Ida Rubenstein was a Russian ballerina, actress, patron and Belle Époque figure. She was born into a wealthy Jewish family, but was orphaned at an early age .... by the standard of Russian ballet, she had little formal dance training. She began her training too late to be a great dancer. She did, however, have tremendous stage presence and was able to act.
So what's a girl gonna do when she has limited talents, and has to get that attention of the great Diaghilev? Well
nudity has always done it, so in a quick 'route one' approach to attention seeking, she was tutored by Mikhail Fokine for a 'special' performance of the '
Salomé' which she debuted in 1908. This was a single 'private' performance of Oscar Wilde's play in dance, in which she
stripped nude in the course of the '
Dance of the Seven Veils' .... performing without the benefit of music to avoid the censors. The performance was both the talk of St Petersburg and
scandalous.
Sergei Diaghilev took her into the Ballets Russes and she danced the title role of '
Cléopâtre' in the Paris season of 1909, and '
Zobéide' in '
Scherezade' in 1910 (
both choreographed by Fokine who had done both their careers no harm with his Salome stunt 
). She was partnered in '
Scherazade' by the great Nijinsky, but Rubinstein left the 'Ballets Russes' in 1911, and in fact she left Russia before the first World War and the Revolution to go to Paris.
She then formed her own dance company, and commissioned several lavish productions including '
Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien' which included a score by Debussy. This prompted
another scandal when the Archbishop of Paris prohibited all Catholics from attending because '
St. Sebastian' was being played by both a
woman and a Jewess.
Openly Bisexual, while in Paris, she began a
three-year lesbian affair with the painter Romaine Brooks, who created a striking portrait of her as Venus (some of you may recall that Brooks was the long-term lover of
Natalie Barney who has featured here already, come to think of so has
Venus 
).
After the First World War, Rubinstein appeared in a number of plays, and enjoyed success .... She was an adventurous commissioner of works (mainly to suit her limited dance style) and she commissioned and performed in Maurice Ravel's Boléro in 1928. Other works developed were Massine's '
David', with music by Sauguet; and '
Le Baiser de la fée', with music by Stravinsky. The company was revived in 1931 and 1934, with new works. She closed the company in 1935, and gave her last performance in the play '
Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher' in Paris, 1939. Rubinstein often staged free ballet events after she retired, and continued to dance until the start of the Second World War .... and she was much celebrated in in France, by writers and artists. She had been awarded honorary French citizenship, in 1935, and in 1936 she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1940 she left France during the German invasion, and made her way to England via Algeria and Morocco. There she helped wounded Free French soldiers until 1944.
One of her many lovers, Walter Guinness (
of that family), sponsored her to a suite at the Ritz Hotel, until he was assassinated by the Stern Gang in late 1944. She returned to France after the war, living finally at Les Olivades at Vence. She died in 1960 at Vence, France, and is buried nearby.
Trivia:
- Her portrait by Valentin Serov in 1910 marks the most complete realization of his mature style.
- The Art Deco sculptor Demetre Chiparus produced a Rubinstein figurine.
- She was also painted by Antonio de la Gandara.
- The painter Romaine Brooks, used the dancer as a nude model for Venus.
- She commissioned and performed in Maurice Ravel's Boléro in 1928.
- In 1934 the French government awarded her the Légion d'honneur
- In 1939 the Grand Cross of the order, the highest rank.
- She was said to live solely on a diet of champagne and biscuits, she was moody and unpredictable as a sitter, posing a challenge for artists, including her lover Brooks.
.
Pictures:
