“Great-great-granddaughter” by Matilda Kshesinskaya made a splash on the stage. Art historian: ballerina Eleanor Sevenard is not the great-granddaughter of Matilda Kshesinskaya Great-granddaughter of Matilda Kshesinskaya
Name: Matilda Kshesinskaya
Date of Birth: 31.08.1872
Age: 146 years
Place of Birth: St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Activity: ballerina, teacher
Family status: Married
The biography and personal life of Matilda Kshesinskaya is now being actively discussed. This name is on everyone's lips after the premiere of the acclaimed film "Matilda", in which the autocrat, canonized by the holy Orthodox Church, is shown as an ordinary passionate person. This shocked many, especially believers. And, as you know, many people are now protesting. So who exactly was this mysterious woman?
Matilda's childhood and youth
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31, 1872. Her biography began in the town of Ligovo, St. Petersburg district.
Matilda's parents were ballet actors, Pole Felix and Julia. His father performed at the Mariinsky Theater, and his mother was a corps de ballet dancer. The personal life of Felix and Yulia Kshesinsky was successful; they had three children, despite the fact that Yulia had 5 children from her first husband before her marriage to Felix. My mother's maiden name was Dominskaya. She was married to the famous dancer Lede, who died, leaving her alone with their children.
Since childhood, Matilda showed a talent for theatrical art, and loved theater with all her heart. Her older sister was also a ballerina, which only strengthened the young girl’s desire to follow this path. Therefore, as soon as she turned 8 years old, the girl entered the Imperial Theater School and graduated as an external student in 1890. During her studies, the future ballerina was worried that she would not be able to benefit society, but after seeing the performance of the famous Virginia Zucchi and being inspired by it, she realized that nothing was more important to her than art.
Matilda Kshesinskaya in childhood
At the final exam, already exciting for Matilda, Emperor Alexander III was present along with his son, Tsarevich Nicholas. The Emperor praised Matilda's performance, wishing her to become an adornment of the famous Russian ballet.
This praise had a huge impact on the biography and personal life of Matilda Kshesinskaya and gave her confidence. After the exam, at the ball, the girl danced with Nikolai. Both of them, recalling this moment, claim that they fell in love with each other immediately.
Matilda's parents
Memoirs of contemporaries show that the girl had a cheerful character. Matilda was easy-going and very cheerful. Tsarevich Nicholas even said in his diary that instead of blood, champagne flows in her. She remained like this for the rest of her life.
Since the girl showed her best side in her studies, after graduating from college she was immediately invited to the Mariinsky Theater.
Creative career in Russia
Matilda was a very resilient and purposeful person. She could hold the ballet barre for hours, not paying attention to the pain and discomfort.
The girl played many roles in the theater, but her debut was the role of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. In 1896, Matilda, despite the lack of consent from the chief choreographer Petipa, became the prima ballerina of the Imperial Theater. The girl’s work was difficult, and the attitude of other ballerinas towards Matilda was not easy, but she continued to shine on stage.
At that time, Italian ballerinas were the most popular in Russian ballet, thanks to their physical endurance and grace. To learn this skill, Matilda takes lessons from Italian masters, which allowed her to perform the famous trick - 32 fouettés, which had not previously been performed by Russian ballerinas.
Famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya
Kshesinskaya performed not only at the Mariinsky Theater, but also at the Krasnoselsky and Hermitage. Also, the young ballerina worked together with such famous ballerinas as Anna Pavlova and Yulia Sedova.
Matilda's style was different from other ballet styles of the time. The girl knew how to combine Italian flexibility and Russian grace, as well as endurance and natural charisma. All this allowed her to leave a noticeable mark in the history of art.
The great ballerina’s repertoire at that time included roles from ballets:
- "Esmeralda";
- "La Bayadère";
- "Vain precaution";
- "Flora's Awakening";
- "Sleeping Beauty";
- "Evnika" and others.
None of the dancers had such beauty of movements and grace in those days. Matilda knew how to charm the viewer with her charm, expressiveness of feelings and precision of movements. This is all thanks to the hard training, diligence and perseverance of this small but strong woman.
