Edouard Borovansky

Edouard Borovansky (24 February 1902 – 18 December 1959) was a Czech-born Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director.

After touring with Anna Pavlova's company, he and his wife, Xenia, settled in Australia where they established the Borovansky Ballet company.

Eduard Josef Skřeček was born on 24 February 1902 in Přerov, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He was the seventh child of František Skřeček, a railway clerk, and his wife Arnošta.

After graduating school he worked as an accountant before he was called up for military service in the Czechoslovak Air Force.

In 1921, he joined the chorus of the Olomouc Opera Company as a baritone, however as he had an early gymnastic training he was transferred to the corps de ballet.

In September 1923 he successfully auditioned for the Prague National Theatre where he began to work his way up the hierarchy before he gained a place in Anna Pavlova's touring company in 1928.

He began his career as a dancer of character roles by changing his name to Eduard Borowanski.

He first performed with the Pavlova Ballet in Hamburg, Germany.

He then toured for seasons in Britain, South America and Asia.

He first toured Australia with the company in 1929.

However, the company collapsed after the death of Anna Pavlova in 1930, and he and his companion, the Russian-born Xenia Nikolayevna Krüger, née Smirnova (1903–1985), scraped a living by teaching children in makeshift studios in Paris, then Prague and Berlin.

In 1932 he joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

His notable roles with this company were the Strong Man in Le Beau Danube, Polkan in Le Coq d'Or and the Shopkeeper of La Boutique fantasque.

He married Krüger, a divorcee, on 14 October 1933 at the register office, Westminster, London.

He revisited Australia in 1938 with the company, now renamed The Royal Covent Garden Russian Ballet, however he and his wife decided to remain in Australia at the end of the tour.

After Adolf Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Borovansky and his wife Xenia felt that there was little future for ballet in the region and the outbreak of World War II a few months later gave them little incentive or opportunity to return to Europe.

With his wife, he established a ballet school in Melbourne named the Melbourne Academy of Russian Ballet.

Xenia was the principal teacher, while Borovansky handled the administration.

By 1940 the academy had grown and Borovansky was able to establish the Borovansky Australian Ballet Company, which held its first season at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne in December of that year.

The principal dancer was Laurel Martyn.

The ballet company was variously called the Borovansky Ballet, the Borovansky Australian Ballet Company, the Borovansky Ballet of 40 and the Borovansky Jubilee Ballet.

Borovansky had also encouraged the formation of the Melbourne Ballet Club, which displayed and encouraged new choreography.

From 1940 his company presented studio performances for the Melbourne Ballet Club of original choreography by himself, Xenia Borovansky, Laurel Martyn and Dorothy Stevenson.

Works choreographed and presented during this period include Martyn's Sigrid, Stevenson's Sea Legend (whose setting was designed by William Constable) and Martyn's En Saga.

The backing of J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd was a turning point, for without it the company would have died, similarly to the Sydney-based Kirsova Ballet (1941–44), which had refused commercial backing and collapsed despite an Australia-wide following.

The company therefore performed "large, colourful, familiar works which were what 'the Firm' preferred".

In 1942, Borovansky's company presented a five-night season at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne.

The season was such a success that it convinced J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd that ballet "was potentially big business".

Borovansky now had commercial backing and access to theatres across Australia.

In return, his company was formed to provide commercial success.

Borovansky was naturalised as a British subject in 1944, becoming a well-known figure in Melbourne and "notorious for his despotic treatment of his dancers".

In 1944, the 40-strong company had toured the mainland capitals, Tasmania and New Zealand with a repertoire that included Giselle, Swan Lake (Act II), Les Sylphides, En Saga, Capriccio Italien, Frederick Ashton's Façade, and Borovansky's symphonic fantasy, Vltava.

In 1945, the company toured mainland Australia again.

Borovansky's operation was assisted artistically in no small measure by the presence of his pre-war colleague, the principal dancer, Tamara Tchinarova, whose memory of the choreography surpassed his.

This tour included an 8-month season in Melbourne featuring the "tried favourites of pre-war 'Russian ballet'" – Le Carnaval, Schéhérazade and Le Beau Danube – as well as a new work by Borovansky, Terra Australis.

At the end of this season Laurel Martyn left the company to form, out of the original Melbourne Ballet Club, the Victorian Ballet Guild.

Her choice of a small, experimental dance company over the glamorous professional stage highlighted the dilemma Borovansky faced.

Borovansky had built a "strong, commercially attractive operation on the basis of the school run by his wife and a keen sense of what the public would pay to see".

This company provided the foundation for modern ballet in Australia and was subsequently used as the basis for the first national Australian ballet company, The Australian Ballet which was established in 1962.