Karsavina Tamara Platonovna - the famous Russian ballerina, the famous ballet dancer Diaghilev. During her long life, she experienced many worries and worries, difficulties and trials, but she was forever remembered by grateful spectators as a talented performer of complex and intricate stunts.
Tamara Karsavina (years of life 1888 - 1978) created on the stage more than a dozen bright, unforgettable images, talentedly conveying the emotions, feelings and feelings of her characters with a dance.
What is remarkable about this dancer? What is her creative activity and personal life? You will find answers to these and many other questions in this article. Also here are photos of Tamara Karsavina on stage and in everyday life.
Talented parent
Biography of Tamara Karsavina originates in Tsarist St. Petersburg, where the future famous ballerina was born in the spring of 1885, in the family of the talented dancer Platon Karsavin, who served in the Imperial Theater. Father, possessing a masterly technique of performing jumps and pirouettes, did not become an outstanding artist, but nevertheless, after retiring, he exercised his right to become a hereditary honorary citizen of the Russian Empire.
This happened six years after the birth of Tamara. However, ceasing to speak, the father did not leave the scene. For some time he taught ballet mastery at the theater school of St. Petersburg.
According to the memoirs of Tamara Karsavina āTheater Streetā, the family did not live well, often experiencing material difficulties. Because of this, the parents of the future ballerina were often forced to change their place of residence in search of an apartment cheaper and better.
But, despite all life's difficulties and problems, his father was the real head of the family. He introduced children to art, instilled in them a love of dance and music, encouraged them to pay attention to their creative potential.
Another recollection of Tamara Karsavina about the influence of her father on her life is connected with the parent library, which she read from the age of six. Complete works of Pushkin, Lermontov and other classics became real guides for the subtle and sensual soul of the future ballerina Tamara Karsavina. The poetry and prose of these literary geniuses taught life and provided a lot of material for thought.
The girlās understanding, early maturing soul was deeply imbued with the ideals of classical works, she sensitively perceived their essence and their meaning.
Strict mother
The mother of the future ballerina Tamara Karsavina, Anna Iosifovna Khomyakova, was a rather strict, but loving parent. She never spoiled the children, tried to instill in them moral and spiritual norms, but at the same time, the woman was sensitive and attentive to her babies. They always knew that mom would forgive everything, that mom would understand everything.
Children grew up, and Anna Iosifovna tried to help them choose their own path in life. She developed the talents of her son and daughter, providing for this the necessary opportunities and means.
Very soon, the woman noticed that Tamarochka likes to dance, that she does some good pirouettes. Then Anna Iosifovna decided to send the baby to a ballet school in order to develop her natural talents and inclinations.
Controversial issue
Watching the daughterās dance technique, the father also saw in her extraordinary abilities. There was something in the girlās dance that made me wonder and admire at the same time. It was not tenderness or smoothness. Tamaraās performance was not inherent in some expressionism or intensity. Not. However, the girl so peculiarly, so originally conveyed the emotions of music that it was simply impossible to reject her talent and innate skill.
And yet the father did not want to see his daughter a ballerina. He knew too much about this profession, too often he was behind the scenes of theatrical performances to allow his own child to get into this hornet's nest.
He saw the character of his heiress and considered her a modest and vulnerable young lady, unable to withstand terrible intrigues and the harsh treatment of the theater team.
However, the mother, seeing the talent of her favorite and her ardent desire to dance, insisted that the girl try to pass the exams at the ballet school. What came of this?
Training
Tamara Karsavina got into ballet at the age of ten, when she impressed the selection committee of the Imperial Theater School with her dancing abilities. She was accepted, despite the great competition and limited availability.
And it could not be otherwise. The girl was distinguished by pleasant manners, having good looks and suitable growth. Karsavina Tamara, both in childhood and in adulthood, did not differ either in a too large article or in an excessively fragile figure. Graceful, flexible and flexible, she seemed like a real little princess.
At the educational institution, Tamara Karsavina was able to overcome her natural shyness and become more relaxed and more artistic. In addition, thanks to her perseverance and constant training, she was able to achieve the necessary heights in the manner of execution. Now, her dance compositions were inherent in the noble grace and jewelry accuracy, so necessary for each ballerina.