Matilda dancing
In 1904, Matilda left the theater forever and began giving commissioned performances. She earned decently for those times; on average, the former prima ballerina received 500-750 rubles per performance. This was a lot of money at that time, considering that two rubles could buy a cow, for example. In 1911, the ballerina performed very successfully in London. Matilda has since become interested not only in the theater, but also in various financial transactions. For example, during the First World War, Kshesinskaya distributed orders for troops between firms and influenced various military affairs.
Life abroad
During the February Revolution, the biography and personal life of Matilda Kshesinskaya changed completely. The ballerina with her family and son Vladimir leaves Petrograd forever. For some time the ballerina lives in Kislovodsk, then moves to Novorossiysk. Matilda wanted to return to the capital of Russia, but she could not do this, since her famous mansion was occupied by the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party.
In Novorossiysk, life for the Kshesinskys was not sweet. In those difficult post-revolutionary times, aristocrats had a very difficult time. They, along with the relatives of the grand dukes, had to live for 2 months in carriages in which typhus was raging.
For some time the dancer lived abroad
Fortunately, the disease passed by Matilda and her son. In 1920, the ballerina moved abroad, to France, to a city called Cap d'Ail. There she had a villa, and Matilda's life improved again.
9 years later, Kshesinskaya opens her own ballet school in Paris. The students recalled that her noble blood was visible to the naked eye. During her teaching, Matilda Kshesinskaya never raised her voice to her students, she was always polite and behaved with dignity. She did not talk much about her biography and personal life, and in the photo, and in life, she looked much younger than her age.
During World War II, Matilda develops arthritis, which causes her every movement to cause pain, but, as in her youth, the former ballerina copes with it. In Paris, Kshesinskaya begins to write memoirs, which were published in France in 1960. In Russia, her books were published only after the fall of the USSR, in 1992.
Matilda Kshesinskaya's romance with the Tsarevich
The biography and personal life of Matilda Kshesinskaya is closely connected with the imperial family. In 1890, the girl met Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Nicholas II. According to the ballerina’s memoirs, she immediately fell in love with the heir. Nikolai was also fascinated by this fragile and petite girl (her height was only 153 centimeters!).
Empress Maria Feodorovna approved of the Tsarevich's decision to have an affair with Matilda and even helped with money for gifts to Kshesinskaya. This was explained by the fact that Nikolai was too modest and paid little attention to the female sex. His mother was seriously worried about this.
But, unfortunately, there could be no marriage between the ballerina and Nicholas, since in this case the Tsarevich would have lost the opportunity to ascend the throne. Everyone understood this, and so did Matilda. However, no one forbade young lovers from meeting.
Matilda in her country house
Their love was like a young unblown rose that attracts attention with its aroma and beauty. However, it can be very difficult to pick it due to the thorniness of the thorns.
Thanks to this novel, Nikolai gained experience in love and communication with women. The love of the Tsarevich and the young beautiful ballerina became forbidden fruit when the time came for him to marry, finding a worthy candidate for this, and ascend to the throne.
In 1894, on the occasion of the death of Emperor Alexander III, Nicholas made a decision - it was necessary to marry Alice of Darmstadt, the future Alexandra Feodorovna, granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria. Moreover, the crown prince fell in love with the princess. Nikolai saw Alix (as her relatives called her) as a child, at the wedding of her sister, Princess Elizabeth, and his uncle, Prince Sergei. Having met Alix a few years later, Nikolai saw a mature beauty in her appearance, and his heart trembled. He realized that he could not find a better match for marriage.
Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nikolai Alexandrovich
Since then, the relationship between Matilda and Nikolai has ceased forever. The girl took the breakup hard, but soon quickly got over it. Matilda and Nikolai have warm memories of each other.
Before his wedding, the future emperor asked his nephew, Sergei Mikhailovich, to take care of Kshesinskaya, to which he happily agreed. Moreover, Sergei was the president of the Russian Theater Society, which had a beneficial effect on the girl’s career. Matilda and Sergei became good friends, and later lovers.
