Carina Ari (14 April 1897 – 24 December 1970) was the artistic name of Maria Karina Viktoria Jansson, a Swedish-born dancer. After a noted career of dance and choreography which spanned from 1913 to 1939, mostly in Paris, Ari married and moved to Argentina. Taking up sculpting, she created busts of several prominent figures. Beginning in 1951, she created endowments to care for dancers, establishing funds to care for ill or aging dancers, to promote new talent, and to establish a library in Sweden to encourage study on dance. The Carina Ari Library in Stockholm holds one of the most extensive collections of archival materials on dance in Europe.

Early life

Maria Karina Viktoria Jansson was born on 14 April 1897 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. Raised in poverty, with questions of her heritage, due to her swarthy complexion, Jansson dreamed of becoming a dancer from a young age. In 1911, she enrolled in the dance school offered by the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

, graduating in 1913.

Career

Upon completion of her studies, Jansson entered the

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

of the

Royal Swedish Ballet The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this fi ...

(RSB). 1913 was the year in which

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and a ...

joined the RSB as its artistic director. His approach differed to what had been done in the past, promoting dancers to roles based on ability, rather than by their rank in the company. Fokine selected Jansson to participate in the corps de ballet for the production of ''

Les Sylphides ''Les Sylphides'' () is a short, non-narrative ''ballet blanc'' to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie","Ballet Theater", until 1955. A compact disk ...

'' and the following year chose her for a small role in ''

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' deri ...

''. Activities of the ballet company were suspended during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but in 1918 and again in 1919, Jansonn participated with Fokine in two guest appearances over the summer at the theater of

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klam ...

. During the first of these appearances, Jansonn changed her artistic name to Carina Ari. In 1919, Ari quit the Royal Ballet, borrowed money, and moved to

Charlottenlund Charlottenlund is a suburban area on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the administrative seat of Gentofte Municipality. Bordered to the east by the Øresund, to the South by Hellerup and to the north by Klampenborg, it is one of the w ...

Denmark to study with Fokine, who had taken a villa there. After graduating from Fokine's training and receiving his endorsement for her choreographic abilities, she returned to Stockholm. She was hired by

Mauritz Stiller Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Swedish film director of Finnish Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film ...

to choreograph the ballet ''Schaname'' for his film '' Erotikon'' (1920). The ballet scene was extensive and required the entire Royal Ballet for the performance. Soon after filming ended, she left Stockholm and moved to Paris. She worked as a principal dancer with the

Rolf de Maré Rolf de Maré (9 May 1888 – 28 April 1964), sometimes called Rolf de Mare, was a Swedish art collector and leader of the Ballets Suédois in Paris in 1920–25. In 1931 he founded the world's first research center and museum for dance in Paris. ...

Ballets suédois Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

from 1920 to 1923, noted for her flowing arm movements. The first production by the company, ''Ibéra'' was composed by

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

, based on Spanish themes suited both Ari's dark appearance and her dancing style. She also appeared in '' Jeux'' and ''La Nuit de Saint-Jean'' to acclaim, and then in 1922,

Jean Börlin Jean Börlin was a Swedish dancer and choreographer, who was born in Härnösand on March 13, 1893 and who died in New York on December 6, 1930. He worked with Michel Fokine, who was his teacher in Stockholm. Biography Jean Börlin was held in hig ...

, the other soloist and choreographer, wrote ''Anitra’s Dance'' especially for her. She performed the piece receiving good reviews and calls for encore, but the notice she was getting caused conflict with Börlin, who forbade her to dance it again. Ari left the company after the 1923 season. Ari was then hired as a soloist at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

, where

Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (17 September 188014 February 1965) was a French composer, conductor and writer. Life and career Inghelbrecht was born in Paris, the son of a violist. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and made his debut as a ...

served as music director. The two married in 1925, the same year she launched ''Scénes Dansées''. The ballet, which she choreographed and danced, featured a full symphony orchestra, detailed stage designs and eight solo dances, with no intermissions. Between dances, Ari would run to the wings and quickly change costumes, before her next dance. The performance was one of the first in which a classically trained ballerina appeared in a theatrical production on such a large scale and approached

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

more than her classical roots. Her reviews were excellent, and she toured throughout Europe with the production until 1939. In 1928 Ari was hired by the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

to choreograph and she created ''Rayon de Lune'', dancing as one of the leads. The music for the ballet was based on ''Thème et Variations'' was composed by

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

. The following year, she formed her own company and was hired as a choreographer for the Fête des Narcisses held in

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

, Switzerland. Then for the 1929–1930 season she served as the ballet mistress for the Algerian National Theater Mahieddine Bachtarzi in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. Returning to Paris, she became the ballet director at the Opéra-Comique until 1933. Between 1935 and 1937, she appeared in Stockholm at the Royal Opera. In 1938, Ari was hired as the soloist for the role of the Sulamite in ''Le Cantique des Cantiques'' by

Serge Lifar Serge Lifar ( ua, Сергій Михайлович Лифар, ''Serhіy Mуkhailovуch Lуfar'') ( 15 December 1986) was a Ukrainian ballet dancer and choreographer, famous as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. No ...

. Though he had many stars at the Paris Opera to choose from, he selected Ari because of her fluidity and more modern style. Her last performance was on 30 March 1939, when she performed her ''Scénes Dansées'' at the Opéra-Comique. Suffering from rheumatism, Ari traveled to

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

in the south of France where she met Jan Henrik Molzer, one of the principals of the Dutch beverage firm Bols. She and Inghelbrecht split up, Ari married Molzer and in 1940, moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. Ari began a second career as a sculptor. Her most noted pieces are busts of

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

, Serge Lifar and Rolf de Maré. Her bust of Hammarskjöld is on display at the tower which bears his name in New York City. Upon her husband’s death in 1951, Ari began using her fortune to dancers who were ill or aging.

Death and legacy

Ari died on 24 December 1970 in Buenos Aires. In 1961, she created an annual scholarship to be awarded to a promising young dancer, as well as an annual medal to recognize those who promote the development of dance in Sweden. In 1969, Ari endowed a second foundation bearing her name to create the Carina Ari Library. The library is annexed to the Dance Museum of Sweden and contains the most comprehensive archive of dance literature in

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

References

Citations

Bibliography