Laurel Martyn

Infobox Person
name = Laurel Martyn


image_size =
caption = Laurel Martyn in "Vltava", Borovansky Ballet, 1940, National Library of Australia
birth_name = Laurel Gill
birth_date = 1916
birth_place = Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Ballet dancer
spouse = Lloyd Lawton (1945-)
parents =

Laurel Martyn (born 1916, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia ) was an Australian ballerina. She studied under Kathleen Hamilton in Toowoomba, Marjorie Hollinshed in Brisbane, and Phyllis Bedells in London. In 1934 Martyn won a choreographic scholarship from the Association of Operatic Dancing (later the Royal Academy of Dancing) for her first composition "Exile". In 1935, she became the second Australian to win the Adeline Genee gold medal. Martyn joined the Vic-Wells Ballet (later Sadler's Wells Ballet) in 1936 as the first Australian woman to be accepted into the company. By 1938 she was a soloist. In 1938 she returned to Australia and became a dancing teacher. In 1940 she joined Edouard Borovansky's Borovansky Ballet. Martyn left the Borovansky Ballet after her marriage to Lloyd Lawton in 1945.

Works

After leaving the Borovansky Ballet in 1945 Martyn went on to create some of her own dance works. These included "The Sentimental Bloke" in 1952 and "Mathinna" in 1954. Tehse works were inspired by Australian themes as at the time of production, many choreographers were being inspired by Australian themes. "The Sentimental Bloke" used Australian literature for inspiration, maybe for the first time in Australian dance; and her "Mathinna", way ahead of its time, looked at the political, social and racial implications of relationships between Aborigines and white colonial settlers. It was about an Aboriginal girl adopted into white society, most likely as a result of the stolen generation. [

[http://www.australiadancing.org/subjects/42.html Australia Dancing - Martyn, Laurel (1916 - ) ] ]

[http://www.australiadancing.org/subjects/42.html Australia Dancing - Martyn, Laurel (1916 - ) ] ]

References

[Making Australian Dance: Themes and Variations, By Michelle Potter]