Throwback Thursday and Tamara Geva
Tamara Geva was born in St. Petersburg, Russian on March 17,
1907. Her parents were not officially married until she was six, because her
father’s (Levko Gevergeyev) parents disapproved of his choice for a wife (she
was Muslim). Her father was wealthy, so Tamara lived in a huge home that
included a theater and museum. She began ballet lessons with a private
instructor, but after the Russian revolution allowed children of non-Christian
backgrounds to enroll, she began studying at the famous Maryinsky. Here she met
George Balanchine who was teaching ballroom dance. They married in 1923.
In 1924 they left the Soviet Union and came to New York. Soon,
they separated. One source (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tamara-Geva) states
that in 1927 she introduced New York to Balanchine’s choreography.
In 1936 she and Ray Bolger appeared in “On Your Toes”,
partially choreographed by Balanchine. Reviewer Brooks Atkinson wrote in The
New York Times that Miss Geva ''is so
magnificent as the mistress of the dance that she can burlesque it with the
authority of an artist on a holiday.''
After 1935 (when she appeared with America Ballet Theatre),
she devoted her life to theater and movies, appearing in such movies as: “Their
Big Moment'' (1934), ''Manhattan Merry-Go-Round'' (1937) and ''Orchestra
Wives'' (1942). Plus, she choreographed the dances in ''Specter of the Rose''
(1946), a movie about a ballerina who falls in love with an insane dancer.
She published her autobiography “Split Second” in 1972.
She died in 1997 at age 91.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Factoid
#149:
“Tamara Geva introduced Balanchine’s choreography to New
York.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“Let there be spaces in your
togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.”
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