| Irina Baronova | |
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Irina Baronova, c. 1937 |
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| Born | March 13, 1919 Petrograd, Russian Empire |
| Died | June 28, 2008 (aged 89) Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia |
| Spouse | German Sevastianov, Cecil Tennant |
| Children | Victoria Tennant, Irina Tennant, Robert Tennant |
| Parents | Mikhail Baronov, Lidia Vishniakova |
Irina Mikhailovna Baronova (Russian: Ирина Михайловна Баронова), FRAD (March 13, 1919 – June 28, 2008) was a Russian ballerina who was one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, discovered by George Balanchine in Paris in the 1930s.[1] She created roles in Léonide Massine's Le Beau Danube (1924), Jeux d'enfants (1932), and Les Présages (1933); and in Bronislava Nijinska's Les Cent Baisers (1935).
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Baronova was born in Saint Petersburg (then known as Petrograd) in 1919, the daughter of a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy, Mikhail Baronov, and his wife Lidia (née Vishniakova). When she was less than two years old, her family moved to Romania. She became entranced with ballet when she saw a performance by Tamara Karsavina. The family moved to Paris in 1928 to provide Irina with professional training, where she was taught by Olga Preobrajenska. She also studied with fellow prima ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska.
Baronova made her debut aged 11 at the Paris Opera in 1930, and in 1932 George Balanchine took her into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The writer Arnold Haskell dubbed the trio of Baronova, Tamara Toumanova and Tatiana Riabouchinska the "Baby Ballerinas". She danced Odette in Swan Lake at age 14, partnered by Anton Dolin. At age 17 she eloped with an older Russian, German (Jerry or Gerry) Sevastianov. They had a church wedding in Sydney, Australia, two years later, when she was on tour. She joined the Ballet Theatre in the USA, under the patronage of Sol Hurok. Her marriage to Sevastianov ended in divorce, and in Britain in 1946 she met the agent Cecil Tennant, who asked her to marry him if she would give up ballet. Aged only 27, she agreed, and retired.
Between 1940 and 1951, Baronova appeared in several films, including Ealing Studios Train of Events (1949) and worked as ballet mistress for the 1980 film Nijinsky.
Baronova and Tennant had three children, Victoria, Irina and Robert. Through Victoria, she became the mother-in-law of Steve Martin. In 1967, Cecil Tennant was killed in a car accident, and Baronova moved to Switzerland. Later, she resumed her relationship with her first husband, Jerry Sevastianov, who died in 1974. She returned to teaching master classes in the United States and United Kingdom in 1976.[2] Margot Fonteyn asked her to conduct a training course for teachers. In 1986 she staged Fokine's Les Sylphides for The Australian Ballet. In 1992 she returned to Russia to help the Mariinsky Theatre with an archival project. In 1996 she received a Nijinsky Medal from Poland and an honorary doctorate from the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Baronova's daughter Irina moved to Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, and, after visiting her in 2000, Baronova decided to settle there as well. Baronova appeared in the 2005 documentary Ballets Russes. In the same year she published her autobiography, Irina: Ballet, Life and Love, which she wrote in longhand despite having lost much of her sight.
Baronova was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Dance (FRAD)[3] and its vice-president;[4] she was also a patron of the Australian Ballet School.[5]
Only five weeks before her death, she spoke at a symposium in Adelaide, South Australia, on the Ballets Russes tours of Australia. She died in Byron Bay on June 28, 2008, aged 89.[6]
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