Valentina Kachouba

Valentina Kachouba (May 14, 1898 – January 1997), also written as Valentine Kashuba, was a Russian ballet dancer, a member of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company from 1916 and 1921; as one the last surviving members of the troupe, her memories and photographs were considered especially valuable as a record of the ballet and its members.

Valentina Kachouba
Valentina Kachouba, from a 1919 publication.
Born14 May 1898
Russia
DiedJanuary 1997
Madrid
Other namesValentina Kashuba, Valentine Kachouba

Early life
Valentina Kachouba and Alexandra Wassilewska, from the Library of Congress.

Kachouba was said to be from Moscow,[1] or in some publicity, the daughter of a guard officer and a Persian princess in Samarkand.[2]

Career

Kachouba was a member of the Ballets Russes when it toured with Sergei Diaghilev in 1916.[3][4] Other dancers in the troupe at the time included Xenia Makletzova, Lydia Sokolova, Léonide Massine, Adolf Bolm, Enrico Cecchetti, Nicolas Zverev,[5] Flore Revalles,[6] Lydia Lopokova, and Ekaterina Galanta.[7][8] In 1918 she was with the Salvati Opera Company in Peru, when she gave an impromptu speech about Russia during Armistice celebrations in Lima.[9]

Kachouba danced in New York in 1926, announcing astrological and mystical inspirations for her dances (or "plastomimic preachings", as she described her work). "I will dance only in a solemn atmosphere," she promised, dismissing vaudeville venues, "an observatory, lecture hall, temple, or, perhaps, something that I will build myself."[2] She danced at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1929, in Stravinsky's Les Noces, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski, with other performers including Aaron Copland, Nina Koshetz, and Sophie Braslau.[10] In 1931 and 1932, she was in the large casts of charity shows at Madison Square Garden, both benefiting the Judson Health Center.

Kachouba lived her later years in Madrid, where she taught ballet and produced dance programs; she also designed ballet costumes and sets.[11] In 1979, Kachouba gave an oral history interview for the New York Public Library's Dance Audio Archive.[12] In 1989, she was interviewed as one of the last surviving cast members of Nijinsky's lost final ballet, Till .[13][14] That same year, her photographs of the Ballets Russes were published.[15]

Personal life

Kachouba died in 1997, aged 98 years, in Madrid.

References
  1. "Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe". The Opera News. 7: 3. January 1, 1916.
  2. "Lives, Dances, and Will Love as Stars Direct". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. April 18, 1926. p. 27. Retrieved April 10, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Pritchard, Jane (2010-12-31). "Significant centenaries in 2011 • V&A Blog". V&A Blog. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  4. Järvinen, Hanna (2010). "Failed Impressions: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in America, 1916". Dance Research Journal. 42 (2): 77–108. doi:10.1017/S0149767700001042. ISSN 1940-509X. S2CID 190704888.
  5. "The Serge de Diaghileff Ballet Russe Arrives Here from France". The Opera News. 7: 1. January 1, 1916.
  6. "Russian Ballet Arrives". The New York Times. January 12, 1916. p. 13. Retrieved April 10, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Diaghileff Ballet Russ Arrives". Musical America. 24: 33. September 23, 1916.
  8. "They Look Pretty, Too". The Los Angeles Times. December 16, 1916. p. 15. Retrieved April 10, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "A Pretty Story from Peru" The South American (February 1919): 16.
  10. Cushing, Edward (April 26, 1929). "Music of the Day". The Brooklyn Eagle. p. 42. Retrieved April 10, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Wearing, J. P. (2014-05-15). The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 374, 539, 620. ISBN 9780810893047.
  12. Maroth, Frederick J. (July 11–12, 1979). "Interview with Valentina Kachouba,1979". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  13. "The Queen Himself". The New Yorker. 2001-04-30. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  14. Marinero, Cristina (1989). "Valentina Kachouba: última superviviente de los Ballets Rusos". Ritmo. 60 (603): 38–41. ISSN 0035-5658.
  15. Yvan Nommick and Antomio Alvarez Cañibano, Los Ballets Russes de Diaghilev y España (Granada: Centro Cultural Manuel de Falla, 1989).
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