Stanislas Idzikowski (1894–1977). Polish dancer and teacher

Stanislas Idzikowski was born in Poland in 1894, and his interest in ballet began with a visit to a performance of Swan Lake. He studied in Warsaw from the age of ten with teachers from both Russian and Italian backgrounds. In hindsight, this combination turned out to be extraordinarily influential in the development of ballet in Britain throughout the 20th Century.

Idzikowski made his debut in a musical in London at the Empire Theatre in 1911. This was followed by a year with Anna Pavlova’s company and another with the Theodore Kosloff Ballet before he joined Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1914. It was with Diaghilev that his mark in history was made. Not only did Idzikowski take on the roles of the increasingly elusive Vaslav Nijinsky, but also over the next ten years he made his own mark in the existing repertoire and in an array of new and exciting ballets, especially those by Léonide Massine.

In 1924, Idzikowski left Diaghilev for a year to pursue an independent career, notably with Lydia Lopokova at the London Coliseum, and also with Soirées de Paris, the short-lived company led by Comte de Beaumont. He re-joined the Ballets Russes in 1925, remaining until Diaghilev’s death in 1929. Following this, and the break-up of Diaghilev’s company, Idzikowski directed his own ensemble. From 1933 to 1934 he danced with the Vic-Wells Ballet, where he notably created the lead male role in Frederick Ashton’s Les Rendezvous partnering Alicia Markova.

Idzikowski already had strong roots in London. In 1922 he had collaborated on an important book with Cyril Beaumont on the teaching methods of the great dancer and teacher, Enrico Cecchetti. This technical manual was to form the basis of Cecchetti’s work to be handed down to successive generations of dancers. Beaumont wrote a short book about Idzikowski in 1926. The next 30 years of Idzikowski’s life were spent mostly teaching at his studio in London, which he famously did in suit and tie, stiff collar and spats. When his pianist, the former Diaghilev dancer Wanda Evina, died in 1966, he decided to retire. Idzikowski died in 1977.