Personal life
Love intrigues were not alien to this pretty girl. After parting with the Tsarevich, Matilda had two lovers, His Serene Highnesses Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich. Sergei proposed to the ballerina, but for some unknown reason she refused. Probably at that time the girl was still too flighty and was not ready for a serious family life.
One day, in 1908, while on tour in Paris, Matilda started an affair with young Pyotr Vladimirovich. As a result of this affair, Peter and Andrei developed far from friendly relations; it even came to a duel, where Peter was shot in the nose.
Matilda with her husband and son
The unmarried life of the ballerina at that time could not last long, and the dream of a large and friendly family did not allow Kshesinskaya to enjoy a free life. In 1902, Matilda had a son, Vladimir. By the way, it is still unknown who the boy’s father really is.
Despite the fact that Kshesinskaya was not married to Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, her son was given the nobility and patronymic Sergeevich. But soon the son had to change this middle name, since in 1921, in Cannes, Matilda married Andrei Vladimirovich, the grandson of Alexander II. Matilda, who was a Catholic before the wedding, converted to Orthodoxy with the name Maria. Their family was exactly what the ballerina dreamed of. They were together until the end of their days.
Next week, 19-year-old Eleanor Sevenard will waltz in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. We are sure that the one who made her debut at the Bolshoi will not worry too much before the ball, but will simply enjoy what is happening. Despite her young age, the ballerina has already achieved a lot thanks to her abilities and hard work. It is this character trait that makes Eleanor similar to her famous relative Matilda Kshesinskaya, whose name is on everyone’s lips today. We have already told you how the ballerina, known for her talent and romances with royalty, lived and loved. This time the site invites you to get to know her great-great-great-granddaughter better.
Eleanor is pretty, talented and... at the same time very modest. Even when appearing at social events, she prefers not to pose for photographers. It seems that Sevenard is not yet accustomed to the fact that after her name appears on the list of debutantes at the Tatler Ball, she finds herself in the spotlight not only when she goes on stage. General interest, of course, was fueled by the girl’s relationship with Matilda Kshesinskaya, who this year became perhaps the most discussed historical person thanks to the film by Alexei Uchitel about the romance of the ballerina and Nicholas II. Is there a chance that one day Eleanor will outshine the one everyone is talking about today?
Famous relative
Despite the fact that Matilda Kshesinskaya was an outstanding ballerina and prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater, she was remembered mainly for her romances with Tsarevich Nicholas and his relatives. To this day, there are fierce debates about what really happened between the dancer and the future Russian emperor. Now many historians are sure that Matilda, despite all her talents, would hardly have been able to become famous without the patronage of the great Russian princes. From one of the relatives of Nicholas II, Kshesinskaya gave birth to a son, Vladimir, with whom she emigrated from Russia to France in 1917.
There Matilda died, just a few months short of her centenary. Her only son never left any offspring and died a few years after his mother.
However, the line of famous dancers did not end there, because Kshesinskaya had a brother, Joseph, who remained in his homeland during the February Revolution. His daughter Tselina married Konstantin Sevenard, a descendant of an old French aristocratic family that settled in Russia in the 19th century. Now in the press, with the light hand of Eleanor’s father, rumors are being circulated that Celina was not the daughter of Joseph at all, but of Matilda and... Nikolai. However, there is no evidence for this theory yet, and it is unlikely that it will appear. In her marriage to Sevenard, Kshesinskaya gave birth to three children: Yuri, Lydia and Fyodor. Yuri currently continues to actively work in his main specialty. He is a hydraulic engineer and the president of CJSC Integrated Hydraulic Construction Company Sevenard.
Yuri has two sons - Andrei and Konstantin. The latter is the father of Eleanor Sevenard; the businessman’s daughter was born to his first wife, Julia, who, by the way, is a historian by training. Now the girl's parents are divorced.
Thus, Eleanor is the great-niece of Matilda Kshesinskaya, and if her dad’s hypothesis about the origin of Tselina is one day confirmed, then Sevenard will be considered not only the direct heir of the famous prima, but also of special royal blood.
Mom, I will be a ballerina!
