Dancing In Petersburg

There have been wonderful books about dancing, and superbly evocative ones about old Russia: but here the two themes are fascinatingly wedded. For these are the memoirs of the prima ballerina assoluta of the imperial Russian ballet, Mathilde Kschessinska (the Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky), with whom, at her first appearance, the Tsarevitch Nicholas fell in love. As a dancer she had few rivals: apart from her marvellous technique she had a star personality, and was adored by the public. At the height of her fame she appeared in London with Diaghilev's company and danced with Nijinsky: she preferred, however, to dance in Russia, and for twenty years she was the adored darling of the great world of Petersburg. After the Revolution, when she was living as an emigre in the South of France, Diaghilev begged her to dance for him in his new Paris season, but to no avail. Kschessinska's memoirs fall roughly into three parts: the glittering fairy-story of her life as prima ballerina in Russia; her flight during the Revolution; and the era in which she established herself as a teacher of the highest rank. It is an extraordinary self-revelation of a great dancer and an utterly human person.

Mathilde Kschessinska, Prima ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre in pre-Revolutionary Russia, tells her life story in these moving and dramatic memoirs.

Mathilde Kschessinska, Prima ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre, tells her life story in these moving and dramatic memoirs. Born in Imperial Russia in 1872, Kschessinska came from a family of dancers and was trained in ballet. Noted as a great talent from youth, Kschessinska's destiny was shaped by her debut performance: she won the praise of visiting Russian royalty and met the young man who was to become the future Tsar Nicholas II. The two became romantically involved for three years, until the young Grand Duke was betrothed to the future Empress Alexandra. Perhaps the most dramatic and harrowing passages of this memoir date to the Russian Revolution: the sudden plunge of the nation into chaos and anarchy, and the danger the author was in as a known associate of Russia's royal family, is told. By sheer fortune, Kschessinska and her husband were able to escape to France, but not after a series of close calls amid the melee of Russia's devastating civil war.

Mathilde Kschessinska, Prima ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre, tells her life story in these moving and dramatic memoirs. Born in Imperial Russia in 1872, Kschessinska came from a family of dancers and was trained in ballet. Noted as a great talent from youth, Kschessinska's destiny was shaped by her debut performance: she won the praise of visiting Russian royalty and met the young man who was to become the future Tsar Nicholas II. The two became romantically involved for three years, until the young Grand Duke was betrothed to the future Empress Alexandra. Perhaps the most dramatic and harrowing passages of this memoir date to the Russian Revolution: the sudden plunge of the nation into chaos and anarchy, and the danger the author was in as a known associate of Russia's royal family, is told. By sheer fortune, Kschessinska and her husband were able to escape to France, but not after a series of close calls amid the melee of Russia's devastating civil war.

"Vera Krasovskaya, who knew Vaganova intimately and was a direct eyewitness to many of the described incidents, provides a window into the personality and thinking of this great teacher and brings her own unique insight into the world of classical ballet during the era of Tsarist Russia and the early Soviet years."--BOOK JACKET.