Tatiana Riabouchinska
| Tatiana Riabouchinska | |
|---|---|
Tatiana Riabouchinska, c. 1938
Photographer Maurice Seymour |
|
| Native name | Татьяна Михайловна Рябушинская |
| Born |
Tatiana Mikhailovna Ryabushinskaya 23 May 1917 Moscow, Russian Empire |
| Died | 24 August 2000 (aged 83) Los Angeles, U.S |
| Occupation | Ballerina, ballet instructor |
| Spouse(s) | David Lichine (m. 1943; d. 1972) |
| Children | Tanica Lichine |
Tatiana Mikhailovna Riabouchinska (Russian: Татья́на Миха́йловна Рябуши́нская, Tatiana Mikhailovna Ryabushinskaya; 23 May 1917 – 24 August 2000) was a Russian American prima ballerina and teacher. Famous at age 14 as one of the three "Baby Ballerinas" of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s, she matured into an artist whom critics called "the most unusual dancer of her generation."
She was born in Moscow a few months before the October Revolution in 1917. Because her father was a banker to the Tsar Nicholas II, the whole family was put under house arrest by revolutionaries. But, with the help of their servants, her mother and the four children escaped and fled through the Caucasus, arriving eventually in the south of France. A few years after they had settled in Paris, where there was a large Russian émigré community, Tatiana, known as Tania, began her ballet studies with Alexandre Volinine, who had trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. She also studied with Mathilde Kschessinska, a friend of the family who had been prima ballerina assoluta of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theaters. Under Volinine's tutelage, the girl developed strength, elevation, and speed; under Kschessinska, quick footwork and lyrical port de bras.
At 14, Riabouchinska was chosen by Nikita Balieff to join his Franco-Russian vaudeville troupe, Le Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris (The Bat Theater), often billed simply as La Chauve-Souris. In the 1931 edition of their revue, which featured Russian songs, dances, and comedy numbers, she appeared in two short ballets, Diana Hunts the Stag and The Romantic Adventures of an Italian Ballerina and a Marquis. In Paris, she was seen by choreographer and ballet master George Balanchine, who quickly signed her for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, then being organized by Colonel Wassily de Basil and his associates. She joined that company after the American tour of La Chauve-Souris. She and two other young dancers in the company became known as the Baby Ballerinas.
...
Wikipedia