Background
David Lichine was born on October 25, 1910 in Rostov-on-don.
David Lichine was born on October 25, 1910 in Rostov-on-don.
He was taken as a boy to Paris, where he attended the Russian high school. He began dancing at an early age, studying with two celebrated Russian émigrés: Lubov Egorova, a prima ballerina in the Diaghilev company, and Bronislava Nijinska, the sister of the famous Vaslav Nijinsky.
Lichine made his debut as a dancer with the company of Ida Rubenstein. For a year he was a member of Anna Pavlova's company; in 1932 he joined Colonel de Basil’s Ballets Russesdc Monte Carlo and began choreographing extensively. Lie remained with this company as a principal dancer, appearing in many leading roles, such as George Balanchine’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme (music by Richard Strauss) and Leonide Massine’s Jeux d'enfants (music by Geoges Bizet). Lichine choreographed some of his own best works, including Graduation Ball (music by Johann Strauss, arranged by Antol Dorati), which is still performed by ballet companies all over the world.
In 1941 he and his wife, the ballerina Tatiana Riabouchinska, went to the United States, where they joined the American Ballet Theater as guest artists. In later years Lichine danced again for the ABT, mostly in his own ballets. For the ABT he also completed Fokine’s unfinished work Helen of Troy (music by Jacques Offenbach). He created dances for musicals on Broadway such as Beat the Band and Rhapsody and for films (his Graduation Ball was filmed in Mexico in 1961).
In 1947 the Lichines moved to South America where they both danced and he choreographed for the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. The following year, back in Europe, he created two works for the Ballets des Champs Elysces: La création (a ballet without music) and La rencontre (music by Henri Sauguet), about the Oedipus story.
Returning to the United States in 1952, Lichine and his wife opened a school and ran a company in Los Angeles until his death.