Eleanor is the eldest of four common children of Yulia and Konstantin Sevenard. The girl grew up in a family where the famous great-great-great-grandmother and the art of dance were equally idolized. The girl’s father is extremely proud of his roots, which go back to the former favorite of Nicholas II, and her mother regularly practiced ballet in her youth and could have achieved some success in this field if she had not decided to become a historian. It is not surprising that Eleanor wanted to follow in Kshesinskaya’s footsteps from childhood.
“We have Matilda’s stage costumes and her photographs at home. This aura was always felt. We donated some of these costumes to the museum of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg,” the father of the young ballerina said in an interview. According to him, he and his mother both fully and completely supported their daughter’s decision.
Eleanor herself also does not hide the fact that the famous dancer played a role in her destiny. “The family often talked about Matilda Feliksovna; we kept the Kshesinsky costumes,” the girl admitted in an interview with Voci dell’Opera. She, like Kshesinskaya, was often taken to the theater as a child. The baby studied ballet from the age of four, and when the girl turned ten, her mother herself sent her to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, where Eleanor was accepted with great pleasure, having seen the potential long before they heard the name of her famous relative.
Tell me who your teacher is and I will tell you who you are
At the Academy of Russian Ballet, the girl’s abilities were immediately appreciated - her talent was accompanied not only by perseverance and hard work, but also by excellent physical data. In narrow circles of professionals it was often said that even if the heiress did not surpass Kshesinskaya, she would definitely equal her in skill, and printed publications unanimously insisted that Eleanor was the brightest of the future graduates of the Academy.
Why be surprised if Sevenard’s main mentor was the famous ballet dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze. In almost every interview, the girl spoke with reverent aspiration about her teacher.
“He is a very demanding teacher, there is no other way. I'm glad that I have this opportunity, because after rehearsals with him you come out with the knowledge gained, goals and tasks that you must correct at the next rehearsal. And, most importantly, at rehearsals with Nikolai Maksimovich you gain strength, a desire to work and improve,” Eleanor once admitted.
Tsiskaridze is rightfully proud of his student. “Eleanor is my pupil. She is the best graduate of last year. I immediately received an invitation to both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters. Elya chose the Bolshoi and moved to Moscow. She is currently studying for a bachelor's degree. Over the past two years, Elya has danced a huge number of performances on all the leading stages of the world - at the Paris Opera, Milan's La Scala, London, and the Tokyo National Theater. And the main parties are everywhere!” - Nikolai said.
According to him, kinship with the famous Kshesinskaya does not play any role in how Sevenard manifests himself on stage.
“By the way, the Japanese made an hour-long documentary about her. We followed the lives of our two girls for eight years. Both showed promise in ballet. But nothing came of the second girl, but Eleanor did,” Tsiskaridze said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda. The teacher and his student have many photographs together. At almost all performances, Nikolai personally accompanied the girl, whom he already boldly predicts worldwide fame.
Maybe to the Bolshoi?
Eleanor graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and immediately found herself at a crossroads. Mariinsky or Bolshoi? On the one hand, in St. Petersburg everything is already familiar to her; in the same theater, Matilda Kshesinskaya was the prima ballerina for 12 years. However, her teacher shone at the Bolshoi for many years...
As a result, the girl nevertheless chose the capital and was accepted into the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. After that, not only specialized media that followed her creative growth, but also glossy publications started talking about her. Of course, Kshesinskaya’s great-niece will perform on the Bolshoi stage!
And a few days later another news appeared, which was even more actively discussed on the Internet: the debut of Eleanor Sevenard. The girl got her first role in the production of Don Quixote, and judging by the numerous reviews and congratulations on her microblog, the ballerina did a brilliant job.
And this is not surprising, because, as a student, Eleanor constantly performed. Hence the impressive list of awards. In 2016, Sevenard received the prize of the VIIth International Ballet Competition Vaganova-Prix, the prize of the Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeev Foundation, and was among the laureates of the All-Russian competition of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation “Young Talents”.
2017 started off no less brightly. The ballerina took part in the gala concert “Icons of Russian Ballet” at the London Coliseum and the Gala of Ballet Schools of the 21st Century, which took place at the Opera Garnier in Paris. Sevenard became a laureate of the All-Russian competition for young performers “Russian Ballet”.
