Career
He died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome related illness in 1992. Born in Melbourne, Coe was spotted, at the age of 16, Dame Peggy van Praagh when she was recruiting for the newly formed Australian Ballet. Within just four years, he became a soloist with the company.
Some of Coe"s most notable roles with the Australian Ballet include those of Albrecht in Giselle (1969, 1976, 1986), as Espada in Don Quixote (directed by Rudolf Nureyev), in 1973.
Coe performed with many international female artists including Carla Fracci, Valentina Koslova and Galina Samsova, Maina Gielgud, Eva Evdokimova, Elisabetta Terabust and Margot Fonteyn. He partnered with Australians Elaine Fifield, Marilyn Jones and Marilyn Rowe.
In 1978, the pair became the first Australian artists to appear as guests of the Bolshoi Ballet when they perform the leading roles of Don Quixote. In 1974, Coe danced with the London Festival Ballet where he performed Les Sylphides and The Prodigal Son.
In that year, he also danced with several American dance companies.
He later returned to Australia to dance under ballet director Maina Gielgud in the 1980s. Coe joined Graeme Murphy at the Sydney Dance Company in 1982. In 1985, he returned to the faculty of the Australian Ballet School and taught there until 1991.
The Australian Ballet now award the annual Kelvin Coe Memorial Scholarship to promising young ballet artists.
The Independent by Noel Goodwin, 11 July 1992 The New York Times, 16 July 1992.
