Lubov Tchernicheva

Lubov Tchernicheva
Lubov Tchernicheva, from a 1915 publication.
Lubov Tchernicheva, from a 1915 publication
BornSeptember 17, 1890
St. Petersburg
DiedMarch 1, 1976
Surrey, England
NationalityRussian, British
Other namesLiubov Pavlovna Chernysheva, Luba Tchernicheva, Lubov Tchernichowa
Occupationdancer

Lubov Tchernicheva (Любовь Павловна Чернышёва; 1890–1976) was a Russian ballet dancer. She danced with the Ballets Russes from 1911 to 1929, and continued dancing professionally into her sixties.

Early life

Lubov Pavlovna Tchernicheva was born in St. Petersburg in 1890, and trained there at the Imperial Ballet Academy.[1]

Career

Lubov Tchernicheva and Léonide Massine as the tsarina and the tsarevich in the 1916 production of the Ballets Russes' L'Oiseau de Feu.

Tchernicheva danced with the Mariinsky Ballet from 1908 to 1911, and with the Ballets Russes from 1911 to 1929.[2] She was ballet mistress of the Ballets Russes from 1926 to 1929. She created roles in The Good Humoured Ladies (1917), La Boutique Fantasque (1919), Pulcinella (1920), Les Noces (1924), Les Fâcheux (1924), Zéphire et Flore (1925), Jack-in-the-Box (1926), The Triumph of Neptune (1926), Le Pas d'acier (1927), Apollon musagète (1928),[3] The Gods Go a-Begging (1928), and Francesca da Rimini (1937). In 1932 she became ballet mistress of the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo,[4] and was active in that organization until it dissolved in 1952. She danced in a revival of Fokine's Thamar at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1935.[5] Her last dancing role was in 1957, at age 66, as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at La Scala.

In the 1950s, Tchernicheva and her husband produced Russian ballets in London and New York,[6] [7] including a 1954 revival of The Firebird starring Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes.[8] The couple were jointly honored with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in 1966, for the services to dance. She continued teaching in England, into the 1970s.[1]

Personal life

Tchernicheva married ballet director Serge Grigoriev in 1909. They had a son, Vsevolod, whose wife Tamara Grigorieva was also a dancer.[9] Tchernicheva was widowed when he died in 1968. She died in 1976 in Richmond, Surrey, England, aged 85 years.[1] Her papers are in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Lubov Tchernicheva - Oxford Reference". www.oxfordreference.com. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  2. ^ Garafola, Lynn; Baer, Nancy Van Norman; Baer, Nancy (1999). The Ballets Russes and Its World. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300061765.
  3. ^ Scholl, Tim (2003-09-02). From Petipa to Balanchine: Classical Revival and the Modernisation of Ballet. Routledge. ISBN 9781134873074.
  4. ^ Tennant, Victoria; Baronova, Irina (2014-10-15). Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226167169.
  5. ^ John, 'Thamar' Revived by Ballet Russe (October 12, 1935). "Martin". The New York Times. p. 13 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Wearing, J. P. (2014-09-16). The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893085.
  7. ^ Martin, John (September 13, 1957). "Dance: New 'Petruchka'". The New York Times. p. 14 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ Pritchard, Jane (2012-12-11). "The Firebird: A 'riot of rich colour and fantastic movement'". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  9. ^ Whitelock, Trafford W. (December 26, 1938). "Famous Family Maintains Ballet Tradition". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 22. Retrieved April 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Collection: Lubov Tchernicheva papers | HOLLIS for Archival Discovery". hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-14.