The Early Years
From a Melbourne childhood filled with music to the studios of Madame Borovansky and the Kirsova Ballet.
Author · Dancer · Curator of Costume
Sandrushka Whitelaw
A life lived on the stage — as dancer, choreographer, actor and costume curator — and now set to paper in her new book, Mentor of Dance.
Movement, memory
& the art of the stage.
Dance · Theatre · Costume · Writing
The Book ↓
A life in dance
From the stage to the page
Sandy began her career as a professional dancer, choreographer and actor with the Elizabethan Theatre Trust, the Australian Broadcasting Commission and JC Williamson’s. Decades later she returned to Community Theatre as a performer and Costume Designer — a full-circle return to where her story first began.
Along the way she completed a Master of Arts, led a successful Industrial Relations consultancy for thirty-two years, undertook consultancies for the World Health Organization, and became Curator of Costume for the National Trust of South Australia.
Read Sandy’s storyThe new book
Mentor of Dance
The story of F. Maxwell Collis — pioneer of Australian ballet, principal with Ballet Rambert, and founder of the South Australian Ballet Theatre — told by the student whose life he changed.
A Memoir of Maxwell Collis and the South Australian Ballet Theatre. Available now. Purchases are handled securely by Stripe.
Inside the book
A biography that traces Australian ballet from the 1930s to the late twentieth century, and the mentor at its heart.
The Companies
The Borovansky Ballet, Ballet Rambert in London, Ballet Victoria and, finally, Adelaide — Max’s beloved Camelot.
The Legacy
The South Australian Ballet Theatre, the school he built, and the generations of dancers he guided.
Selected photographs
View the gallery
