Australian ballet has lost one of its great guardians of stage craft and generosity. Colin Peasley, a foundation member of The Australian Ballet, passed away this morning. For more than five decades he embodied the humane heart of the company as dancer, character artist, ballet master and educator, shaping what he proudly called an Australian style with warmth, intelligence and wit.
Peasley joined The Australian Ballet in 1962, already a seasoned performer who had arrived at classical ballet through ballroom, exhibition, tap, acrobatics and modern dance. In a Dance Australia interview in 2014 he laughed at the idea that longevity could dull curiosity: “I have been apprehensive, nervous, exhausted, elated and sometimes very angry, but never bored!” He credited the company’s people and the variety of roles he was entrusted with for keeping the flame bright. He also observed how the art form had changed, noting the increasing athleticism and height of dancers, and how that physical breadth helped define a uniquely Australian look on stage.
On stage he made character roles a living art. His Gamache in Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote set a benchmark of detail and timing. His Baron in The Merry Widow was a study in grace and tact. His Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet was tender, flawed and recognisably human. His Madge in La Sylphide avoided caricature in favour of quiet power. Throughout his career he resisted any notion that character work was secondary, insisting that if a story ballet is to breathe, its characters must think and feel through movement, not merely decorate the stage.
His life traced the rise of the company itself. He danced under Dame Peggy van Praagh and toured with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, including the legendary United States tour built around Nureyev’s Don Quixote with Lucette Aldous. He loved to recall the camaraderie and stamina of that era, which he remembered as ballet heaven. In 2012 he was made a life member of The Australian Ballet, the same year he formally retired from full-time performance, and he received the Green Room Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in Melbourne. Even after retirement he continued to appear, taking a final curtain call as the Baron in The Merry Widow in 2018.
Offstage he gave tirelessly as teacher, coach and head of education. His work with students was shaped by his own atypical pathway into dance at 21, and by early experiences with Gertrud Bodenwieser’s expressive dance ethos. “It has been a great joy for me to see [old] prejudice against male dancers disappear,” he told Dance Australia. He delighted in watching young artists begin early enough for training to mould strong, expressive bodies and, more importantly, curious minds.
His collegial spirit is captured in a message shared today by his dear friend and stage partner Audrey Johnstone: “We danced together, we laughed together and to the finale we were together… Col you have made an indelible print on the world of ballet… A big round of applause.” Those who worked with him will recognise the sentiment. He mentored patiently, defended story and clarity, and never confused seriousness of purpose with solemnity. His humour was famous, his standards exacting, his kindness instinctive.
Asked in 2014 if he ever tired of the same company after fifty years, he answered with characteristic candour and gratitude. "The Australian Ballet is full of dedicated, hard-working people who are a joy to work with and ...because I have had a variety of responsibilities over those 50 years which have always been both challenging and interesting – dancer, teacher, ballet master and educator." Asked what had changed most, he pointed to the athletes now populating our stages and the stature they bring to classical line. Yet he was just as quick to insist that a ballet’s soul lives in its people, in how they listen, react and make sense to an audience.
Colin Peasley helped generations of Australian dancers learn that lesson. He showed that character is a craft, not a consolation. That comedy can be truthful. That tradition is kept alive by curiosity. His legacy is inscribed in the memory of audiences who laughed with Gamache, ached with the Baron, trusted Friar Laurence, and found, through his example, a deeper love of narrative ballet.
Dance Australia extends deepest sympathies to Colin’s family and to his many friends and colleagues across the arts community. Today we stand for his curtain call.
We are thankful to the additional insights into his life and work in an interview by Blazenka Brysha.