Toumine, Nesta (c. 1912–1995)

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Toumine, Nesta (c. 1912–1995)

English ballet dancer and teacher. Name variations: Nesta Williams; Nesta Maslova. Born Nesta Williams, c. 1912, in England; died in 1995; raised in Ottawa, Canada; m. Sviatoslav Toumine (mime and designer).

Trained and worked with Gwendolyn Osbourne in Canada, and Margaret Craske, Nicholai Legat, Olga Preobrazhenska and Lyubov Egorova in Europe; made performance debut in London musical The Golden Troy (1932), directed by Ninette De Valois; danced with Ballets Russes de Paris as Nesta Williams; performed in US with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; opened Classical Ballet Studio in Ottawa (1949), and later founded own company (1958), the predecessor of Ballet Imperial de Canada (1965); created own works for this company, including Gymnopédies (c. 1960), Mozartiana (1961), and The Seasons (1962), but is better known for staging Fokine repertory.

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