And in the graduation performance “Paquita,” which tells the story of a girl who lost contact with her famous and influential relatives, she brilliantly performed the main role. By the way, Tsiskaridze himself chose this role for Sevenard.
Second high-profile debut
Also this fall, it became known that Eleanor will become one of the debutantes at the Tatler Ball, which will be held on October 23. Sevenard practically does not worry before the solemn event that will soon take place in the Hall of Columns; she is sure that perseverance, hard work and talent are the keys to all doors in this world.
“Both at the ball and in life, everything will depend only on me - I was convinced of this on stage. I would like to believe that my perseverance and hard work come from Matilda Feliksovna,” Eleanor admitted in an interview.
Sevenard met almost all the debutantes and, apparently, managed to find a common language with Sonya Tarkhanova. Not long ago, the girls all went together for a fitting at the Jimmy Choo salon. True, the ballerina had to skip the traditional breakfast in the Baccarat Cristal Room; apparently, she had important rehearsals at that time.
We are looking forward to Eleanor's appearance at the ball, but in the meantime we are closely following the girl at social events. Sevenard recently attended the show of the famous designer Alexander Terekhov along with Sonya Tarkhanova. Both debutantes behaved very confidently and chatted casually with celebrities. In addition, we really liked how the heiress of Matilda looked that evening.
In the rhythm in which Sevenard now lives, it is very difficult to start novels. The girl spends almost all her time on rehearsals, performances and filming. Yes, yes, you heard right, she often poses for her photographer friends. Eleanor's father claims that at the moment his daughter's heart is occupied only with ballet. And we willingly believe him.
Not Kshesinskaya alone
Sevenard does not hide the fact that when she studied at the Academy and visited the Mariinsky Theater, she clearly felt her kinship with Matilda Kshesinskaya, which seemed to push her to conquer ever new heights. “I think that morally her role in the art of ballet pulls me along, in the sense that I want to succeed in my ballet career,” Eleanor once admitted.
However, oddly enough, Kshesinskaya is not at all the main inspirer of Sevenard. The young ballerina admires the talents of Ekaterina Maksimova, a dancer who during her long life managed to take part in several dozen productions and receive worldwide recognition.
Eleanor also gives a special place in Russian ballet to Irina Kolpakova. Her classic style was noted by many critics at one time. Sevenard actively studies the work of Maya Plisetskaya, one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.
We have no doubt that very soon Eleanor will no longer be compared to her famous relative. In the meantime, correspondents from various publications regularly ask the girl a question about the sensational film by Alexei Uchitel.
“She was a great artist, a great ballerina, and such youthful love - anyone could have that in their life. It just happened that way for her. I hope that everything will not be shown from the bad side,” Sevenard answered journalists’ questions. The girl did not hide the fact that she really hopes to see this film soon.
Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya is a Russian ballerina with Polish roots, who performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater from 1890 to 1917, the mistress of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. Their love story formed the basis of the feature film “Matilda” by Alexei Uchitel.
Early years. Family
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31 (old style - 19) 1872 in St. Petersburg. Initially, the surname of the family sounded like “Krzezinski”. Later it was transformed into “Kshesinsky” for euphony. 
Her parents are ballet dancers of the Mariinsky Theater: her father Felix Kshesinsky was a ballet dancer, who in 1851 was invited from Poland to the Russian Empire by Nicholas I himself, and her mother Yulia Deminskaya, who at the time of their acquaintance was raising five children from her deceased first husband, dancer Lede, was a soloist corps de ballet. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer who sang on the stage of the Warsaw Opera.
At the age of 8, Matilda became a student at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, where her brother Joseph and sister Julia were already studying. The day of the final exam - March 23, 1890 - was remembered by the talented girl who completed her studies as an external student for the rest of her life.
According to tradition, Emperor Alexander III sat on the examination committee, who was accompanied that day by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The 17-year-old ballerina performed wonderfully, and at parting the emperor gave her parting words: “Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!” Later in her memoirs, Matilda wrote: “Then I told myself that I had to live up to the expectations placed on me.”
