Much of the footage contains members of the Ballets Russes du Monte Carlo during their 1936–37 tour of Australia. This includes footage of staged performances filmed from the wings, as well as more informal footage of dancers performing at Bungan Beach in Sydney’s northern suburbs. The remaining footage is of Murray-Will’s own home movie recordings of holidays and outings (some of which also contains Ballets Russes members) between 1935 and approximately 1940.

Dr Ewan Murray-Will was a Sydney dermatologist and amateur filmmaker who became friends with a number of dancers from the Ballets Russes, in particular Hélène Kirsova who formed a ballet school in Sydney and founded the Kirsova Ballet. He filmed her wedding in 1940. Murray-Will’s acquaintance with Ballets Russes members allowed him to capture unique images of one of the world’s greatest dance companies. The Ballets Russes companies made three tours to Australia between 1936 and 1940. These tours were incredibly influential on the future direction of contemporary dance and ballet in Australia.

Murray-Will used a hand-held 16 mm movie camera to document excerpts from the repertoire of the Ballets Russes including scenes from Beau Danube, Petrouchka, Le Carnaval and Thamar. Most of the ballet footage is of the Ballets Russes du Monte Carlo (sometimes called Colonel W de Basil’s Monte Carlo Russian Ballet) and was recorded during the company’s 1936–37 tour.

The Chesterman Collection, containing the Murray-Will films, was donated to the National Film and Sound Archive in the mid-1990s by the Chesterman family. Murray-Wills was the Godfather to one of the Chesterman’s children, and the families were close friends. The National Library of Australia also holds a collection of photographs that Murray-Will took of various members of the Ballets Russes.

Curator

Poppy De Souza