15 Facts About Ileana Leonidoff

Ileana Leonidoff is a pseudonym for Elena Sergeevna Pisarevskaya, a Russian-born emigree who first made a career in Italy in silent films and then as a noted dancer and choreographer.

Ileana Leonidoff was the founder and lead dancer of the Dance School of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Ileana Leonidoff was the first director of the Ballet Oficial de Bolivia, then served as the director of the Guayaquil Ballet in Ecuador, and became the founder of the Ballet School of Trujillo, Peru.

Ileana Leonidoff was honored as a knight of the Order of the Condor of the Andes in 1953.

In 1917, Pisarevskaya, now using the stage name of Ileana Leonidoff, was chosen by Anton Giulio Bragaglia to appear in his silent film Thais.

That same year, Ileana Leonidoff married Giuseppe Massera, and used the name Ileana Leonidoff-Massera for some performances.

The formal debut of the company followed on 28 May 1920 at the Teatro Quirino di Roma where Ileana Leonidoff performed five dances: Canzoni Arabe, Fantasia indiana, Foglie d' Autunno, Pirrica and Sevres de la Vieille France.

The arrest did not deter Ileana Leonidoff, whose rise to fame continued.

Simultaneously, Ileana Leonidoff became the founder and first director of the dance school attached to the Opera, along with her partner Rostoff.

Ileana Leonidoff becomes the official dancer of the Mussolini regime and she and Rostoff perform at many significant national functions, like the landing of the Italian naval fleet in Ostia in July 1927, for celebrations in the gardens of the Mussolini Museum, at official opening for the Olympic Trials, the fall festivals held at the Villa Celimontana, and others.

Ileana Leonidoff soon married the French director Andre Gardes, and began collaborating with other artists on new choreographies, such as Alexey Tsereteli and his Russian Opera in Paris performances in Barcelona of Boris Godunov, Sadko, and The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Amilcare Ponchielli for choreography on La Gioconda and Alfredo Catalani for the dance arrangements in Loreley, among others.

One year later, Ileana Leonidoff moved to Bolivia when she was hired by the government to establish the Ballet Oficial de Bolivia.

Ileana Leonidoff laid the foundation for the development of ballet in Bolivia and was the first to use live music rather than recorded music in productions.

When Ileana Leonidoff returned to the House of Culture, Kitty Sakilarides had already organized the dancers into beginners, intermediate and advanced classes, but Ileana Leonidoff restructured the organization into a ballet company with a corps de ballet, soloists and principal dancers.

In 1966 Peruvian newspapers announced that Ileana Leonidoff had returned to Europe.