“For her outstanding contribution to dance, her achievement in founding the West Australian Ballet and for bringing great inspiration, flare and an international standard to dance.”

Kira Abricossova Bousloff was born in Monte Carlo in 1914, the youngest daughter of Russian parents. After the Revolution, her parents did not return to Russia, choosing to make France their home. At thirteen, Kira moved to Paris with her family and began to study ballet. Her teachers included a number of former dancers of the Imperial Russian Ballet, amongst them the eminent Alexandre Volinine, Olga Preobrajenska and Mathilde Kchessinska.

Early in her career, Kira was inspired by the determination and spirit of Bronislava Nijinska, the sister of Vaslav Nijinsky, who directed a small company of which Kira was a part. At seventeen years of age she successfully auditioned to join the newly formed company Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, under Colonel Wassily de Basil. It was during this time that Kira married Serge Bousloff, a young Russian dancer and member of the Ballets Russes. As a member of this company, Madame Bousloff toured Europe and America working with the most celebrated choreographers of the day, such as Fokine.

Kira Bousloff first came to Australia with the Covent Garden Russian Ballet in September 1938. The company performed in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide and gave over 170 performances. She performed in most of the Ballet's full repertoire, which ranged from classics to the avant-garde. "The repertoire included works with costume and set designs by Bakst, Benois, de Chirico, Derain, Goncharova, Larionov, Miro and Rouault, music by Auric, Berlioz and Stravinsky, and choreography by Balanchine, Fokine, Lichine, Massine and Nijinska." Many works, including two symphonic ballets Choreartium and Symphonie Fantastique, were entirely new to Australian audiences. Local patrons were astonished and delighted by the panorama of European modernism, the richness of the costumes, set design and music. It was an outstanding and varied repertoire,

forming part of the rich heritage that Madame Bousloff has passed on to Australian dancers and audiences.

With war breaking out, Madame Bousloff decided not to return to Europe with the company, but to settle in Australia. She had a son, Alec, in 1943 and shortly afterwards, became involved with a number of ballet groups in Melbourne. She began teaching, choreographing her own pieces and reproducing ballets from the Ballets Russes. During this time in Melbourne, Kira met her second husband, composer James Penberthy. Their daughter, Tamara, was born in 1950.

Disliking Melbourne winters, Madame fled to what she termed 'Australia's Riviera' settling in Western Australia in 1952. She recalls:

When I came to the airport in little Perth at the end of the world, I put my feet on the ground, I looked around, and I said loudly and strongly, "This is where I'm going to live, and this where I'm going to die... This is my place.

At that time Western Australia was the only state not to have a ballet company. Madame Bousloff, enthused by the talent she saw in Perth, could not understand this. With tenacity and commitment, she established a small company which initially rehearsed in an old boat shed to save on expenses. It was at first an amateur company performing short seasons in Perth and later touring regional parts of Western Australia.

Madame Bousloff worked unceasingly for ballet, often with little financial return, inspiring and enriching the lives of many people. She pursued her ambition to create a West Australian Ballet company performing real Australian ballet with themes inspired by Australian stories, music written by Australians and scenery painted by local artists. Three notable works include The Beach Inspector and the Mermaid (1958), Kooree and the Mists (1960) and Fire at Ross' Farm (1961) based on the Henry Lawson poem of the same name. She drew on the style, freshness and strength of young Western Australians to create a unique identity for the company and Australian dance.

With the unceasing support of James Penberthy, Madame Bousloff's small amateur ballet company became the fully professional West Australian Ballet. Madame Bousloff was the Artistic Director from 1952 to 1969. Today it is one of three major ballet companies in Australia. By 1961, Kira began to concentrate on teaching. While she loved the excitement of the dancer's life, her real joy came from teaching and guiding young dancers. She writes of those young people whose path has been fortunate to cross hers:

“I see them coming. I see them going, some only drifting through my life. Some succeed to reach their dreams and hopes, others marry, settle down and bring the children to the studio. Then I start all over again, to teach, to train, to care. They are all there, filling my heart to overflowing, the old and the new from the past to the present. Watching them closely, I give them all I have learned and know... I love you dearly for what you are, young people full of hope.”

Madame Bousloff has passed on a rich heritage to generations of young dancers in Western Australia. She has inspired many people with her passion and magnificent generosity of spirit. In 1987 she was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of the very special contribution she has made to the development of dance in Australia. Her indomitable spirit keeps shining as she continues to be involved in teaching through her own ballet school.

Reference: Potter, Michelle, Kira Bousloff: Founder of the West Australian Ballet, University of Melbourne, Dept. of Germanic Studies and Russian, Parkville, 1991, p12. 2ibid p17. ibid p20.