Alan Alder (1937–2019), dancer and ballet teacher, began his career studying tap and Scottish highland dancing in Canberra. Winning a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in London in 1957, he studied there for a short time before working for a year with the Covent Garden Opera Ballet. In 1958 he joined the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. He was promoted to soloist and toured with the company throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa over the next four years. In 1963 he returned to Australia to join The Australian Ballet as a senior soloist. Promoted to principal artist in 1969, he was a guest artist with the company from 1978 to 1980, dancing the lead in productions including Threshold, Sebastian, Giselle, Lady and the Fool, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Yugen and Carmen. Alder married fellow dancer Lucette Aldous in 1972; they were photographed in their velvet and fur wedding outfits for the Women's Weekly. In the mid-1970s they travelled on invitation to study teaching methods in St Petersburg. Following his departure from The Australian Ballet, Alder taught part-time at the Victorian College of the Arts. From 1983 to 1991 he was head of the dance department at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, and then taught at the Perth Graduate College of Dance. In 2004, Alder and Aldous were jointly recognised as State Living Treasures.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Janice McIllree 2012
© Janice McIllree
Janice McIllree (5 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Dr Sarah Engledow puts four gifts to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection in context.
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