Vera Trefilova Russian Ballet Dancer Vintage Real Photo postcard

With the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Trefilova left Russia and opened a ballet studio in Paris. In 1921, the great Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929), the founder of the Ballet Russe who is credited with reawakening interest in classical ballet, asked Trefilova to dance Princess Aurora in a full-length revival of his production of The Sleeping Beauty in London, England. She accepted and alternated nights in the role with ballerinas Lyubov Egorova, Lydia Lopokova, and Olga Spessivtzeva. These performances were the 46-year-old Trefilova’s last appearances as a prima ballerina and on any stage.

Trefilova lived the rest of her life in Paris. Her first two marriages, to A.I. Butler and N.V. Soloviev, were cut short by their early deaths. Her third husband, Valerian Svetlov, was the leading Russian ballet critic of the day; among his best-known books was Le Ballet Contemporain, published in both French and Russian in 1911. Trefilova survived him by nine years, dying during the German occupation of Paris in 1943.