Garth Welch

Garth de Burgh Welch (born 14 April 1936) is an Australian dancer and choreographer.

Early life and training

Welch was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School. His initial dance training took place under the guidance of the respected teacher Phyllis Danaher.

Dancer and choreographer

Welch began his career in ''Call Me Madam'' for the J. C. Williamson organisation. He came to the attention of Edouard Borovansky and joined the Borovansky Ballet in 1954. Welch achieved within a relatively short time the rank of Principal Dancer with the company. He also danced with Western Theatre Ballet (later Scottish Ballet) and the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas before returning to Australia at the invitation of Dame Peggy van Praagh as a Principal Dancer with the Australian Ballet in 1962. He remained in the position until he left the company in 1973. While at the Australian Ballet, Welch danced the lead in all the major classical ballets in the company's repertoire and created roles in Sir Robert Helpmann's '' The Display'' and ''Yugen'' and in John Butler's ''Threshold''. He partnered the Australian Ballet's principal dancers including Marilyn Jones, Kathleen Gorham and Marilyn Rowe, and partnered guest artists including Dame Margot Fonteyn.

In the 1970s he worked with Ballet Victoria both as a choreographer and as associate artistic director. During that time he danced ''Hilarion'' and later ''Albrecht'' to Natalia Makarova's ''Giselle'' in Ballet Victoria's staging of '' Giselle'' Act II in 1975. In 1976 he appeared as the ''Blackamoor'' in '' Petrouchka'' for the appearances by Valery Panov and Galina Panov for Ballet Victoria.

Welch was Artistic Director of the West Australian Ballet from 1980 to 1982 and throughout the 1980s and 1990s taught extensively across Australia. In the 1980s Welch also worked with the Sydney Dance Company. In 1984, Graeme Murphy created the role of ''von Aschenbach'' in ''After Venice'', and Welch performed this role to singular acclaim in Australia, Europe and New York. With the Sydney Dance Company Welch also performed in Murphy's ''Late Afternoon of a Faun''. In the 1990s Welch returned to musical theatre and appeared in ''The Game of Love and Chance'' in 1990, ''How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying'' in 1993 and ''Nijinsky at Twilight'' in 1998.

Welch choreographed ''Variations on a Theme'' for the Australian Ballet in 1964. Since that first piece, he has created many more works for the flagship company as well as pieces for the West Australian Ballet, Ballet Victoria, Ballet Philippines, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the Queensland Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company. His major works include ''Othello'', made originally for the Australian Ballet School in 1968, and staged by the Australian Ballet in 1970; and ''KAL'', his first full-length work, made for the West Australian Ballet in 1979.

Awards

* Welch was inducted into the Australian Dance Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.

Family

Welch married fellow Australian Ballet Principal Dancer, Marilyn Jones and they had two sons, also dancers. Stanton Welch, choreographer, is Artistic Director of the Houston BalletAustralian Ballet Resident Choreographers - Stanton Welch , http://www.australianballet.com.au/thecompany_residentchoreographers.htm and his other son Damien Welch was a principal dancer of the Australian Ballet.

References

Books and articles

* Martha Bremser (ed.), International Dictionary of Ballet, Volume 2 (Detroit: St James Press, 1993), p. 1533 (list of works choreographed by Garth Welch)

External links

Garth Welch Collection
at the Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Garth
1936 births
Living people
Australian male ballet dancers
Members of the Order of Australia
Entertainers from Brisbane
People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School