tatiana Leskova, 1945. . Photo: © Kurt Paul Klagsbrunn

Update (1 February 2013): Tatiana Leskova has been kind enough to pass on some extra information about the photograph above and the concert in which the dancers performed. The Brazilian dancer was Leda Youky and the concert took place in Rio’s Teatro Municipal in, she believes, 1945. The dancers performed choreography by Vaslav Velchek—Anna Volkova danced to music by Mussorgsky (‘The Bumblebee’), Tamara Grigorieva and Tatiana Leskova to music by Rachmaninoff (Grigorieva to his ‘Prelude No. 2’, Leskova to his ‘Prelude No. 5’). Nini Theilade also performed, dancing her own choreography.

Grateful thanks to the irrepressible Mme Leskova.

Vija Vetra

I was a little surprised, but of course pleased, to receive a message through this website’s contact box from Latvia. The message concerned Vija Vetra, a dancer born in Riga, Latvia, who had studied in Vienna with Rosalie Chladek, had come to Australia in 1948, had joined the company of Gertrud Bodenwieser shortly afterwards and had toured with the company to New Zealand and around Australia. With Bodenwieser she performed in most of the repertoire from 1948 until the mid-1950s including as the Bride in The Wedding Procession (choreography Bodenwieser, costumes Evelyn Ippen, music Grieg), in which she is seen in the image below. She also danced one of the Aboriginal mothers in Beth Dean’s Corroboree during the Royal Gala season of 1954.

Left to right: Mardi Watchorn, Vija Vetra and Coralie Hinkley in *The Wedding Procession*, 1950. Photo:© Bettina, Auckland. Courtesy National Library of Australia, Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser, MS 9263/67/204

Vetra moved to New York around 1964 and is still living there giving classes, lecture-demonstrations and workshops. She returns to her native Latvia frequently and is seen in the image below with a young student, Rasa Ozola, after a concert ‘Dejas sirdspuksti’ (Dance heartbeat) in Riga in June 2012.

Vija Vetra with Rasa Ozola, Riga, 2012. Photo:© Anita Smeltere

The 2010 publication Australia dances: creating Australian dance 1945–1965 by Alan Brissenden and Keith Glennon contains a brief summary of Vetra’s career in Australia (see page 224). An interview with Vetra recorded in New York in 2011 is at this link.

More Bodenwieser news

In January I was pleased to renew my contact with Barbara Cuckson, initially as a result of a request from the Dance Notation Bureau in New York relating to Gertrud Bodenwieser’s early work Demon Machine. Cuckson’s mother, Marie Cuckson, was responsible, with Bodenwieser dancer Emmy Taussig, for maintaining a collection of archival material relating to Bodenwieser’s life and career, which is now now housed in the National Library of Australia. Barbara Cuckson’s father, Eric Cuckson, filmed several of Bodenwieser’s works and this footage is now housed in the National Film and Sound Archive. Barbara Cuckson continues to promote the work of Bodenwieser in many ways.

The conversation turned to Errand into the Maze, which Bodenwieser made in Australia in 1954. German dancer/choreographer Jochen Roller is currently leading a project to investigate the ways in which Bodenwieser structured her ideas and themes, for which reconstructing Errand into the Maze is part. Cuckson provided me with the image below of a rehearsal conducted as part of the reconstruction process.

Barbara Cuckson and dancers in a rehearsal for *Errand into the Maze*, 2012. Photo:© Jan Poddebsky

Michelle Potter, 31 January 2013

Featured image: Lydia Kuprina, Leda Youky, Tamara Grigorieva, Anna Volkova, Tatiana Leskova, 1945. Photo: Kurt Paul Klagsbrunn