Throwback
Thursday and Lydia Sokolova
I seem to be
starting a series on dancers who changed their names. Today it is Lydia
Sokolova, an English ballet dancer, whose real name was Hilda Tansley Munnings.
She was born in 1896.
Her career
began in 1910 in London, at the Savoy Theatre – she would have been fourteen
years old. She soon joined Mikhail Mordkin’s company for a tour of the U.S. and
then the Koslov company for a tour of Europe. In 1913, at the age of 17, she
joined Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes – becoming the company’s first English
ballerina. Her most famous role was that of the Chosen Maiden in Massine’s
reworking of The Rite of Spring.
After the
Ballet Russes, Sokolova returned to England where she taught, coached,
choreographed and even performed. Her last appearance onstage was in 1962 in the
Covent Garden Royal Ballet performance of
Massine's The Good-humoured Ladies.
Lydia
Sokolova wrote her autobiography called Dancing
for Diaghilev (1960).
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Factoid #181:
“Lydia
Sokolova's most famous role was that of the Chosen Maiden in Léonide Massine's reworking of The Rite of Spring.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
"He [Diaghilev]
knew there was going to be trouble…"
-
Lydia
Sokolova (about the performance of Rite of Spring that caused a riot)
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