Not long ago, I acquired a copy of Charlie Chaplin's 1952 'Limelight' that is so wonderfully crystal clear I was compelled to upload two ballet sequences from it. The first is a scene involving a bedroom, a patient, a dancer, a couple of clowns, a policeman ... and a corps de ballet. Of course this all makes sense in the context of the movie! The second sequence involves solos and a pas de deux on stage with Andre Eglevsky and Melissa Hayden, from which I've not expunged two interpolated short sections where Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom chat in Russian, very well synced if I may say so! I've always been fascinated by dancers initially connected with the Ballets Russes -- the original company and all its off-shoot companies after the death of Serge de Diaghilev in 1929. Andre Eglevsky has a great pedigree in these terms. After studying with Lubov Egorova, Mathilde Kschessinska, Alexandre Volinine, Olga Preobrajenska, and Leon Woizikowski in Paris, Nicholas Legat in London, he joined Colonel W. de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at age fourteen, and after six months was dancing leading roles in 'Swan Lake', 'Les Sylphides', and 'Les Présages'. Youskevitch also danced with René Blum's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Ballet Theatre (now the American Ballet Theatre), and the Marquis George de Cuevas' Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo. He also danced at the Radio City Music Hall, on the Broadway in 'Great Lady' and appeared in 'Limelight' directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in 1952. After retirement in 1958, the dancer formed the Eglevsky Ballet Company, which continues today. Enjoy!

• published: 21 Sep 2013
• views: 33