Matilda Kshesinskaya is already known for being the first to perform 32 fouettes and completely overshadowing the foreign commentaries that dominated her on the Russian stage. Such as Matilda were called absolute ballerinas. All over the world there were only eleven. The name of the talented performer was forgotten in her homeland for many years.
The house in which the famous dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya, the "Generalissimo of the Russian Ballet" once lived, has become known in history as the "headquarters of Leninists."
Origin
Matilda or Malya, as her relatives called her, was born in 1872 in a creative family. The girl’s father Felix came from the theatrical Polish family of Krzeszynski (Kshesinsky - his stage name).
The grandfather of the future prima was a virtuoso violinist, had a beautiful voice and sang in the opera of Warsaw. Great-grandfather Wojciech was a famous dancer.
According to family tradition, it was his great-grandfather who came from a noble Polish family and had to inherit a huge fortune. Because of the machinations, he lost everything that he had and was forced to earn a living by dancing in France.
His son became a professional teacher of this art and came to the capital of Russia at the invitation of the emperor himself. Legends went about how Felix performed the mazurka. It was thanks to him that this national dance became so popular in high society.
Having taken the pseudonym Kshesinsky on the stage, Felix always performed with success. In the theater, he met the ballerina Julia Dominskaya.
She had five children from a previous marriage with the dancer Lede. Four more appeared in the family with Felix. Both Joseph and Julia also became virtuoso dancers. The last child was Matilda Maria.
Amazingly charming girl everyone loved. Her father was especially adored. Malya was born in Ligov near St. Petersburg. Felix always took the girl with him to the theater. She got acquainted with the artistic world early and did not imagine any other career.
The adult Kshesinska Jr. was distinguished by her cheerfulness and humor. She attracted everyone's attention. The celebrated performer was terrific as a toiler.
On the road to excellence
In her hands, nothing was given to her for nothing. Fuete Matilda is persistent work, continuous improvement of technology, bringing it to the heights of excellence. The legends of Kshesinskaya were made up.
At the age of nine, Malechka made her debut on stage in the ballet Don Quixote. At that time, the girl studied at the school for only a year. She got a solo part at seventeen.
Passion for ballet began after watching the dance of Virginia Zucca, who arrived in Russia on tour. The famous dancer became the idol of Mali.
Kshesinskaya-second, as the girl was called, to distinguish from her older sister Julia, began to take lessons from Enrico Cecchetti. She achieved such a degree of mastery that she managed to become a real prima.
All foreign performers were off the stage, and the hearts of the true connoisseurs of ballet were conquered by a young pearl. At the evening in honor of the completion of the school, Empress Maria Fedorovna immediately singled out a mobile, graceful girl of miniature growth.
She advantageously differed from her friends. At a gala dinner, Malyu was seated between Emperor Alexander the Third and his son Nicholas. From the moment of acquaintance with the prince, the life of Kshesinsky forever turned out to be connected with the house of the Romanovs.
The famous ballerina did not pay attention to evil tongues: she possessed wisdom. She calmly accepted the wedding of Nicholas, became the girlfriend of his wife.
Matilda left the theater without scandal after accusing her of intrigue and returned in triumph after evidence of her innocence to them. At her own expense at the dacha in Strelna, the famous ballerina contained two infirmaries for the wounded. Having lost all her wealth after the revolution, Kshesinskaya regretted only the alcoholic rose presented to her by Virginia Zucca, her idol.
Difficult time
Often the performances staged at the Mariinsky Theater were funded with the money of Matilda. She paid for the scenery, costumes. The prima theater left, tired of the constant backstage gossip. An affair with the future heir to the throne lasted only a year. However, after its completion, the prima found forever a faithful admirer and knight in the person of Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. Until the last moment, before parting, he proposed to her.
His love closed even the most evil mouths. Matilda fell in love with another Romanov, Andrei Vladimirovich, also the Grand Duke. He became the father of her son. The boy immediately received the nobility and became Krasinsky in memory of a distant ancestor. Sergei Mikhailovich took care of this.
The Grand Duke helped the ballerina leave revolutionary Petrograd. He himself failed to leave. He died with the royal family. At one time, it was he who gave the beloved Malechka a legendary mansion, wishing to give her a special status in high society.
Alexander von Gauguin, who designed the building, was awarded a silver medal for the construction of an architectural pearl. Rumor attributed to Matilda Feliksovna many scandalous novels.
Be that as it may, but she married her beloved man, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, great-grandson of Alexander the Second. The wedding took place in Paris after the death of the mother of the future spouse. Maria Pavlovna categorically objected to unequal marriage.
The son of Kshesinskaya and Andrei Romanov, Vladimir, whom mother herself jokingly called "All Russia Vova, " became Andreevich. Healed the family happily.
Life in exile
Matilda took care of the family. After moving to Paris in 1929, she founded the ballet studio, which became very quickly popular. Her name still thundered.
Without advertising, the number of school students reached one and a half hundred by 1939. Among them were both the daughters of Chaliapin and Tatyana Ryabushinskaya. The last performance was "Russian", performed in London on the stage of Covent Garden in 1936.
World War II was a difficult test for the performer. In 1940, her only son was arrested. Kshesinskaya has always been an outstanding person. The ballerina was not afraid to help her beloved son out of the Gestapo during the German occupation of France.
Kshesinskaya continued to work about old age. In 1951 she was invited to a meeting of the Federation of Classical Russian Ballet. The great ballerina was offered to give lessons to preserve the main canons of classical Russian dance and to teach using the techniques developed in the imperial ballet schools.
Matilda gladly responded to the offer. In exile, the Parisian ballerina house has become a center of attraction. He was visited by Chaliapin, Karsavin, Diaghilev. Kshesinskaya had an amazing gift. She possessed incredible dramatic and facial talent, turning all ballet roles into unique ones.
