Russian Ballet History

                                                                       The Baby Ballerinas were 3 young leading principal dancers of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s.  They were individually selected by George Balanchine, and deemed the "Baby Ballerinas" by ballet critic Arnold Haskell based upon their age. 

Click here for an article on the history of the Baby Ballerinas.

Take a moment and watch the Baby Ballerinas in action!  Click here.

Tatiana Riabouchinska was born in Moscow on May 23, 1917. She studdied with Alexander Volinine and Mathilda Kschessinska. Tatiana made her debut in Paris with the Chauve-Souris revue in 1932.  Tatiana was the one of the three “Baby Ballerinas”.  She was only 15 when she joined the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, at the request of George Balanchine.  She was known for her speed, her light, delicate style, her musicality, and her sensitive interpretation of roles.

Tatiana stayed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo until 1942.  Afterwards she would go on to guest with Ballet Theatre, now ABT, the Original Ballet Russe, Ballet des Champs-Elysées, and the London Festival Ballet. 

Tatiana created the role of the Florentine Beauty in Paganni, which some consider to be her finest work, due to a nearly impossible set of whirling pirouettes that she executed before collapsing at the feet of Paganini. Dance critic Arnold Haskell called her performance, “among the most moving I have seen on the ballet stage.”  Tatiana was also the Junior Girl in Graduation Ball, title roles in Coq d'Or and Cinderella.  Tatiana married fellow dancer and choreographer David Lichine.  She passed away in 2000, just after teaching a ballet class.

Tamara was born in Russian on a train while her mother was trying to flee during the Revolution.  The family eventually settled in Paris. She studied with Olga Preobrajenska.   Tamara made her debut at the Paris Opera at the age of nine in L'Eventail de Jeanne.  Tamara was the second of the three “ Baby Ballerinas”. George Balanchine saw her in ballet class signed her to the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.  Balanchine choreographed the part of the Young Girl for Tamara in his ballet Cotillon, Concurrence and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Le Palais de Cristal (now Symphony in C) in 1947 at the Paris Opera.  Due to her stunning beauty and dark features she came to be known as "The Black Pearl of the Russian Ballet."

.......that the publicity of the three "Baby Ballerinas" helped to revive interest in ballet after Serge Diaghilev's death.  Europe had been left without a major ballet company.