Tag: ballets russes

Ekaterina Galanta, 1917

Ira L. Hill’s studio (NYC) :: Russian ballet dancer Ekaterina Galanta, 1917. | src University of Washington Libraries | hi-res here

Sydney Fox Studio

:: Olga Spessiva in Swan Lake costume,
Sydney, Australia, 1934. | src NSW State Library

Olga
Spessivtzeva (billed Spessiva for phonic simplicity or maybe to make
the name more the same length as “Pavlova” who had toured six years
before on her Australian tour).

“To Mary Marlowe, Olga Spessiva”, signature on the bottom right hand corner.

Boris Lipnitzki :: Olga Spessiva in Giselle, probably 1930s. | src barcarole

Olga
Spessivtzeva (billed Spessiva for phonic simplicity or maybe to make
the name more the same length as “Pavlova”.

She was most famous for dancing Giselle, a ballet in which a young girl goes mad from grief when she discovers her lover is betrothed to another. When she first danced the role of Giselle she researched the role by visiting asylums and watching the way the patients moved and behaved.  According to her dance partner Pierre Vladimirov “Her Giselle… breathed a genuine insanity, not theatrical illusion. Giselle seemed to be an extension of her own existence“.

She toured the world with the Ballet Russes and later joined the Paris Opera Ballet, but sadly her fears followed her wherever she went and she eventually broke down on stage in Sydney Australia in 1937.

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Vera Fokina by Atelier Jaeger

Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913 [detail] | src BnF · Gallica
Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913 [detail] | src BnF · Gallica
Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913 | src BnF · Gallica
Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913. | src BnF · Gallica
Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913 [detail, v] | src BnF · Gallica
Atelier Jaeger (Stockholm) :: Dancer Vera Petrovna Fokina (1886-1958) in Cléopâtre, choreographic drama in one act. Choreography by Michel Fokine. Stockholm Royal Theatre, 1913 [detail] | src BnF · Gallica

Maurice Beck & Helen Macgregor :: Choreographer and dancer Léonide Massine in costume for the Ballets Russes’ ballet Le Carnaval, playing a small mandolin, seated in a reclined position with one foot resting on the opposite knee, wearing a costume designed by Leon Bakst consisting of beret, blouson pants, and an embroidered robe. Published in Vanity Fair, November 1st, 1923 | src: Condé Nast via Getty

Sasha (Alexander Stewart) :: Alicia Nikitina & Serge Lifar in Ballets Russes’ La Chatte, 1927. “La
Chatte” (The ‘She’ Cat) is a ten-minute piece
with set and costumes by avant-garde artists Naum Gabo and Antoine
Pevsner.  It was created in 1926-27 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
and it starred Serge Lifar as the Young Man and Alicia Nikitina and
Olga Spessivtzeva in the title role. The music was written by Henri
Sauguet and choreographed by George Balanchine. / source: Flickr

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