Ekaterina Galanta (born 1890s), often billed as Ketty Galanta, was a Russian dancer, a member of the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

Early life

Galanta was born and raised in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1917 she was described as being 20 or 21 years old.

Nikolai Legat Nikolai Gustavovich Legat (russian: Никола́й Густа́вович Лега́т) (30 December 1869, Moscow – 24 January 1937, London) was a premier dancer with the Russian Imperial Ballet from 1888 to 1914, and also with the Mariin ...

was her first ballet teacher.

Career

Galanta toured in the United States with the Ballets Russes in 1916, with

Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

Adolph Bolm Adolph Rudolphovich Bolm (russian: Адольф Рудольфович Больм; September 25, 1884 – April 16, 1951) was a Russian-born American ballet dancer and choreographer, of German descent. Biography Bolm graduated from the Rus ...

Flore Revalles Flore (or Flora) Revalles (January 25, 1889 – August 29, 1966) was a Swiss entertainer active over the early decades of the twentieth century. Revalles began as a singer in Switzerland, danced with the Ballets Russes in Europe and America and a ...

Lydia Lopokova Lydia Lopokova, Baroness Keynes (born Lidia Vasilyevna Lopukhova, russian: Лидия Васильевна Лопухова; 21 October 1891 – 8 June 1981) was a Russian ballerina famous during the early 20th century. Lopokova trained at the I ...

Olga Spessivtseva Olga Alexandrovna Spessivtseva (russian: Ольга Алекса́ндровна Спеси́вцева; 16 September 1991) was a Russian ballerina whose stage career spanned from 1913 to 1939. She was one of the finest prima ballerinas of the t ...

, and Valentina Kachouba, among others in the company of forty dancers. When the ballet company left the United States, she stayed behind to pursue a solo stage career. She danced at the Metropolitan Opera House in ''Petruschka'' (1916). While she was principal dancer in ''The Wanderer'' in New York in 1917, she was a mentor to American dancer

Martha Lorber Martha Caroline Theresa Lorber (June 11, 1900 – July 2, 1983) was an American dancer, actress, singer, model, and Ziegfeld Girl. Early life Martha Caroline Theresa Lorber was born in New York City, to Frederick, a waiter, and Marie Lorber (n� ...

. In 1918 she was featured as a dancer in the musical ''

Chu Chin Chow ''Chu Chin Chow'' is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based (with minor embellishments) on the story of ''Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves''. Gänzl, Kurt"''Chu Chin Chow'' Musical Tale of ...

''.

Herbert Brenon Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of silent films through the 1930s. Brenon was among the early film ...

cast Galanta in the silent film '' The Fall of the Romanoffs'' (1917, now lost). One critic found her performance distracting, saying "Ketty Galanta is vivid in the role of Anna; er eyesroll in a fashion so marvelous that one fears they may pop out of her head; consequently, the audience gasps in wonderment when it should merely feel the thrill of emotion." She appeared in two more films, both directed by Brenon, ''

Empty Pockets ''Empty Pockets'' is a lost 1918 American mystery silent black and white film directed by Herbert Brenon and written by George Edwards Hall. It is based on the novel by Rupert Hughes. Cast * Bert Lytell Bertram Lytell (February 24, 1885 & ...

'' (1918), a murder mystery with Malcolm Williams, and ''

The Passing of the Third Floor Back ''The Passing of the Third Floor Back'' is a 1935 British drama film directed by Berthold Viertel and starring Conrad Veidt, Anna Lee, Rene Ray and Frank Cellier. The film is based on a 1908 play and short story by Jerome K. Jerome and depicts ...

'' (1918), based on the

Jerome K. Jerome Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889). Other works include the essay collections '' Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow'' (1886) an ...

play'','' and starring

Johnston Forbes-Robertson Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (16 January 1853 – 6 November 1937''Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, Beauty And Grace in Acting'', Obituaries, ''The Times'', 8 November 1937.) was an English actor and theatre manager and husband of actress Gertru ...

By 1922, Galanta moved to South America, where she taught dance at her own studio in

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. One of her students in Buenos Aires was María Fux. She was one of the founders of the Friends of Dance Association (AADA) there, along with fellow Ballets Russes dancer Tamara Grigorieva.

References

External links

A photograph of Ekaterina Galanta
from the George Grantham Bain collection,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.
A 1923 photograph of Ekaterina Galanta
from the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Libraries Digital Collections. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galanta, Ekaterina Russian dancers 1890s births Year of death missing