Youskevitch, Igor (1912 - 1994)

Dupain, Max: Igor Youskevitch in 'Le Carnaval', Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, 1936 or 1937

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Igor Youskevitch was born in a small Ukrainian community near Kiev. His family escaped the Bolshevik Revolution and settled in the former Yugoslavia. Youskevitch was educated in Belgrade and graduated with a degree in engineering from Belgrade University. He did not begin his ballet training until the age of twenty although prior to that he was active in a Slavic athletic organisation and received early training as a gymnast. He studied first with Belgrade teacher Elena Poliakova in 1932 and made his stage debut that same year. His later teachers included Olga Preobrajenska, Anatole Vilzak and Alexandra Fedorova.

Youskevitch came to Australia as a leading dancer with the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet on their 1936 to 1937 tour. He danced all the leading roles during the tour, scoring particular success with Helene Kirsova in Le Carnaval. He did not tour Australia on subsequent Ballets Russes tours and his career as a dancer blossomed in the United States. He appeared in films and on television and established a school in New York with his wife, dancer Anna Scarpova, which he ran from 1962 to 1980. He was head of the dance department at the University of Texas, Austin from 1971 to 1982.

See also: Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Carnaval, Le ; Kirsova, Helene

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Find more about Youskevitch, Igor in:

• Internet - Google
• Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
• Pictures - Picture Australia