S. Hurok Presents; A Memoir of the Dance WorldHurok, Sol
History
S. Hurok Presents; A Memoir of the Dance World
Hurok, Sol
Ballet -- History
Kyasht’s American venture brought her neither fame nor glory. In the
first place, a Shubert Winter Garden spectacle, in 1913, was not a
setting for the classical technique of Ballet; then, for better or
worse, Kyasht was stricken ill with typhoid fever, a mischance that
automatically terminated her contract. But before she became ill, still
on the unhappier side, was the Shubertian insistence that Kyasht should
be taught and that she should perfect herself in the 1913 edition of
“swing,” the “Turkey Trot.” Such was the uninformed and uncaring mind of
your average Broadway manager, that he wanted to combine the delicacy of
the “Turkey Trot,” of unhallowed memory, with what he elegantly
characterized as “acrobatic novelties.”
But Kyasht was saved from this humiliation by the serious fever attack
and returned to London, where she made her permanent home and where, for
the most part, she devoted herself to teaching. As a teacher able to
impart that finish and refinement that is so essential a part of a
dancer’s equipment, she has had a marked success.
Today, she is, as I have said, active in the teaching of ballet
department at that splendid academy, the Sadler’s Wells School, about
which I shall have something to say later on.
_LYDIA LOPOKOVA_
The third of the Maryinsky ladies to settle in England, to whom I cannot
fail to pay tribute, is Lydia Lopokova.
Lopokova is the youngest of the three, having been born in 1891. Her
graduation from the Imperial School was so close to the great changes
that took place in Russian ballet, that she had been at the Maryinsky
Theatre only a few months when, as a pupil of Fokine, she was invited to
join the Diaghileff Ballet, at that time at the height of its success in
its second Paris season.
Writing of Lopokova’s early days at the Imperial School, Karsavina says
in _Theatre Street_: “Out of the group of small pupils given now into my
care was little Lopokova. The extreme emphasis she put into her
movements was comic to watch in the tiny child with the face of an
earnest cherub. Whether she danced or talked, her whole frame quivered
with excitement; she bubbled all over. Her personality was manifest from
the first, and very lovable.”
Of her arrival to join the Diaghileff Company in Paris, Karsavina says:
“Young Lopokova danced this season; it was altogether her first season
abroad. As she was stepping out of the railway carriage, emotion
overcame her. She fainted right away on the piles of luggage. It had
been her dream to be in Paris, she told the alarmed Bakst who rendered
first aid; the lovely sight (of the Gare du Nord) was too much for her.
A mere child, she reminded me again of the tiny earnest pupil when, in
the demure costume of _Sylphides_, she ecstatically and swiftly ran on
her toes.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account