Toumanova, Tamara Vladimirovna

▪ 1997

      Russian-born U.S. ballerina and actress (b. March 2, 1919, near Tyumen, Siberia—d. May 29, 1996, Santa Monica, Calif.), was the most glamorous of the "baby ballerinas," three young teenage stars of Les Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in the 1930s. She was dubbed the "black pearl of the Russian ballet" because of her beautiful black hair, large brown eyes, and almond skin and her dazzling technique. Toumanova was born in a boxcar of a train headed for Shanghai as her parents fled Russia after the Revolution of 1917. The family later settled in Paris, where she studied ballet with Olga Preobrajenska, a former prima ballerina. Toumanova had already danced at the Paris Opéra, in a student performance of L'Éventail de Jeanne, when George Balanchine recruited her for Les Ballets Russes in 1932 and created roles for her in Cotillon and La Concurrence. She accompanied him when he left to form Les Ballets 1933, and when it disbanded she returned to Les Ballets Russes. Among her notable roles over the next four years were the Ballerina in Petrushka, Aurora in Aurora's Wedding, and the title character in The Firebird. When the company divided (1938), Toumanova went with Léonide Massine's new Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and added such ballets as Giselle and Le Spectre de la rose to her repertoire. She starred in the Broadway musical Stars in Your Eyes in 1939 and later appeared with both Ballet Russe companies as well as a number of U.S. and European companies, among them Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre), London Festival Ballet, and the Paris Opéra Ballet. At the latter the title role in Phèdre was created for her in 1950. Toumanova made her motion picture debut in Days of Glory (1944) and appeared in such other films as Invitation to the Dance (1956), Torn Curtain (1966), and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

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