What was behind this progress? As the dancer herself admits, she was tough and inexorably engaged, torturing herself with additional training in the evenings and on weekends. And the result was worth it.
First steps on the big stage
Immediately after graduating from the school (which happened in 1902), Tamara Karsavina was accepted into one of the ballet troupes of the Mariinsky Theater, where she immediately began to sympathize with Matilda Kshesinskaya, a prima ballerina and dance teacher. However, another talented performer, Anna Pavlova, did not like the young dancer. As Tamara Karsavina repeatedly wrote in her memoirs, Anna Pavlovna humiliated her several times with everyone and tried to ridicule or insult her. Perhaps the older Pavlova saw her rival and rival in the beginning actress.
One of the first performances of Tamara Karsavina on the big stage of the Mariinsky Theater was solo, solo performances. However, later the novice ballerina confidently declared herself as a professional talented dancer.
To a greater extent, this was facilitated by her acquaintance with the main dancer of the theater Mikhail Fokin, who boldly tried himself in the image of a choreographer. In his first productions, Mikhail Mikhailovich involved Anna Pavlova, but later began to invite the younger and more plastic Karsavina to leading roles. Since then, the direction in the work of Tamara Karsavina was determined - she became a real prima ballet.
In less than a year, the girl shone on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, playing central roles in the famous classical ballets Giselle, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and others.
However, later bitter disappointment awaited her - malaria was discovered in Tamara. The girl went to Italy for treatment with her mother, where she fully recovered and was able to take lessons from the famous Katarina Beretta. Returning to St. Petersburg, she began to dance even better and better, more fans and offers appeared. The tsarās family itself celebrated the artistās performance and sent her their thank you gifts.
Touring Europe
In 1909, Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev founded the ballet company, in which Karsavina was supposed to play a second role after Pavlova. However, Anna Pavlovna, for an unknown reason, quarreled with the troupe leader and left her. Thus, the central place in all the productions was taken by Karsavina Tamara Platonovna.
She had a chance to play magnificent roles, perform on the renowned stages of musical Europe, gain the awe of the public and the approval of critics.
Some brilliant performances of a talented ballerina
Among the most outstanding performances of that period, mention should be made of the one-act pantomime ballet āCarnivalā, first staged by Diaghilev in his āRussian Seasonsā in the spring of 1910. At first, the show was held in Berlin, then success repeated in Paris and St. Petersburg.
The ballet was staged in just three days of rehearsals and implied the performance of artists not only on stage, but also in the auditorium. Such an innovative approach was unusual and original, and brought success not only to Karsavina, but to the entire Russian troupe.
Performing the part of Colombina, Tamara Platonovna, dressed as the heroine of Italian comedies, looked charming, and her jewelry pirouettes were subtly combined with some sharpness in movements. Karsavinaās partners in the role of Harlequin were Leonid Leontyev, Vaclav Nizhinsky and Mikhail Fokin.
It is also necessary to recall the one-act ballet The Firebird, written by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and designed by prominent artists and decorators Alexander Golovin and Leon Bakst. The premiere of the production took place at the Paris Grand Opera, in the summer of 1910.
The ballet, based on legends from Russian folklore about the firebird, was an original fusion of rhythm and tenderness, seething emotions and hidden joy. The young composer, worried about his brainchild, was present at all rehearsals, helping Tamara and her partner Mikhail Fokin to realize the fusion of sounds and correctly convey them in his grotesque dance.
The success of the ballet, like the success of Karsavina, was impressive. Many compared it to the language of the flame, burning with its rhythmic movements and caressing with its grace and tenderness of performance.
Watching the artist's dances, the audience was delighted, freezing from her unexpected jumps and pirouettes. The admiration of the audience was manifested in long applause and dumb adoration, accompanying the young prima wherever she went.
The following year, Tamara Karsavina performed in Mikhail Fokinās one-act ballet āThe Phantom of the Roseā or (āThe Vision of the Roseā), staged to music by Karl von Weber and verses by Theophil Gauthier. The premiere of the show took place at the Monte Carlo opera, in the spring of 1911.