Ballerina career
Immediately after graduating from college, Matilda was invited to the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. Already in the first season, she was assigned small roles in 22 ballets and 21 operas. 
Colleagues recalled Matilda as an incredibly efficient dancer who inherited her father’s talent for dramatic expressiveness. She could stand at the ballet barre for hours, overcoming the pain.
In 1898, the prima began taking lessons from Enrico Cecchetti, an outstanding Italian dancer. With his help, she became the first Russian ballerina to masterfully perform 32 fouettés in a row. Previously, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded in this, whose rivalry with Matilda continued for many years.
After six years of work in the theater, the ballerina was awarded the title of prima. Her repertoire included The Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Odette (Swan Lake), Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) and Princess Aspiccia (The Pharaoh's Daughter). Her unique style combined the impeccability of the Italian and lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. A whole era is still associated with her name, a great time for Russian ballet.
Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II
The relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II began at a dinner party after the final exam. The heir to the throne became seriously infatuated with the airy and fragile ballerina, and with the full approval of his mother. 
Empress Maria Feodorovna was seriously worried about the fact that her son (before meeting Kshesinskaya) did not show any interest in girls, so she encouraged his romance with Matilda in every possible way. For example, Nikolai Alexandrovich took money for gifts for his beloved from a fund specially created for this purpose. Among them was a house on the Promenade des Anglais, which previously belonged to the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.
For a long time they were content with casual meetings. Before each performance, Matilda looked out the window for a long time in the hope of seeing her lover ascending the steps, and when he came, she danced with double enthusiasm. In the spring of 1891, after a long separation (Nicholas went to Japan), the heir first secretly left the palace and went to Matilda.
Trailer for the film "Matilda"
Their romance lasted until 1894 and ended due to Nicholas's engagement to the British princess Alice of Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who stole the heart of the emperor's successor. Matilda took the breakup very hard, but supported Nicholas II with all her heart, understanding that the crowned lady could not marry a ballerina. She was on the side of her former lover when the emperor and his wife opposed his union with Alice.
Before his marriage, Nicholas II entrusted the care of Matilda to his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, president of the Russian Theater Society. For the next few years, he was a faithful friend and patron of the ballerina.
However, Nicholas, already an emperor at that time, still had feelings for his former lover. He continued to follow her career. It was rumored that it was not without his patronage that Kshesinskaya received the position of prima of the Mariinsky in 1886. In 1890, in honor of her benefit performance, he presented Matilda with an elegant diamond brooch with a sapphire, which he and his wife had been choosing for a long time.
Documentary film about Matilda Kshesinskaya with video chronicle
After that same benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of Nicholas II - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. As the legend goes, he stared at the beauty and accidentally spilled a glass of wine on her expensive dress sent from France. But the ballerina saw this as a happy sign. Thus began their romance, which later ended in marriage.
In 1902, Matilda gave birth to a son, Vladimir, from Prince Andrei. The birth was very difficult; the woman in labor and her newborn were miraculously rescued from the other world.
Life at the beginning of the 20th century
In 1903, the ballerina was invited to America, but she refused the offer, preferring to stay in her homeland. At the turn of the century, the prima had already achieved all imaginable heights on stage, and in 1904 she decided to resign from the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She did not stop dancing, but now she worked under a contract and received a huge fee for each performance. 
In 1908, Matilda went on a tour to Paris, where she met the young aristocrat Pyotr Vladimirovich, who was 21 years younger than her. They began a passionate affair, which is why Prince Andrei challenged his opponent to a duel and shot him in the nose. In France, the already middle-aged Kshesinskaya opened a ballet school
During the war, Kshesinskaya fell ill with arthritis - since then, every movement was given to her with great difficulty, but the school still flourished. When she devoted herself entirely to a new passion, gambling, the studio became her only source of rather depleted income.
Death
Matilda Kshesinskaya, mistress of the last Russian emperor, lived a bright, amazing life. She did not live a few months before her 100th birthday. On December 6, 1971, she died and was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in the same grave with her husband. 
