Tatiana Riabouchinska

Riabouchinska, Tatiana (b Moscow, 23 May 1917, d 24 Aug. 2000). Russian-US dancer and teacher. She studied in Paris with Volinine and Kshessinska and made her debut in the La Chauve-souris revue in 1931. In 1932 she joined the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo where she was one of its three ‘baby ballerinas’ and stayed with the company until 1941, creating roles in several ballets including Balanchine's La Concurrence (1932), Massine's Jeux d'enfants (1932), Les Présages, and Choreartium (1933), Lichine's Graduation Ball (1940), and Fokine's Cendrillon (1938) and Paganini (1939). Celebrated for her gaiety, lightness, and speed she was also capable of a touching lyricism and a rare imaginative involvement in her roles. Other dancers found it difficult to recreate her roles, so intensely had she made them her own. She was guest dancer with Ballet Theatre in 1942 and then with many other companies including Ballets des Champs-Elysées and London Festival Ballet. She also performed in musical comedies such as The Waltz King (chor. Lichine, 1943), and with Lichine (whom she married in 1943) founded a dance academy in Beverly Hills in 1953 as well as several short-lived ballet companies in Los Angeles, which they ran together until his death in 1972. After retiring from the stage she turned to teaching at the dance academy in Beverly Hills founded by herself and her husband.