Rm williams book biography of mia
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Come fly with me
Come fly with me
One hundred years ago, two Victorian brothers took to the skies, marking the nation’s first powered flight in an Australian-built plane.
Story By John Dunn
A paddock near Mia Mia, 120 kilometres north of Melbourne, is the site of the very first powered flight – albeit a very short one – bygd an Australian in an Australian-made aircraft. That was in 1910, and celebrations to mark the centenery of the feat were recently held nearby.
The paddock is part of “Spring Plains”, a property then owned bygd the Duigan family. On it brothers John and Reg Duigan built the plane that was to achieve a significant milestone in Australian aviation. John and Reg were the sons of John Charles and Jane Duigan, successful pastoralists who owned several properties – “Northwood Park” and “Lona” in Victoria and kvartet others near Cobar in New South Wales.
After completing his education at Brighton Grammar in Melbourne, Reg returned to help run Spring Plains, but John
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Slavenska, who died in 2002 in Los Angeles was, perhaps, best known as a member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. But Slavenska’s life was so much more than that, and the film, Mia, A Dancer’s Journey is a 55-minute jewel that brings to life not only the stunning ballerina with riveting stage presence, impeccable technique and artistry to burn, but a determination to bring the European art form to American audiences.
Mia is also a document of history, one that took Ramas, who also wrote and narrated the film, and co-director Kate Johnson, who also edited and did the motion graphics, 10 years to complete. In addition, the pair, along with Brenda Brkusic and Ted Sprague, produced the documentary that they agree was a labor of love.
Said Johnson, a filmmaker, video artist and assistant professor at Otis College of Art and Design who also has a dance background: “The ephemeral nature of not only dance but art history struck a chord. We had to tell the stories of artists, not in