In 1969, 2 years before Matilda’s death, Soviet ballet stars Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev visited her estate. As they later wrote in their memoirs, on the threshold they were met by a completely gray-haired, withered old woman with surprisingly young eyes full of sparkle. When they told Matilda that her name was still remembered in her homeland, she replied: “And they will always remember.”
The name of dancer Eleanor Sevenard has recently come up often in connection with the sensational film about her distant relative, ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. However, she owes her success not to her great-great-grandmother, but to her ballet skills. Today the artist celebrates her 20th birthday.
This season, Sevenard joined the Bolshoi Theater troupe. On the Bolshoi website, Kshesinskaya’s great-great-granddaughter is listed in the “Ballet Dancers” section among dozens of other ballerinas. However, she is called Nikolai Tsiskaridze’s favorite. The People's Artist of Russia in an interview with Reedus spoke about the potential of the rising star of the Bolshoi.
“She is the best graduate of last year’s school, the best,” says Tsiskaridze.
Eleanor has been practicing ballet since childhood. It is known that the Academy of Russian Ballet named after. Her mother brought her to Vaganova.
As a child, I was often taken to the theater. The family often talked about Matilda Feliksovna; we kept the Kshesinsky costumes. Now we have transferred them to the Academy Museum. I think that this also played a role in my choice, Sevenard told the magazine about opera and ballet Voci dell’Opera.
The girl calls Maya Plisetskaya, Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev her idols.
According to Eleanor, she “would like to dance ballets from the classical repertoire.”
Cultural observer of Moskovsky Komsomolets Pavel Yashchenkov was critical of Sevenard’s victory in the All-Russian competition of young performers “Russian Ballet”, held in May of this year. He called the Vaganova Academy graduate “somewhat knocked down, but rotating well.”
“In addition, there are some problems with the foot, with its natural softness. She also lacks the elongated lines that are in demand today in ballet (which, apparently, was inherited, since her great-great-grandmother did not have them either). So at the moment, the girl could be satisfied with “silver,” which, by the way, she fully deserved,” is how the publication describes the performance of the young ballerina.
Like her famous relative, Kshesinskaya’s great-great-granddaughter previously performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater.
“I would like to believe that my hard work and perseverance come from Matilda Feliksovna,” noted the ballerina.
The life story of great-great-grandmother Sevenard and her relationship with Tsarevich Nicholas formed the basis of the film “Matilda” directed by Alexei Uchitel. “The Christian State” and State Duma deputy Natalya are against the release of the melodrama. They believe that the depiction of the king’s love affair with the ballerina insults the memory of the royal family.
The All-Russian competition of young performers “Russian Ballet” was held for the third time on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. Conceived and conducted for the first time by the wife of the current Prime Minister of the Russian government, Svetlana Medvedeva, in 2013, it still today represents the best students of Russian ballet schools and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives.
Out of 44 applications, the jury conducted the first round in absentia, behind closed doors, based on recordings, and selected 29 schoolchildren from 13 schools to participate. In addition to the Moscow and St. Petersburg academies, their number included students from schools from Perm, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Kazan, Krasnodar, as well as students from Krasnoyarsk, Buryat, Bashkir, and Yakut colleges. Students from two Moscow schools also took part in the competition. In addition to the school named after Leonid Lavrovsky, the Moscow Choreographic School at the Gzhel Academic Dance Theater was also represented here, which, among other things, can boast of such a graduate as Denis Rodkin, who became the premier of the Bolshoi Theater (together with the Bolshoi prima Anna Nikulina) and host of the second ceremony of the competition.
The problems for the competition participants appear to be the same ones that haunt the competitors at this kind of competition from year to year: “schoolboy” performance, a chronic lack of sense of style, and difficulties with technique often made themselves felt: some fell, some could not twist consistently fouette... And all this almost through one performer...
