Menzelli, Elisabetta (c. 1860–c. 1929)
Menzelli, Elisabetta (c. 1860–c. 1929)
Prussian ballet dancer and choreographer. Born c. 1860, in Bresslau, Prussia (now Poland); died c. 1929 in Los Angeles, CA; sister of Elena Menzelli; children: (adopted) Lola Menzelli (ballet dancer).
With sister, worked in Pasqualli's Kinderballet in Berlin as child ballet dancers, as well as in Hamburg Stadtopera's premiere of Il Trovato and in St. Peterburg, Russia; at 16, joined Imperial Theater in Vienna, where she danced as Fenella in Maisanello (also called The Dumb Girl of Portici), a role she would also dance throughout US; toured with a German opera company and later with Italian opera company under Charles Mapleson in US; served as ballet master in Italy briefly before immigrating to US (1904); opened school in New York City where she taught ballet until 1923, then taught at McAdam Normal School in Los Angeles.