Lyubov Yegorova Russian Ballet Dancer Vintage postcard c.1900

Lubov Yegorova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She studied ballet at the Imperial Theatre School in St. Petersburg with Ekaterina Vazem, Enrico Cecchetti and Anna Johansson. After graduating in 1898, she started work as a coryphée in the Imperial Ballet at Maryinsky Theatre and became a ballerina in 1914.

A role as Myrtha in Gisellebrought her to the attention of Sergei Diaghilev who cast her in the role of Princess Florine in “The Sleeping Beauty” in 1918, where she danced with Vaslav Nijinsky. She also went on to dance other roles with the Ballets Russes. Yegorova’s farewell performance in 1917 at the Maryinsky Theatre was in Swan Lake.

However, she continued to dance, and in 1921 she interpreted the role of Aurora in Diaghilev’s Sleeping Princess production in London. After retiring from the stage, she taught as head of the Ballet Russe school company in 1937. She received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et lettres in 1964.

Notable students included Serge Lifar, Anton Dolin, Yvonne Mounsey and Zelda Fitzgerald, who described studying under “Madame” in 1925, in her novel Save Me the Waltz. Another of her students was Lucia Joyce, daughter of the Irish writer James Joyce.