10 Facts About Tatiana Riabouchinska

Tatiana Mikhailovna Riabouchinska was a Russian American prima ballerina and teacher.

Tatiana Riabouchinska was born in Moscow a few months before the October Revolution in 1917.

Tatiana Riabouchinska studied with Mathilde Kschessinska, a friend of the family who had been prima ballerina assoluta of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theaters.

At 14, Tatiana Riabouchinska was chosen by Nikita Balieff to join his Franco-Russian vaudeville troupe, Le Theatre de la Chauve-Souris, often billed simply as La Chauve-Souris.

Tatiana Riabouchinska joined that company after the American tour of La Chauve-Souris.

In 1932, in her first season with the de Basil company, Tatiana Riabouchinska created the role of the Child in Leonide Massine's Jeux d'Enfants and in two works by Balanchine, La Concurrence and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.

Tatiana Riabouchinska created many roles in ballets choreographed by David Lichine, a principal dancer in the de Basil company, who made a second career as a choreographer.

Tatiana Riabouchinska remained with the de Basil company, which was finally renamed as the Original Ballet Russe, until 1942.

Tatiana Riabouchinska married David Lichine in 1943, and the two of them embarked on a joint career as free agents, dancing and choreographing for many companies in the United States, England, France, and Argentina.

Tatiana Riabouchinska appeared in a Hollywood film, Make Mine Music, in which she and Lichine danced his choreography in the "Two Silhouettes" sequence.