Carolyn: They’re Dancing for You

Carolyn Rappel with Robert Helpmann in Facade for the Australian Ballet 1972 . Doesn't she look just great. My friend. (courtesy: National Library of Australia)

Can never catch the Don Quixote ballet without thinking of someone who meant so much to me in the 1980s.

While I was loving the Queensland Ballet’s new production of the Don Q–    wonderfully reconceived by AD Francois Klaus – could not help but think of Carolyn Rappel being there.

She had danced with the Australian Ballet – notably the Rudolf Nureyev film of the Australian Don Q – and then  reinvented herself as an more than able arts administer at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex (QPAC).

Carolyn helped pioneer the children’s festival at QPAC, Out of the Box, but from a purely personal point of view was a great friend to me.  I miss those conversations. Carolyn was born 1947, but died 2010 too young.
Out of the Box performance festival for children http://www.outoftheboxfestival.com.au/