Baldina, Alexandra Maria (1885–1977)
Baldina, Alexandra Maria (1885–1977)
Russian ballet dancer and teacher. Name variations: Alexandra Kosloff. Born Sept 27, 1885, in St. Petersburg, Russia; died Sept 6, 1977, in Hollywood, California; m. Theodore Kosloff (dancer and teacher, died 1956).
Graduated from Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg into the Maryinsky Ballet (1903); joined Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow (1904) where she danced principal parts in Petipa'a Esmeralda and Ivanov's Nutcracker and created the "ballerina of the Prelude" role in Les Sylphides (1909); joined Diaghilev Ballet Russe, where she toured and performed for next 15 years; moved to US with husband, his brother Alexis, and Alexis' wife Juliette Mendez, where—as a quartet—they performed on Orpheum circuit (1910); danced for Gertrude Hoffmann's Saison des Ballets Russe company in NY (1911); toured with Hoffmann and the Kosloffs in Diaghilev repertory, dancing in Schézhérezade, Les Sylphides and Cléopatre; toured US with Kosloff quartet in a company which included Anatole Bourman and Natasha Rambova; with husband, appeared on Broadway in The Passing Show of 1915, The Awakening and Maid in America (c. 1915); began teaching classes in and around Los Angeles (1910s) and in schools founded by husband across the country; had her own private studio (1956–77), then retired.