Throwback Thursday and Olga Spessivtseva
Olga Alexandrovna Spessivtseva was born on July 18, 1895 in Russia. She was said to be one
of the best ballerinas of the twentieth century, with technique beyond the
level of the day.
Spessivtseva
was born into a well-to-do family but her father died when she was a child and
she was sent to an orphanage. At age ten she enrolled at the Imperial Ballet
School in St. Petersburg and there she dedicated herself to ballet. She graduated in
1913 and was a soloist by 1916.
After touring
with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes she returned to Russia and was promoted to Prima
Ballerina. Here she performed the role she is probably best known for: Giselle. She is said to have been the greatest
Giselle, even better than Pavlova according to some sources. George Balanchine said
she was “a beautiful diamond, cool, distant, and perfect.”
In 1919 she
contracted tuberculosis, the same disease that killed her father. But she
survived it and by 1921 she rejoined the Ballet Russes. From there she danced
again in Russia, and then with the Paris Opera. When Diaghilev invited her to
dance Odette at Covent Garden and promised to revive Giselle for her, she
returned to The Ballet Russes. When Diaghilev died, she was devastated.
In 1932 she
did dance Giselle again in England for the Camargo Soviet production at the
Savoy Theatre. However, Spessivtseva’s perfectionism caused problems in many
places. Sometimes her contracts were cancelled. She gave her last performance in
Buenos Aires in 1937.
The war in
Europe caused her to move to the U.S. where she became an advisor to the newly
formed Ballet Theatre (now ABT).
Sadly, in 1943 she had a mental breakdown and was committed to a mental
institution, where she remained for twenty years. Apparently the staff at the
hospital didn’t know who she was and since Spessivtseva’s memory had failed she
was unable to tell them. Thus, her colleagues lost track of her and thought she
must have died. But Anton Dolin, Dale Fern and Felia Doubrovska eventually found
her and had her relocated to the Tolstoy Farm in Valley Cottage, N.Y. She lived there until her death in 1991. She
was 96 years old.
From the Big
Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Ballet Secret #:
”Olga Spessivtseva was a Prima
Ballerina with technique beyond her time.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“There is
a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our
hope, that's our real disaster.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
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