Desiree Lubovska (June 21, 1893 — 1974), also seen as Desiree Lubowska, was the professional name of American dancer Winniefred Foote.

Early life

Winniefred Foote was born in

Faribault, Minnesota Faribault ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Rice County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 23,352 at the 2010 census. Faribault is approximately south of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highways ...

. She changed her name, adopted an accent in her speech, and created a backstory of dancing in Russia; she also said that she studied Egyptian art at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and became convinced that "angles, sharp corners, such as we find on the ancient tablets of Egypt, where lovely Egyptian women of the early day are portrayed, are only beautiful." She went on a diet and fitness regimen in pursuit of a more angular physique, and her dances reflect this focus. "I finally felt I was one of them, a reincarnated spirit of the Nile."

Career

Lubovska started the short-lived but ambitious National American Ballet company in 1921. The national ballet program was housed on a farm in

Hightstown, New Jersey Hightstown is a borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 5,494,Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, with her mother Blanche E. Foote as the school's business manager. In 1918 Lubovska appeared as "Night" in the "musical spectacle" ''Everything'' with music by

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

and

Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

, at the Hippodrome in New York. Also at the Hippodrome, in 1920, she danced at a benefit for the Serbian Child Welfare Association. In 1921, Lubovka sued V. Vivaudou, an American talcum powder manufacturer, for using an image of her "in scant attire" in a newspaper advertisement. That year, she danced at the International Silk Exposition in New York, embodying "The Spirit of Silk", beginning with a burst from a cocoon. Also in 1921 she danced at meetings of the National Garment Retailers' Association and the New York League of Advertising Women, performing at the latter "a satire on modes and manners." In 1922 she was touring in South America. She appears in the silent film ''

Greater Than Fame ''Greater Than Fame'' is a 1920 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Selznick Pictures. It was directed by Alan Crosland and stars Elaine Hammerstein. It is not known whether the film currently survives. Plot As described in a ...

'' (1920).

Personal life

Desiree Lubovska had a son, Joseph Willard Schutz, born in 1912.Bill Thayer
"Names from the Past"
She died in 1974, aged 80 years.

References

External links

*Desiree Lubovska
"The Public and the Artist"
''Theatre Magazine'' (November 1918): 294.
A 1924 photograph of Desiree Lubovska
wearing a

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gown, by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

for ''Vogue'', at

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.
Another 1924 photograph of Desiree Lubovska
wearing a gown by Bendel, by Edward Steichen for ''Vogue'', at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lubovska, Desiree 1893 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American dancers