Throwback Thursday and the Mystery of Matilda
Kshesinskaya
Born in Russia on August 31, 1872, Matilda
Kshesinskaya was the first Russian dancer to master 32 fouettés (previously
performed by Italian dancers). She studied with Johansson and Cecchetti at the
imperial Ballet School In St. Petersburg. She joined the Maryinsky Theatre when
she graduated in 1890.
In 1895 she became Prima Ballerina Assoluta,
a title awarded to only one other dancer at the time, Italian ballerina Pierina
Legnani (who is said to have originated the 32 fouettés).
But the mystery surrounding Kshesinskaya
is a romantic one. She was involved with Nicolas II, of the ill-fated Romanov
family. She fell in love with Nicolas, and he called her “Little K”.
In 1892 Kshesinskaya wrote this in her
diary (after Nicolas contacted her about wanting to have her photo): “I cannot describe what happened to me when I
had arrived home. I could not eat and ran away to my room; I was crying and my
heart hurt so much. For the first time I felt that this was not just an
infatuation, as I thought of it before, but that I love the Crown Prince madly
and deeply and that I never shall be able to forget him.” Soon she
moved out of her parent’s house and into a new mansion that Nicolas bought for
her.
The mystery surrounds a newborn baby
(named Celina), the child of Matilde’s brother Joseph. But some believe Celina’s
parents are actually Matilde and Nicholas and that she was adopted by Joseph to
prevent a scandal, (since Nicolas was married at the time). If this is true,
Celina would be the only offspring of the last Russian emperor to survive the
Revolution.
Is this story true? Many do not think
so, but a quote in Nicholas’ diary says: “A
very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I have never thought that two
identical feelings, two loves at the same time, can be compatible within one soul.”
From the Big
Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Factoid #125:
“Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya was involved with the
famous Romanov family.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“I am not
yet ready to be Tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”
- Nicholas
II of Russia
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