David Lichine
| David Lichine | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Дэвид (Давид) Лишин |
| Born |
Deivid Lichtenstein October 25, 1910 Rostov-on-Don, Russian Empire |
| Died | June 26, 1972 (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | dancer, choreographer, teacher |
| Years active | 1928–1972 |
| Spouse(s) | Lubov Rostova (m. 1933–divorced) Tatiana Riabouchinska (m. 1943–1972) |
David Lichine (Russian: Дэвид (Давид) Лишин; 25 October 1910 – 26 June 1972) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and choreographer. He had an international career as a performer, ballet master, and choreographer, staging works for many ballet companies and for several Hollywood film studios.
Born in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia as Давид Лихтенштейн, which is usually romanized as David or Deivid Lichtenstein or Liechtenstein. Right after the October Revolution in 1917 his family left Soviet Russia and eventually settled in Paris, where their surname became fixed as Lichine, in the French style. As a teenager, David began his ballet training with the leading Russian expatriate teachers in the city, including Lubov Egorova, Pierre Vladimiroff, and Bronislava Nijinska. Progressing quickly, he made his professional debut at age eighteen with Ida Rubenstein's company in 1928 and then went on to dance with companies headed by Anna Pavlova, Nijinska, and others. His technical finesse and exotic beauty of face and form soon made him an audience favorite.
In the re-formation of Russian ballet companies after the death of Serge Diaghilev, Lichine became a charter member of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, founded in January 1932 by Col. Wassily de Basil, René Blum, and Serge Grigoriev. As a principal dancer, Lichine stayed with de Basil's company from its inception until 1941, headlining the company through all its subsequent renamings, which finally ended as Original Ballet Russe in 1939. During his years with the company, Lichine danced in many ballets, creating roles in George Balanchine's Cotillion, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Suites de Danse (all, 1932) and Léonide Massine's Jeux d'Enfants (1932), Choreartium (1933), Les Présages (1933), and Union Pacific (1934). A versatile and engaging demi-caractère dancer, he is also remembered for a brilliant rendition of Petipa's fluttering Bluebird in Aurora's Wedding and for a sensual portrayal of the title role in Nijinsky's L'Après-midi d'un Faune.
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