Lydia Georgievna Kyasht (25 March 1885 — 11 January 1959) was a

Russian British Russians in the United Kingdom are Russians, or the persons born in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation, who are or were citizens of or residents of the United Kingdom. Settlement and population numbers The 2001 UK cens ...

ballerina and dance teacher. She was described by one critic as "the World's Most Beautiful Dancer" in 1914.

Early life

Lydia Georgievna Kyasht was born in

St. Petersburg 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 ...

, the daughter of George Kyasht and Agaffia Poubiloff.John Parker, ed., ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' (Pitman 1922): 468. Her older brother George Kyasht also had a successful career in ballet. She trained as a dancer at the St. Petersburg

Imperial Ballet School The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief h ...

Career

Kyaksht danced at the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

from 1902 to 1908, and was a soloist with the

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internatio ...

in 1903–1904. She moved to England in 1908, to be ballerina at the Empire Theatre.Karen Elliot, ''Albion's Dance: British Ballet During the Second World War'' (Oxford University Press 2016): 41-43. She also danced 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 ...

. Her first performance in New York City happened in 1914, when she appeared in a Broadway revue called ''The Whirl of the World''. She appeared in at least two silent films, ''Foolish Monte Carlo'' (also titled ''

The Black Spider ''The Black Spider'' is a novella by the Swiss writer Jeremias Gotthelf written in 1842. Set in an idyllic frame story, old legends are worked into a Christian-humanist allegory about ideas of good and evil. Though the novel is initially divide ...

'', 1920, now lost), and ''The Dance of the Moods'' (1924). In 1929 she published a memoir, ''Romantic Reflections''. Kyasht opened a ballet school in London after

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 ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, her company of young dancers, Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise, made several tours.

Personal life

Lydia Kyaksht married Alexis A. Ragosin, a military officer from St. Petersburg. Their daughter Lydia Kyasht Jr. was also a dancer, and a choreographer, who inherited her mother's role as director of the Cirencester Dance Club. Lydia Kyaksht was widowed in 1954, and died in 1959, aged 72 years. Papers related to her ballet company are archived in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's Theatre and Performance collection.Karen Elliot, ''Albion's Dance: British Ballet During the Second World War'' (Oxford University Press, 2016): 191.

References

External links

*The

National Portrait Gallery (London) The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

ha
140 portraits of Lydia Kyasht
in their collection, most of them publicity photographs in costume for various roles, 1911–1936, taken by

Bassano Ltd Alexander Bassano (10 May 1829 – 21 October 1913) was an English photographer who was a leading royal and high society portrait photographer in Victorian London. He is known for his photo of the Earl Kitchener in the ''Lord Kitchener Wants Y ...

* * *
Lydia Georgievna Ragosin's gravesite in Hampstead, at Find a Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyasht, Lydia 1885 births 1959 deaths Ballerinas from the Russian Empire Dance teachers Actresses from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom