Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Tatiana Riabouchinska, 1976

Author

Riabouchinska, Tatiana

Publication

1976.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Kendall, Elizabeth, 1947-

Description

3 streaming audio files (approximately 2 hours and 2 minutes): digital

Summary

• Streaming audio file 1 (approximately 52 minutes). Tatiana Riabouchinska speaks with Elizabeth Kendall about her childhood including their flight from Moscow to France after the Russian Revolution; her parents; their life in Monte Carlo and Paris including her ballet training, with Alexandre Volinine and Mathilde Kschessinska; performing with Le Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris [Teatr "Letuchai︠a︡ myshʹ"]; meeting George Balanchine and being invited to join the Ballets russes de Monte Carlo [co-directed by W. de Basil and René Blum; predecessor company of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo]; working with Balanchine; her friendship with Irina Baronova and Tamara Toumanova including their kindness to her after her mother died; (very briefly) Bronislava Nijinska and her ability to inhabit a role; more on working with Balanchine; her first visit to New York, on tour with the company; Balanchine's Cotillon [ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 2].
• Streaming audio file 2 (approximately 44 minutes). Tatiana Riabouchinska speaks with Elizabeth Kendall about George Balanchine's Cotillon including the "hand of fate" pas de deux; her roles with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; problems with style as taught to dancers today; Balanchine's departure from the company; Alexandra Danilova; Leonide Massine including his ballet Présages; David Lichine [died in 1972] including the circumstances of their marriage; Bronislava Nijinska; ballets that she found difficult but rewarding, for example Cotillon, Giselle, and Swan lake; leaving the company in 1947 and moving to California; some of Lichine's ballets; her career after leaving Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo including performances with American Ballet Theatre [discussion of various ballets while looking at Riabouchinska's old programs including an anecdote about Michel Fokine; ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 3].
• Streaming audio file 3 (approximately 26 minutes). Tatiana Riabouchinska speaks with Elizabeth Kendall about David Lichine's ballets; her and Lichine's school in California including its methods and goals; dancing in Michel Fokine's ballet Coq d'or; her and Lichine's work in film, in particular Make mine music; her efforts over the last 10 years to create and maintain a ballet company [ends abruptly].

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project
• Dance Audio Archive

Subjects

• Sound recordings
• Lichine, David
• Cotillon (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Oral histories
• Riabouchinska, Tatiana > Interviews
• Balanchine, George
• Présages (Choreographic work : Massine)
• Ballets russes de Monte Carlo
• Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

Genre/Form

• Sound recordings.
• Oral histories.

Note

• For transcript of interview see: *MGZMT 3-914.
• Interview with Tatiana Riabouchinska conducted by Elisabeth Kendall on April 20 and 21, 1976 in Beverly Hills (Calif.) for the Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
• Sound quality is fair to poor. The recording is marred by extraneous noise, in particular the sounds of a class in progress including piano music (particularly intrusive on streaming audio file 1, the last approximate 10 minutes of streaming audio file 2, and streaming audio file 3 ) as well as "tape hiss." Streaming audio file 2 has the best sound quality.
• Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

• Access only on site at the research libraries of The New York Public Library.

Funding (note)

• The processing and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZTO 5-914

OCLC

83965554

Author

Riabouchinska, Tatiana, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Tatiana Riabouchinska, 1976

Imprint

1976.

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

audio

Type of Carrier

audiocassette

online resource

Digital File Characteristics

audio file

Event

Recorded by Elizabeth Kendall for the Oral History Project April 20 and 21, 1976 Beverly Hills (Calif.)

Funding

The processing and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Restricted Access

Access only on site at the research libraries of The New York Public Library.

Original Version

Original format: one sound reel (approximately 2 hours and 2 minutes); polyester half-track; 1.875 ips; 5 in.; transferred to wav file and streaming file format in 2015: myd_mgzto5914_v01f01_sc, myd_mgzto5914_v01f02p01_sc, and myd_mgzto5914_v01f02p02_sc.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Kendall, Elizabeth, 1947- interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZTO 5-914