IMAGE
Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
- Date
- ca1928-ca1995
- By
- Wassiliewa, Galina, 1925-1999
- Reference
- PAColl-6125
- Description
This collection includes photographs of Galina Wassiliewa's family life in Lithuania, her career in dance in that country and later, her life in Wellington, New Zealand, (including work as a chambermaid in a Salvation Army home), and her activities in ballet in Wellington over the past half century. The collection includes portraits of many prominent dancers with whom she was associated, or admired, and reviews of her school and ballet productions in local and international publications.
Accompanying information - Identifying notes placed in print enclosures at PAColl-6125-04 have been made by Judy Siers, a colleague of Galina Wassiliewa's and Library researcher.
Arrangement: Negatives at 35mm,25972 to 35mm,27383. Transparencies at PA12-6125. Lantern slides at PA11-216. Albums at PA1-o-935 to 941; PA1-q-731 to 734; PA1-f-216
Galina Wassiliewa was an only child. She was born Galina Ranten (though the most common form of the name used by her on documents and photographs is Rantenaite) in Panevezya, Lithuania, on the 21 September 1925. Her family was well off and able to employ during the 1920s, a maid and a nanny. Her father, Vladimir Ranten (though the most common form of the name used by him was Rantenas), a lawyer, also held the post of Lithuanian State Prosecutor. As a consequence of the Russian occupation of Lithuania in June 1940, her father was dismissed from his position, and in 1941 he and his family fled to Germany. From the age of eight Galina had studied ballet at the Lithuanian State Theatre Ballet School. After graduating she attended master classes in Berlin conducted by Tatjana Gsovsky. She subsequently danced for eight years as a soloist with many of the major ballet companies in Germany, a career, possibly in part resulting from her family's move to Germany in 1941. In September 1944 Galina got a job as a soloist at the Vienna Opera House and was performing there when allied bombing forced the German authorities to close it. In 1945 Galina and her mother fled the advancing Soviet armies, ending up in Munich. There she was employed for three years as a member of a dance group engaged by the American entertainment unit. This work was much better paid than salaries offered by German ballet companies during a period of rampant inflation at the end of the war. Unfortunately, when the occupation ended she found herself unemployed in a displaced persons camp, and being a foreigner she could not get a job. For Galina and her mother return to Lithuania was impossible as Russia had occupied the country for a second time in 1944 and middle class Lithuanians whom it could be construed had collaborated with the Germans were vulnerable. Mass executions and deportations to Siberia were a feature of the new Soviet regime. With her professional experience Galina could have migrated to a number of countries, but only New Zealand would take her 54 year old mother as well. Having lost her Grandmother, her father, and her favourite cousin, during the war, Galina and her mother were all that was left of her immediate family. Determined not to be separated, they signed two-year domestic service contracts and sailed for Wellington in 1949. She met her husband, Wassili (d1983), a musician, in Wellington, very soon after and married him in 1951. They established the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet in Wellington in 1953. Sometime in the late 1950s they also became the New Zealand Branch of the British Association of Russian Classical Ballet. In 1987 Galina retired from running the ballet school which continued until about 1992 as a cooperative. Galina continued to teach, taking private pupils, until shortly before her death in November 1999. Though she talked of returning to visit Lithuania and the countries of her youth, Galina Wassiliewa never left New Zealand after settling here.
Quantity: 13 album(s). 226 colour original photographic print(s). 2278 b&w original photographic print(s). 1303 b&w original negative(s) comprising 49,414 images. 108 colour original negative(s) comprising 379 images. 8 colour original transparency/ies comprising 12 images, 3 of which are glass lantern slides.
- Access restrictions
- Partly restricted - Curator required
- Format
- 13 album(s), 226 colour original photographic print(s), 2278 b&w original photographic print(s), 1303 b&w original negative(s) comprising 49,414 images, 108 colour original negative(s) comprising 379 images, 8 colour original transparency/ies comprising 12 images, 3 of which are glass lantern slides, Photographs
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Copyright
Unknown
Photographs of an unidentified Mexican dance company performing in Wellington
Date: 1960s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PAColl-6125-16
Description: Arrangement: Associated negatives at 35mm, 25979 to 35mm, 26011 Wassili Wassiliew made photograph essays of many ballet and dance companies including this Mexican one, visiting Wellington. According to an ex student of his wife, Keith McEwing, Wassili knew the Edgleys of the Australian Theatre entrepreneur partnership, Edgley and Dawe who toured these companies through Australia and New Zealand. As a result he was able to get into the theatre wings and photograph the dancers in rehearsal and during performances. Quantity: 45 b&w original photographic print(s).
Photographs of ballets performed by the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical B...
Date: 1957-1960
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Andrew, Earle William, 1909-1986
Reference: PA1-o-940
Description: Ballets performed by students of the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet Those photographs not marked "Earle Andrew Wellington NZ" were probably taken by Wassili Wassiliew Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).
The Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet, productions and performances
Date: 1950s-1960s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Andrew, Earle William, 1909-1986; Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PAColl-6125-08
Description: Publicity photographs of stage settings, individual dancers, and the casts of ballets produced by Gallina Wassiliewa. The great days of the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet were the 1950s and 1960s. As well as teaching Galina and Wassili were able to stage full ballet productions in Wellington theatres such as the Opera House. Galina's own students supplied the cast of dancers, and Wassili organised the orchestra which provided the music. In the late 1950s she also toured ballets to Christchurch, Masterton, Palmerston North, and Wanganui. She produced ballets for the Wellington and Lower Hutt Festivals in 1958 and 1959. 1959 included performances of Les Sulphides, Peter and the Wolf, and Strauss waltzes at the Botanic Garden sound shell and Percy's Reserve, Lower Hutt. Thousands turned out to see the Percy's Reserve performances. Quantity: 42 b&w original photographic print(s).
Galina and Wassili Wassiliew's house, their pets, and garden.
Date: 1950s-1990s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PAColl-6125-09
Description: Galina and Wassili Wassiliewa lived at 16 St John Street on the northern side of the Aro Valley and connecting with the very end of the Terrace. Over many years photographs were taken of the living and dining rooms. These often included guests, though more often they are just interior shots or photographs of Galina and her dogs. Galina seems to have kept dogs most of the time she lived in New Zealand, her last being a huge white Pyrenean mountain dog called Tata, and an English labrador called Fedia. She also kept cats. Quantity: 95 b&w original photographic print(s). 135 colour original photographic print(s).
Visiting Ballet companies and a Mexican dance company performing in Wellington, New Zea...
Date: 1960s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PA1-o-941
Description: Photographs of the Leningrad Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet on its 1962 tour, and a Mexican dance company performing in Wellington. Photographed by Wassili Wassiliew in the 1960s. According to one of Galina Wassiliewa's ex students, Keith McEwing, Wassili Wassiliew knew the Edgleys of the Australian theatre entrepreneur partnership, Edgley and Dawe who toured these companies through Australia and New Zealand. As a result he was able to get into the theatre wings and photograph the dancers in rehersal and during performances. Some of his photographs of the Bolshoi's 1962 performances in Wellington were published in "Ballet Today" a British based magazine (May/June 1963, pp 35-36). Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).
