Youshkevitch, Nina (c. 1921–1998)

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Youshkevitch, Nina (c. 1921–1998)

Ukrainian ballet dancer and teacher. Name variations: Yushkevich; Nina Youshkevitch Johnson. Born Dec 7, c. 1921, in Odessa, Ukraine; died Nov 3, 1998, in New York, NY; raised in Paris.

Trained with Olga Preobrazhenska and Lyubov Egorova in Paris; danced with Bronislava Nijinska's Ballet Russe companies (1934), in such works as Les Biches, Variations, and Baiser de la Fée; created roles in Nijinska's Chopin Concerto (1937), Apollo Through the Ages (1937), and Le Chant de la Terre (1937), among others; also danced with Polish National Ballet and Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; moved to US (1942) and became ballerina at Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City; danced Aurora in America's 1st full-length The Sleeping Beauty, for San Francisco Russian Opera (1945); appeared on final tour to Canada before retiring from performance career (1946); was a ballet teacher at Nijinska's Los Angeles studio; opened her own studio in New York (1973); created works of her own, including The Infinite (1951), Light and Shadow (1953), Les Cinq Petites Variations (1969), and The Nightingale and the Rose (1969).