The plot of the ballet was an interweaving of memories of a girl who had just returned from her first ball, and her dreams. She remembers her gentlemen and dreams of the only one with whom she will comfortably and calmly dance her whole life. However, with the first rays of the sun, the dance of young lovers breaks off, the ghost of a rose begins to melt, and the girl wakes up.
The leading roles in the production were played by Vaclav Nizhinsky (Phantom of the Rose) and Tamara Karsavina (Girl). They looked so harmonious (not only in this ballet, but also in many other productions) that they went down in history as one of the best ballet couples of that time. Young artists subtly felt not only the musical rhythm, but also each other, which helped them to work harmoniously and fruitfully on numerous joint duets in the future.
Their next successful joint performance was the ballet in four scenes āParsleyā, where young people played the roles of Parsley and Ballerina.
The production premiered in the summer of 1911 in the Paris Chatelet, it was the story of a puppet character in which life woke up and emotions appeared.
The bright and extraordinary talent of young performers was more than ever manifested in the lively and rhythmic music of ballet.
Personal life at the peak of fame
The success of Diaghilevās Russian Ballet was simply phenomenal. The more popular the troupe itself became, the more famous and sought after its artists became. The success of Tamara Karsavina was simply amazing. She impressed everyone not only with her plasticity, beauty and artistry, but with a rich inner world, well-read, educated. Thanks to this, the girl has a lot of fans who want to give her not only her hand, but also her heart.
One of them was promising officer Karl Mannerheim, court physician Sergei Botkin and even choreographer Fokin. However, the artist chose for her husbands a completely different person - a poor and docile aristocrat Vasily Mukhin, who loves music and the dancer herself.
However, this union lasted only a few years. In 1913, the personal life of Tamara Karsavina changed dramatically. Prima met Henry Bruce, the British ambassador to the Russian Empire. The man was so passionate for the artist that he decided to take her from her family to her homeland, where they signed in 1917. Soon, a young woman gave birth to a son.
Naturally, pregnancy and childbirth affected the career of a dancer. For some time, she left the stage to take on the most important role - the role of the mother of the family.
Life abroad
However, Tamara Karsavina was not going to leave the scene. She still shone in Diaghilev's ballet productions, touring with the troupe in Europe and even America.
The most successful post-war performance of the young woman can be called Leonid Myasin's ballet āTriangleā, designed by Pablo Picasso and first staged by the London Alhambra in 1917. Later, the work was re-shown in 1920 in Paris and Monte Carlo.
Ballet was a harmonious combination of classical and folk dances. Written in the style of Spanish folklore, it consisted of several central numbers connected by pantomime scenes.
The plot was simple and straightforward - Melnik (Leonid Myasin) and his Wife (Tamara Karsavina) live in love and harmony, but the Governor (Leonid Vuytsikovsky) is trying to seduce a woman, which leads him to general ridicule.
Other activity
Without leaving the ballet, the young woman simultaneously performed in the English dance ensemble āBalle Rambertā and performed solo compositions in La Scala.
In addition to dancing, the Russian ballerina was engaged in teaching activities. For example, since 1930, for twenty years she served as vice president of the British Dance Academy, where she developed a new technique for recording dance movements.
In the 1920s, the artist participated in the filming of several German and British films, for example, āThe Path to Strength and Beautyā. True, she got secondary, one might even say episodic roles, but still she was involved in the art world and in demand. And that was the most important thing for her.
Life with husband
According to numerous reports, Tamara Karsavina lived with her husband-diplomat in perfect harmony. Henry Bruce was a very polite and gentle person, adoring his wife and admiring her unimaginable talent.
However, as other sources say, not everything was smooth in this union. For example, for a long time there were rumors about a romantic relationship between the American poet of Spanish descent Mercedes de Acosta and the heroine of our article. It is worth mentioning that Mercedes de Acosta is more famous not for her literary works, but for her colorful and long lesbian novels with Hollywood movie stars. Whether the rumors about her ties with Tamara Platonovna are true or is it a figment of the imagination of journalists and paparazzi is not known for certain. However, the issue of sexual orientation of Tamara Karsavina is still open.
The famous dancer in London died at the age of ninety-three years.