ida rubinstein

Ida Rubinstein as Salomé



Vaslav Nijinsky and Ida Rubinstein, Scheherazade 1910


Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (5 October 1885 – 20 September 1960) was a famous Russian ballerina, actress, patron and iconic Belle Époque beauty.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia into a wealthy Jewish family, Rubinstein was orphaned at an early age. She had, by the standard of Russian ballet, little formal training. Under the private tutelage of Mikhail Fokine she debuted in 1909 with a single private performance of Oscar Wilde's Salomé, stripping completely nude in the course of the Dance of the Seven Veils.
Sergei Diaghilev took her with the Ballets Russes and she danced the title role of Cléopâtre in the Paris season of 1909. This performance was as a powerful spectacle, the costumes were designed by Leon Bakst and the finale inspired Kees van Dongen's Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909.
excerpt take from Ida Rubinstein

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