Borovansky Syllabus History

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Was born in the Czech republic. Growing up in a small village kept him in touch with Folk dance. He started his career in 1928 when he gained a place in Anna Pavlova’s Pavlova Ballet. 

First touring Australia in 1929, Borovansky was delighted by the audiences’ friendliness and enthusiasm,

When visiting again in 1938 with the Royal Covent Garden Russian Ballet, he and his wife decided to stay. They established the Melbourne Academy of Russian Ballet. Xenia taught Classical and Character dancing, Mime and make up. She later wrote the Borovansky Syllabus to teach Australian children. Edouard was the producer and entrepreneur. 

In 1945 the company toured Australia and was a huge success, including a new work by Borovansky Terra Australis.

In 1948 financial backing was withdrawn and he couldn’t sustain the employment of his dancers. In 1950 sponsored by the Education in Music and Dramatic Arts Society he was able to start a new company, The Borovansky Jubilee Ballet.

Borovansky’s death left behind some of the finest dancers of Australia and his company encouraged an interest in dance.

Marilyn Jones OBE, one of his talented dancers became a founding member of the AICD (Australian Institute of Classical Dance) and the Australian ballet company.

The AICD are the administers of the Borovansky syllabus.

• To foster and develop a love of dance.
• To encourage an awareness of ballet as a performing art in both vocational and non vocational students.
• To allow for the flexibility in teaching and examining a wide variety of body shapes, sizes and capabilities.
• To offer a graded system for students of ballet to cater for different levels of physical development and ability which increases gradually in technical difficulty each grade.
• To encourage dance quality, style, expressiveness and musicality from the beginning and develop these progressively.
• To expose students to a wide range of movements and steps as they progress through the syllabus.
• To offer safe and continuous progression through all grades in line with “Safedance” principles
• To teach students basic human anatomy and simple principles of physiology as it relates to ballet technique.
• To give students an awareness of dance history in the context of character steps and dances which are integrated into the syllabus, reflecting the heritage of the Borovansky Ballet Company which was famed for its wholehearted vigorous approach to national dancing.

http://www.ballet.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/TEACHERS-GUIDELINES-v0.5.pdf