The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Ruth Helfgott was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1929. With the increased threat to Jewish people in Germany, Ruth’s father moved the family to Sydney in 1938. Here Ruth received formal dance training from Madame Getrud Bodenwieser. She danced briefly with the Borovansky Ballet and then joined Ballet Rambert during its Australian tour of 1947-1949. She left Australia with Ballet Rambert when the company returned to England.

In England, Ruth trained under Russian ballerina Vera Volkova before joining the Roland Petit company in Paris and then, after studies with Victor Gsovsky, the Marquis de Cuevas company.

Ruth returned to Australia in the early 1950s and joined the National Theatre Ballet. In 1953 she married Peter Frank and the following year she opened a ballet school in Northbridge and formed the Yongala Ballet.

In the 1960s Ruth choreographed a number of ground breaking ballets for Ballet Australia. The year 1967 saw her perform her own ballet at the Montreal Expo and attend classes at the New York City Ballet and the Martha Graham School of Modern Dance. At this time she also accepted an invitation to work as a guest choreographer at the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv. Later in 1967 Ruth formed the professional company, The New Dance Theatre, which was renamed Red Opal Dance Theatre in 1989.