Dancing on the edge, 1925

Vier waaghalzerij dames dansen vrijuit op de rand van een wolkenkrabber in New York, Verenigde Staten, 1925. | Four daredevil ladies dance freely on the edge of a New York skyscraper, United States, 1925. | src Spaarnestad Photo

Russian dancer Maya, 1923

Carneval. Gekostumeerde feesten. De russische danseres Maja tijdens een bal in Parijs, Frankrijk, 1923. | Carnival. Costumed parties. Russian dancer Maya at a ball in Paris, 1923. | src Het Leven Spaarnestad Photo
Carneval. Gekostumeerde feesten. De russische danseres Maja tijdens een bal in Parijs, Frankrijk, 1923. | Carnival. Costumed parties. Russian dancer Maya at a ball in Paris, 1923. | src Het Leven Spaarnestad Photo
Carneval. Gekostumeerde feesten. De russische danseres Maja tijdens een bal in Parijs, Frankrijk, 1923. | Carnival. Costumed parties. Russian dancer Maya at a ball in Paris, 1923. | src Het Leven Spaarnestad Photo

Margot, lead mannequin for Lucile, 1922

Margot, lead mannequin at the salon of Lucile, aka Lady Lucy Duff Gordon in the 1920s. Lucile pioneered the use of models and ‘mannequin parades’, a forerunner of the catwalk show. Unattributed photograph, published in The Sketch magazine, 17 May 1922. | src Mary Evans Picture Library

Vera Shabshay in «Aleph»

Vera Shabshay (also Shabshai, Shabashai or Shabshaj) (1905-1988) in the Dance of the Slave. From the ballet “Aleph”, choreographed and produced by Vera Shabshay, Moscow, season 1930-1931. Costume by N.P. Lamanova and N.S. Iznar | src The Museum of Russian Art in Israel on Fb / המוזיאון לאמנות רוסית

From 1926 to 1934, Vera Shabshai (1905 – 1988) created about a hundred miniatures ballets, mainly on Jewish themes, to the music of composers from the Society of Jewish Music. These choreographic numbers, combined into suites on a specific theme, made up the extensive repertoire of “Evenings of Jewish Dance” and “Evenings of Jewish Ballet and Pantomime” organized by Shabshai in the seasons of 1929-1930 and 1930-1931.

The most popular piece of these ballets was the Jewish pantomime-ballet “Aleph”, in which she said she wanted to express through plastic means various moments of Jewish history from antiquity to the present day. It consisted of six pats or cycles: “Jewish Bas-reliefs”, “Mourning dances”, “Jews in Spain”, “Shtetl dances” and the pantomime “ Smena / Change”.