The dancer who brought ballet to Venezuela
RIPThe Polish ballerina Nina Novak has died in a nursing care facility outside Philadelphia, aged 97.
Warsaw born, she reached New York in 1948 and joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Eventually she settled in Caracas and formed the Venezuelan Classical Ballet Company.
Slight correction, she was just short of her 100th birthday it seems.
Many of the Ballets Russes dancers brought ballet to all of Latin America, after touring extensively all through World War II. As a result, the standards of ballet are very high there, and remain so. Free of Balanchine influence, they revel in the masterpieces of Michel Fokine and Leonide Massine.
I saw her dance when I was 10 years old and was awed by her beauty and spirit. I have never forgotten it!
I believe she was my 1st Odette/Odile, seen at Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall around 1960. I remember being thrilled by the lifts in the White Swan pdd.