Photo: David Lichine in rehearsal for his ballet Corrida. Photographer unknown.
David Lichine (born Lichtenstein) was a choreographer, dancer, and ballet master and notable Hollywood dance-maker.
Lichine was born in 1910 in Russia and moved with his family to Paris after the October Revolution. There he studied with the great Russian expatriate teachers- Bronislava Nijinska, Lubov Egorova, Pierre Vladimiroff, etc. He made his professional debut with Ida Rubinstein’s company in 1928, and bounced between her and the companies of Nijinska and Anna Pavlova until 1932, when he joined Wassily de Basil and René Blum’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a charter member. He remained with the company (through all its sundry name changes) as a principal until 1941.
Lichine was noted for his extremely fast and fine footwork- his Bluebird variation was apparently a sight to behold. He was also considered quite beautiful (in the same exoticized way as Ida Rubinstein), and his L'Après-midi d'un Faune was very popular, for perhaps not terribly artistic reasons. He also worked frequently with George Balanchine, and created roles in Cotillion, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Suites de Danse. His choreographic debut came in 1933, with the first of a very long list of works.
His most enduring ballet is undoubtedly Graduation Ball, to music by Johann Strauss II, which was immediately immensely popular and is still in the repertories of ABT, La Scala, the Royal Danish Ballet, and other companies. In Australia, he is best known for the Nutcracker he choreographed for the Borovansky Ballet in 1955 (which was more or less to become the Australian Ballet). It became a staple of the Australian ballet season for many years.
During WWII, Lichine left Europe altogether. He had been badly frightened by the antisemitic abuse he suffered during a 1936 performance in Germany, and left with his wife Tatiana Mikhailovna Ryabushinskaya (a famous ballerina in her own right) the year after. During the war years he choreographed for Broadway and guested with Ballet Theatre (now ABT). He also did a great deal of work in Latin America, notably in the Ciudad de México and with the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
After the war, Lichine and Ryabushinskaya found great success as choreographers and performers in Hollywood movie musicals. Delightfully, they were the dance models for the ballet scene in Disney’s Fantasia. His best live-action work for screen is generally considered to be the choreography for The Unfinished Dance (1947).
Lichine and Ryabushinskaya settled in Los Angeles in 1953 and opened an eponymous ballet school, where he taught and choreographed until his death at age 61 in 1972.
Further reading: David Lichine and Tatiana Riabouchinska papers with the New York Public Library, The Dance History Project of Southern California
