Autographed Letter, Signed, from Vera Nemtchinova to Daniel Selznick
Autograph Letter, Signed, from Vera Nemtchinova to Daniel Selznick, undated [circa 1968].
6.25 x 9.5 inches. Leaf folded twice for mailing. Very good.
1-page autograph letter from Vera Nemtchinova (1900-1984), a star of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, to Hollywood producer Daniel Selznick (son of David O. Selznick). After retiring from dancing in 1945, Nemtchinova opened her own studio in New York City, and quickly rose to become one of the most sought ballet teachers in the United States. This letter is written on Nemtchinova’s own stationery, with the address of her ballet school at the Hotel Ansonia on 73rd and Broadway in New York. Undated but likely written in the late 1960s (from the format of the telephone number and zip code printed on the stationery).
Born in Moscow in 1900, Vera Nemtchinova joined Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1915. Her most famous role was that of the androgynous ''Girl in Blue'' in Les Biches, Bronislava Nijinska's 1924 ballet about the sexual and social mores of the chic set in France (music by Poulenc). After leaving Diaghilev in 1926, Nemtchinova worked with Massine in London and with Mikhail Mordkin in New York. She formed her own company, the Ballets Russes de Vera Nemtchinova, which performed in Europe through 1930. She was at the forefront of the emerging aesthetics of 20th century ballet, with her company commissioning and producing experimental ballets, including George Balanchine’s Aubade.