Photographs relating to Wassili Wassiliew
Date: 1944-1983
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
Reference: PAColl-6125-30
Description: Photographs of Wassili Wassiliew's time in Germany during and after the Second World War. There are pictures and postcards of towns, people he knew and was associated with, bands and musical groups he worked with, photographs taken on the voyage out to New Zealand, and of people in the displaced persons camp at Pahiatua. There are also a number of portraites of Wassili Wassiliew. Most of the photographs come from the period 1944 to ca 1953 Wassili Wassiliew was born on the 30th of May 1916 in Nizhnedevisk, Russia, a town west south west of Voronezh. His father was Vladimir Wassiliew, and his mother's name was Nadezhda (maiden name Massalitinova). He studied at the Moscow Conservatoire of Music. He was a soldier in the Russian army at the time Hitler invaded Russia. Somehow he managed to defect to the German army where his musical abilities were used, so that by 1945 he was one of a group of musicians located in Berlin. As the Allied armies invaded Germany, Wassili and his collegues left Berlin and the threat of the advancing Russian army and made for the British Sector. There they contacted a British officer who took them under his protection and established them as entertainers in the Britsh army of occupation. A document among his papers dated 17 August 1945 states that he is a member of the D P Concert Party attached to 7th Armoured Division and has been authorised to wear a British uniform. Between 1945 and 1947 documents show that he worked in a number of different places such as Flensberg and Luneburg. By 1947 he was located in Hanover where he remained until he sailed for New Zealand in 1950. In 1951 he married another settler, Galina Ranten, from Lithuania, a professional ballet dancer. In 1953 they set up the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet in Wellington. Wassili's role in this was on the musical side. In particular he formed, led, and conducted the orchestras brought together for the public ballet performances produced by Galina and performed by her students during the 1950s and 1960s. These were large enterprises staged in the Opera House, the St James Theatre or outside in the Botanic Garden. On several occasions productions were also toured. Wassili's other interest was photography, and as well as recording his wife, and her students, he also photographed many of the Russian ballet and other dance groups touring New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966 his ballet photographs were exhibited with ballet costumes and stage designs by Raymond Boyce at the NZ Display Centre, Cuba Street. He was also NZ photo-reporter and critic for the London based magazine "Ballet Today". (Information on Wassili's life in Russia and prior to 1945 is from his birth certificate and supplied by friends, Ian and Katherine Hastings). Quantity: 133 b&w original photographic print(s). 5 colour original photographic print(s). 5 b&w photo-mechanical print(s).
Photographs of Galina Ranten, her family, relatives, and friends
Date: 1915-1932
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
Reference: PA1-o-938
Description: Photos of Galina Rantenaite, her family, relatives, and friends mostly dating from 1932. They show individuals and groups of people in fields, gardens, and outside houses. One photograph is of a group of people in fancy dress at a private party. Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).
Photographs of animals and plants
Date: 1950s-1960s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PAColl-6125-27
Description: Photographs of animals in zoos, or a zoo, including a series of a chimpanzees tea party. Plants mainly from Wassiliew's garden. Quantity: 63 b&w original photographic print(s).
Photographs of Galina Ranten and her family in Lithuania
Date: 1937-1938
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
Reference: PA1-o-936
Description: Photographs of Galina Rantenaite with her mother, other members of her family, and friends. There is one photograph of her in ballet costume. Most photographs show groups associated with houses, gardens and domestic life Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).
The Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet, productions and performances
Date: 1950s-1960s
From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.
By: Andrew, Earle William, 1909-1986; Wassiliew, Wassili, 1916-1983
Reference: PAColl-6125-05
Description: Photographs of stage settings and the casts of ballets produced by Gallina Wassiliewa. Many are publicity photographs taken by Earle Andrew. A number of images taken for promotional purposes feature dancers in settings in the Wellington Botanical Gardens. One series of images by Wassili Wassiliew record Galina and Kenneth Sudell of the London Festival Ballet producing a televised version of the ballet "Joy of Vienna" The great days of the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet were the 1950s and 1960s. As well as teaching Galina and Wassili were able to stage full ballet productions in Wellington theatres such as the Opera House. Galina's own students supplied the cast of dancers, and Wassili organised the orchestra which provided the music. In the late 1950s she also toured ballets to Christchurch, Masterton, Palmerston North, and Wanganui. She produced ballets for the Wellington and Lower Hutt Festivals in 1958 and 1959. 1959 included performances of Les Sulphides, Peter and the Wolf, and Strauss waltzes at the Botanic Garden sound shell and Percy's Reserve, Lower Hutt. Thousands turned out to see the Percy's Reserve performances. Quantity: 145 b&w original photographic print(s).