S. Hurok Presents; A Memoir of the Dance WorldHurok, Sol
History
S. Hurok Presents; A Memoir of the Dance World
Hurok, Sol
Ballet -- History
In 1923, Egorova founded her own school in Paris, and has been teaching
there continuously since that time. Many famous dancers have emerged
from that school, dancers of all nationalities, carrying the gospel to
their own lands.
The basic method of ballet training has altered little. Since the last
war, there have been some new developments in teaching methods. Although
the individual methods of these three ladies from the Maryinsky may
have differed in detail, they have all had the same solid base, and from
these schools have come not only the dancers of today, but the teachers
of the future.
_TAMARA KARSAVINA_
The Russian _emigré_ dancers would seem to have distributed themselves
fairly equally between Paris and London, (excluding, of course, those
who have made the States their permanent home). While the three
Maryinsky ladies I have discussed became Parisian fixtures, another trio
made London their abiding place.
Most important of the London trio was Tamara Karsavina, who combined in
her own person the attributes of a great dancer, a great beauty, a great
actress, a great artist, and a great woman. John van Druten, the noted
playwright, sums her up thus: “I can tell you that Tamara Karsavina was
the greatest actress and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, the
incarnation of Shakespeare’s ‘wightly wanton with a velvet brow, with
two pitch-balls stuck in her face for eyes,’ and that I wrote sonnets to
her when I was twenty.”
Born in 1885, the daughter of a famous Russian dancer and teacher,
Platon Karsavin, Karsavina, unlike the Ladies of the Maryinsky who have
made Paris their home, was ready for change: that change in ballet that
is sometimes called the Romantic Revolution. She was receptive to new
ideas, and became identified with Fokine and Diaghileff and their
reforms in ballet style.
Diaghileff had to have a _ballerina_ for his company, and it soon became
obvious to both Fokine and Diaghileff that Pavlova would not fit into
their conception of things balletic. The modest, unassuming, charming,
gracious, beautiful and enchanting Karsavina took over the _ballerina_
roles of the Diaghileff Company. It was in 1910 that Karsavina came into
her own with the creation of the title role in _The Firebird_, and a
revival of _Giselle_. Her success was tremendous. The shy, modest Tamara
Karsavina became _La Karsavina_; without the guarantee of her presence
in the cast, Diaghileff was for many years unable to secure a contract
in numerous cities, including London.
All through her career, a career that brought her unheard of success,
adulation, worship, Karsavina remained a sweet, simple, unspoiled lady.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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