Throwback Thursday and Lucile Grahn
Lucile Grahn was born in 1819 in Denmark. She caught the eye
of August Bournonville at the Royal Danish Ballet school, and he began to
personally oversee her training. When she was fifteen, he took her to Paris and
there she decided she wanted to dance at the Paris Opera. She was, according to
an article from Andros on Ballet, “stubborn
as a mule” http://michaelminn.net/andros/biographies/grahn_lucile/, and this
caused tension between them. When he refused to give his permission for her to
go to Paris, she begged Denmark’s Princess Wilhelmina, and she granted her
permission. Grahn left Denmark forever in 1839.
During her tenure at the Paris Opera, Grahn got her first big break.
She replaced Fanny Elssler in “La Sylphide”. In 1844, she went to Milan, and
then to London. But in 1845 she got an even bigger break: she was
invited by Jules Perrot to perform in the ballet that most people remember her for today: Pas de Quatre.
By 1848 her career had peaked, and she moved to Germany. In
1856, she married tenor Fredrick Young. Sadly, a few years later, an accident on
stage left him in a wheelchair and she became the sole support of the family.
She taught dance and choreographed for the Munich Hoftheatre.
Lucile Grahn outlived her husband by more than twenty years,
and she became a well-known sight walking on the streets of Munich, dressed in all black. She died in 1907 and left her worldly possessions to the city of
Munich, who named a street in her honor.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Ballet Secret #102:
“Lucile Grahn was
a famous Danish ballerina best known for her role in Pas de Quatre.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
"Never throughout history has a man who
lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
― Theodore Roosevelt
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