Alexandra Balashova
Alexandra Balashova | |
|---|---|
| File:AlexandraBalashova1912.tif Alexandra Balashova, from a 1912 publication | |
| Born | 3 May 1887 |
| Died | 5 January 1979 (aged 91) Paris, France |
| Spouse | Alexei K. Ushkov |
Alexandra Mikhailovna Balashova (Russian: Александра Михайловна Балашова; 3 May 1887 — 5 January 1979), also seen as Aleksandra Balashova or Alexandra Balachova, was a Russian ballet dancer, and later a dance teacher and choreographer.
Early life
[edit | edit source]Alexandra Balashova was born in Moscow. She was educated at the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School.
Career
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Balashova was a principal dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre starting in 1905. She often danced with Mikhail Mordkin,[1] and was known for such roles as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Odette/Odille in Swan Lake. She performed in London in 1911, replacing Yekaterina Geltzer;[2] for publicity, London bootmakers were challenged to fit "her marvelous instep" from their stock.[3] She left Russia in 1921 and danced for about ten more years in Western Europe, then taught, while living in France.[4] Among her students was dance notation expert Jacqueline Challet-Haas.[5] In 1946 Balashova was credited as choreographer on a production of La fille mal gardée in London.[6]
Russian artist Filipp Malyavin painted her portrait in 1924, when they were both living in Paris.[7]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Balashova married Alexei K. Ushkov as his second wife. They left Russia in 1921, taking a residence in Isadora Duncan's former apartment in Paris. Balashova died in 1979, aged 91, in a rest home near Paris.[8][9] There is a box of her papers, mostly correspondence and photographs, at Amherst University.[10]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Mikhail Mordkin Photographs, New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts.
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- ^ "Russian Danseuse Captivates Peers" Washington Herald (August 20, 1911): 9. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
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- ^ Filipp Andreevich Maliavin, Portrait of the Ballerina Alexandra Balashova (1923), at The Athenaeum.
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- ^ "Obituaries in the News: Alexandra Balachova" Sheboygan Press (January 12, 1979): 10. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
- ^ Aleksandra Balashova Papers 1912-1975, Amherst Center for Russian Culture.
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