Resident Spotlight | Colin Peasley shining on!

We are always delighted to learn more about our residents’ lives. They are so often filled with excitement, joy and adventure – and it truly reminds us how rich a person’s life is and continues to be – when they join one of our residential aged care communities.

Colin Peasley, a resident of our Baptcare Westhaven community is no exception. Recently, Colin was the subject of a beautiful photo portrait series taken by local Melbourne artist Renee Broders, herself a regular visitor to Westhaven residents.

Renee, who is relatively new to the photography medium, used her father’s old camera to take a photo of Colin in makeup and costume, harking back to his days as a professional ballet dancer with the Australian Ballet Company. After meeting Colin at Baptcare during one of her resident visits, Renee was so moved hearing about his incredible life that she asked if she could paint or take his photo, and Colin said yes!

Renee remembers the photo shoot day fondly. “As soon as the camera was on him, Colin transformed,” Renee said. She was able to take three images and remembers Colin staring the camera down with a special intensity. She knew that she’d captured something unique.

“I felt like I gave him the gift of being seen as a performer again.”

When Renee showed Colin her photos and asked him what he thought, Colin exclaimed: “Looking at this photograph of myself, I look beautiful!”

Of the three photos that were printed, the colour photo (featured above) was chosen by Renee and she entered the image into the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize award presented by the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPH). This is a competitive and highly prestigious award in Australia. Out of 750 entrants, Renee’s photo of Colin was one of the 74 finalists chosen for this award. The winner was announced at a ceremony on 12 September 2024 at the Museum of Australian Photography.

Renee called the image Shine on you crazy diamond! A testament to Colin’s character. The photo was well received and she was very proud to be one of the finalists. It is an outstanding achievement and we wish her much success for the future.

Colin Peasley pictured with Queen Elizabeth II in 1988

Colin Peasley is no stranger to the limelight. He was accepted to join the Australian Ballet Company in its inaugural year, 1962. Before he discovered his love of classical ballet, Colin was a professional ballroom dancer. He also learned tap dancing, acrobatic dancing, jazz and even spent some time learning from the expressive dance legend Gertrud Bodenwieser and it wasn’t long before his passion and natural talents landed him at his first classical ballet class in Sydney at the age of 21.

Colin first performed with the Australian Ballet Company in Swan Lake as a member of the corps de ballet. In his years at the company he became a talented character ballet dancer, delighting audiences with famous character roles such as Gamache in Rudolf Nureyev’s production of Don Quixote, Dr. Coppelius in Coppelia, The Baron in The Merry Widow and Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet. (Editor’s note: As an avid ballet fan, I have watched Colin in many ballets, and it was a personal honour to meet him at Westhaven recently.)

Colin was made a lifelong member of The Australian Ballet Company in 2012 and has had the longest full-time career at a ballet company ever. 50 years long!

Throughout his career, Colin has achieved many amazing things. He performed for -(and met!) -Queen Elizabeth II in 1988 at The Royal Opera House in London; he received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM ) for his contribution to Australian ballet dancing; he toured internationally with the Australian Ballet Company in the 1960s with Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, (the most famous dancers in the world at that time) and Colin also had a role in the film version of the ballet Don Quixote in 1973, directed by Rudolph Nureyev. The shoes Colin wore for his role as Gamache were gold painted and are now part of the Arts Centre Ballet Collection. He also taught at the Australian Ballet School for 15 years and was heavily involved with the Australian Ballet education and curriculum program.

Image Courtesy of The Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne,
gift of the Australian Ballet, 2012. 2012.022.001 | Australian Performing Arts Collection

Though Colin officially retired in 2012, his final curtain call with the Australian Ballet Company was in 2018 as the Baron in The Merry Widow in 2018.

Though Colin wasn’t able to attend the Bowness awards event with Renee, she told him all about it when she next saw him. Renee still visits Colin weekly for a chat and a laugh.

We’d like to thank Colin for all his wonderful contributions to the dance world and thank Renee for her amazing photography of Colin. We are so delighted to be able to share Colin and Renee’s story with the wider Baptcare community.

Cover Image Courtesy of Renee Broders and the Museum of Australian Photography.