Nina Novak was born in Warsaw, Poland. She joined the Polish National Ballet at 16, then joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1948, and eventually taught ballet in South America.

Tamara Toumanova graced her first of several Dance Magazine covers for the May 1936 issue, when the publication was still called The American Dancer. Though only 17 at the time, she was already a seasoned soloist. She gave her first performance as a very young child mere months after starting ballet lessons in Paris, when […]

In the April 1944 issue of Dance Magazine, we chatted with prima ballerina assoluta Alexandra Danilova. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1924 with George Balanchine, she danced with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and Colonel de Basil’s troupe before becoming the most beloved leading lady of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she formed […]

Sometimes we find gems in the DM Archives that are simply too wonderful not to share—for instance, these images from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production of La Dame à la Licorne, conceived and designed by French artist Jean Cocteau and choreographed by Heinz Rosen. Photo courtesy DM Archives This description of the 1953 […]