Lydia Kyasht (1885-1959). Russian dancer, teacher, director and choreographer Born in St Petersburg in 1885, Lydia Kyasht studied under Pavel Gerdt in a class alongside Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina….
Born in St Petersburg in 1876, Serafina Astafieva became an important teacher in London in the early years of the 20th century. She ran a school on the King’s Road…
The Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts became one of Britain’s most renowned performing arts schools. Opened in Nottingham by Pauline Bush, the school moved to premises in East Grinstead…
Russian Dancer and choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky was a legendary performer in the history of dance. Born in Kiev, he was a brilliant graduate from the Imperial Ballet School, St Petersburg…
Anna Pavlova was born in St Petersburg in 1881, and entered the Imperial Ballet School in 1891. In 1897 she first danced on the Maryinsky stage, and graduated in 1899….
Most famous for the work she did with many dancers of The Royal Ballet towards the end of her career, the fascinating early life of Winifred Edwards (1895-1989) is often…
Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1909-1929) That Serge Diaghilev believed in Russian art and its spirit can never be doubted. His company, the Ballets Russes, exploded every myth about dance. From…
Dance writer and editor Philip JS Richardson relaunched The Dancing Times, the house magazine of the Cavendish Rooms, a ballroom dancing establishment in London, as a periodical to cover all…
Cyril Beaumont (1891-1976) was a bookseller, writer, critic and historian. For half a century, 75 Charing Cross Road was a magnet for anyone interested in classical ballet. This is where…
The ballet writer Gerald Dowler is joined in a special episode of Voices of British Ballet by Monica Mason (former Royal Ballet student, principal dancer and director), Jane Pritchard (curator…
Fashion and ballet have a symbiotic relationship, each drawing on the other. Twice a year, fashion designers must cast around for hot influences. These might come from anywhere but time…
Artists in Britain in the early and mid 20th Century were influenced by contemporary developments in Europe. However, they also looked back to a quintessentially native? Romanticism. There is no…
According to Virginia Woolf, ‘on or about December 1910 human character changed’. The event from 1910 she was referring to was the famous exhibition entitled ‘Manet and the Post-Impressionists’, organized…
Diaghilev – genius or promoter of self? In addition to being central or crucial to the history of ballet in the 20th Century, Diaghilev was also intimately involved with musical…
La Boutique fantasque and Le tricorne Set in an enchanted toy shop in the 1860s, Léonide Massine’s La Boutique fantasque was one of his happiest and most effervescent works, danced…