Unlike a millennial, I’m starting a blog in the middle to late stage of this research project. After being away from Malta for over 17years, I find myself writing/editing a book on a ballet pioneer in Malta during its heyday as a British colony and until its independence from the Crown.

I am currently on maternity leave. I add this because, being away from my academic job in dance studies, has given me time to reflect on the material I have collected since 2014. A couple of years ago, I interviewed my former ballet teacher at the University of Malta’s first performing arts conference. I was interested in making voices heard, but also learning about women’s dancing lives. So I interviewed Daphne Lungaro-Mifsud. I was thrilled to have another voice come to the forefront: Tanya Bayona‘s wealth of knowledge on the legacy of Princess Natalie Poutiatine complemented the overall theme of the panel. That was March 2014. The start of the Poutiatine Project, as it became affectionally known over the course of the ensuing months and years.

Over the last few years, I have been most generously granted access to Tanya’s collection of Poutiatine’s memorabilia and collection of artefacts from the turn of the 20th Century right through the final photographs from the 1980s. The boxes were a treasure trove, though in my mind, that was part of the archive. I was convinced that other “material” was out there…where I didn’t know. The photographs were starting points. Being a small island, Malta was easy to navigate. Word of mouth: you should speak to so-and-so. Quite remarkably, I met with several of the young women in the photographs, who took classes with Poutiatine from the late 1940s through to the 1980s. Their stories began to shape a narrative, one that was hidden from many for several decades. Their generosity of spirit and love for their beloved teacher resonated unanimously. Many welcomed me into their homes. I am indebted to their honesty, energy and passion for dance. What remarkable women! They are all vital to understanding Poutatine’s story. Yet, Tanya’s vivacious spirit and our shared understanding that Poutiatine’s legacy must be preserved* was instrumental throughout the process. She is a true collaborator.

I am also grateful for the support shown by the National Library of Malta and the National Archive of Malta.

The Poutiatine Project (2014-2019). The end date for this project marks the centenary of Poutiatine’s first arrival in Malta as a fifteen year-old girl. Much of the story unfolds in the 1920s through to the mid-1960s. I know that the process of preparing this initial book manuscript has prompted me to think about other areas. The Art of Ballet. As a scholar invested in the field of ballet, I find the handwritten class notes and music manuscripts utterly mesmerising. I can’t wait for the next chapter to begin.

*Preservation is one of the facets of researching and writing dance histories. However, this particular set of histories opens up to another dimension of writing ballet (or dance) histories beyond their ‘past’. They are performance histories. They need to be ‘lived’. In the present.