Special complaints must be made about the form of many participants. The jury does not seem to have paid sufficient attention to this circumstance. Otherwise, the “knocked down” (the girl did not have these problems last year) with an uncultivated foot, but well-rotating and generally very technical undergraduate student of the Vaganova Academy, Eleonora Sevenard, would never have received the “gold” (on the Bolshoi Theater website for some reason: then named as Sevenardze). The girl, who is said to be the great-great-granddaughter of a ballerina, also has some problems with natural softness; she also lacks the “extended lines” that are in demand today in ballet (which apparently was passed down “inheritedly”, since there were none and at my great-great-grandmother's). So for now, “silver” is her limit.
With somewhat greater justification, the silver laureate of the competition, Italian Camilla Mazzi, representing the Moscow Academy, could claim gold, since she is in much better shape than her competitor who received gold. But this participant can be reproached for her excessive mannerisms. But the bronze of the representative of the Perm school, Anna Grigorieva, is generally in question. There are problems not only with the form, but also with the purity of execution. Looking much more advantageous against her background was the long-legged and long-armed, and also expressive from an acting point of view, second-year student of the Gzhel School Irina Zakharova, who, nevertheless, was not included in the list of nominees (just as another representative of this school, Anastasia Shelomentseva, who performed a quality performance, did not get there). Variation of Medora from the ballet “Corsair”).
To be honest, you can’t really envy the members of the jury this year, because for the boys they had to make a truly “Solomon” decision: it was really difficult to choose the Grand Prix winner at this competition; absolutely all the young men who became laureates were worthy of it.
It’s especially insulting for the graduate of the Moscow Academy (and now an artist of the Bolshoi Theater) Russian-Japanese dancer Marco (or Maruku as indicated in the program, the guy recently received Japanese citizenship) Chino, who was awarded only third place by the jury’s decision. A multiple winner of many competitions, although he danced at the competition with a sore leg (which, of course, affected the quality of performance), he nevertheless “hit the top ten” at the Russian Ballet, having beautifully performed the pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Sleeper” with Camilla Mazzi gorgeous". The dancer's excellent training, excellent external characteristics, his plasticity, organic and stylish performance, and partnership qualities made his dance in no way inferior in quality and finishing to the dance of his competitors.
Slightly better than the other prize-winners, almost flawlessly, without making a single mistake (although he had to perform in extreme conditions, after his partner fell on stage during the performance of a pas de deux from the ballet “Don Quixote”), Arsenty Lazarev from Novosibirsk showed up at the competition, receiving nevertheless silver, but which became a real discovery of this competition. However, the performance of Denis Zakharov, who represented the Moscow Academy and received the Grand Prix as a result, can also be considered stylistically accurate and flawless. The sophomore at the Moscow State Academy of Arts has elongated lines, beautiful feet, and in his manner of performance he is somewhat reminiscent of a young one.
The owner of a noble appearance, luxurious in texture, Egor Gerashchenko (gold medal), also performed excellently at the competition. A student of a Moscow school, who received excellent training from his current teacher Nikolai Tsiskaridze already at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, where he moved from Moscow, in addition to the romantic appearance of Prince Siegfried (which was successfully emphasized by a silver-embroidered tunic and hairstyle), demonstrated beautiful feet, good rotations and jumping with landing in an impeccable fifth position... And most importantly, the “effect of stage presence”, charming the Moscow (actually “native”) audience with his manner. Gerashchenko looked like a “record” premiere and showed the most confident and “adult” performance of all the participants in the duet, beautifully dancing the black pas de deux from “Swan Lake” with Eleanor Sevenard.
As for the jury itself, the decision was made demonstratively (the competition was filmed for television), and was by no means made in the “offices”: the scores were given “online”, that is, right during the performance, and at intervals of every 5 issues the ballots were given to the secretary, for so that they can then be processed by the computer. He actually made the final verdict, depending on the number of points scored by the participants. It seems like everything is transparent, which, however, does not at all exclude the possibility of reaching an agreement in advance.
What is noteworthy: unlike the past two competitions, the current one, its organizer Mrs. Svetlana Medvedeva, was not honored with her presence, sending instead only a long message read out at the award ceremony. Another high-ranking ballet lover, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, did not attend the competition this time either. Of the top officials, only the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky arrived at the Bolshoi at the very end of the competition in order to present awards to the winners together with the legendary chairman of the jury.
Pavel Yashchenkov, mk.ru
