The Dandré-Levitoff Russian Ballet, 1934-1935 Australia and beyond Michelle Potter

RESUMEN: This article explored the year-long tour of the Dandré-Levitoff Russian Ballet between 1934 and 1935. The company performed in South Africa, Singapore, Java, Australia, Ceylon, India and Egypt and was led by two sets of principals, Vera Nemchinova and Anatole Oboukhoff in South Africa and then Olga Spessivtseva and Anatole Vilzan with Spessivtseva being replaced by Natasha Boikovich following Spessivtseva´s decline mid-way through the Australian season. The company performed works largely drawn from the Pavlova repertoire and used Pavlova´s name and her commitment to classical ballet to justify the company agenda. The article addresses some of the misconceptions that have arise nabout the tour in previously published sources. It also fills in some of the specific details of the tour and gathers scattered information relating to schedule and repertoire into three appendices.