Valentin Zeglovsky (1908–1985) was a ballet dancer with 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 ...
who was one of the de Basil dancers who is considered to have contributed to Australian ballet.
Zeglovsky was born in Kkhartov, Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution his family moved to the Riga in Latvia. Initially interested in boxing he took up ballet in an attempt to improve his footwork. He then trained at the Riga Opera House under Madame Feodorova, wife of
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 ...
. In the 1930s he joined the de Basil company in the United States of America and later in 1938 came to Australia with the troupe.
[BOOK REVIEWS (1947, December 19). Northern Standard (Darwin, NT: 1921–1955), p. 11. Retrieved November 28, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49983337.]
At the end of the second Ballets Russes tour of Australia Zeglovsky settled in that country in April 1939.
[Valentin Zeglovsky](_blank)
Valerie Lawson, online article, Dancelines, 2011 In the same year he established a school in Sydney, and performed with an Australian company in June 1939, where he danced with
Tamara Tchinarova
Tamara Tchinarova ( tr. Chinarova, russian: Тамара Чинарова), also known as Tamara Finch, (18 July 1919 – 31 August 2017) was a Romanian-born émigré Russian and French ballerina who contributed significantly to the development ...
and
Kira Abricossova at a benefit performance organised by Edouard Borovansky, at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne.
In January 1942 he joined the Kirsova company during its Melbourne season which began at His Majesty's Theatre. Zeglovsky returned to Europe in 1949, or soon after, and started Zeglovsky's ballet school in London, where
Zbyshek Lisak trained under him.
See also
*
List of Russian ballet dancers
This is a list of ballet dancers from the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Russian Federation, including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities. This list includes as well those who were born in these three states but later emigra ...
References
* Valentin Zeglovsky, ''Ballet Crusade'', Reed & Harris, 1944.
* ''Dictionary Catalog of the Dance Collection: A List of Authors, Titles, and Subjects of Multi-media Materials in the Dance Collection of the Performing Arts Research Center of the New York Public Library'', New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations, 1974.
* Edward H. Pask, ''Ballet in Australia: the second act, 1940–1980'', Oxford University Press, 1982.
* Katharine Brisbane, ''Entertaining Australia: An Illustrated History'', Currency Press Pty Ltd., 1991.
* Roland E. Robinson, ''The Drift of Things: An Autobiography, 1914–52'', Macmillan, 1973.
* Tamara Finch, ''Dancing into the Unknown: My Life in the Ballets Russes and Beyond'', Dance Books, 2007.
External links
"Valentin Zeglovsky: some Australian notes" by Michelle Potter"Valentin Zeglovsky: further Australian notes" by Michelle PotterZeglovsky school of Russian balletPortrait of Valentin Zeglovsky, circa 1030-1940*
*
1939 news article on Zeglovsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeglovsky, Valentin
Ballets Russes dancers
Dancers from Kharkiv
Latvian emigrants to Australia
Russian male ballet dancers
Australian male ballet dancers
1908 births
1985 deaths
Australian people of Russian descent