Irina Mikhailovna Tennant

She studied with Olga Preobrajenska in Paris, after her parents had emigrated from Russia.

Original and Prima Ballerina in the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo.

"Irina made her debut with the Paris Opera in 1930, aged 11. Choreographer Georges Balanchine one day noticed the little girl with the grace of movement and obvious commitment to the stage. He engaged her for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. She was 13 years old.

Balanchine had hit on an idea. He would get three very young dancers straight from the school and make them into a company of children. He chose Tamara Toumanova, 13, Tatiana Riabouchinska, 15 and Irina, 13. In 1933, during their first season in London, ballet writer Arnold Haskell gave them a nickname that stuck: the Three Baby Ballerinas. It turned out to be a piece of marketing genius. The baby ballerinas caused a sensation, packing houses around Europe, the US and beyond.

(Source: Sunday Age (Melbourne) September 14, 2003 Sunday

Agenda; Pg. 1 "My Life With ... "

BY: Peter Wilmoth)

Irina created roles in Massine's Les Présages, Jeux d'enfants, Beau Danube (1933), and Nijinska's Les Cent Baisers (1935). In 1939 she went to America and appeared in a Hollywood film. She joined the American Ballet Theatre as prima ballerina (1941-42). Then she performed with various companies in the US and retired in 1946.

Irina Baronova wrote a wonderful autobiography in 2005 called "Irina: Ballet, Life and Love." which talks about evading the Russian Revolution, Baronova and her parents escaping to Bucharest, where she learned ballet using the kitchen table as a barre. Spotted by legendary choreographer George Balanchine at the Paris Opéra, she became, at age 13, one of his three famous "baby ballerinas" with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. There she worked with dance legends Léonide Massine, Michel Fokine and Bronislava Nijinska, as well as artists Picasso, Dalí and Matisse. As an actress in Hollywood (often portraying dancers), and then as a star with American Ballet Theatre, Baronova continued to work and play with luminaries Yul Brynner, Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. But beyond tales of the personalities she knew, Baronova's prose is a testament to the woman she is: passionate, vivacious and overwhelmingly optimistic, even in the face of divorce, family strife and war."

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From 1932-39, her career was identified with the Ballets Russes, under the management of Vassily Voskresensky, known as Col. W. de Basil.

In 1936, at 17, she eloped in Newport, Ky., with de Basil's associate manager, German Sevastianov. When Sevastianov moved over as manager to Ballet Theater in 1941, Ms. Baronova became one of its leading ballerinas, leaving in 1943.

In 1940 she was a guest artist with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a rival company headed by Sergei Denham, and in

1945, she danced with Massine's Ballet Russe Highlights.

Along the way, she made two Hollywood films, "Florian" (1940) and "Yolanda" (1943).

Irina retired from dancing after she married her second husband, Cecil Tennant, a British theatrical agent. They had three children, Victoria, Irina and Robert. Her husband Cecil Tennant died in a car accident in 1967.

1956 - See mention of Cecil as "my manager" and his wife Irina Baranova's comments in 1982_09_19 The Sunday Telegraph article by Sir Laurence Olivier "The Hazards of Working with Marilyn"(Monroe)

She continue worked for the Royal Academy of Dancing giving technical advice, while living in London.

Ms. Baronova resumed her relationship with first husband Sevastianov in 1971 and cared for him in the last years of his life. He died in 1974.

She later lived in Clarens, Vaud, Switzerland.

A recent documentary film has been produced on the 'Ballets Russes, containing records of her dancing and talking with her contemporary Tamara Tchinarova Finch.

Towards the end she decided to join her daughter Irina in Australia in New South Wales. She died peacefully in her sleep on June 28 2008.

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Source Citation:

Biographical Dictionary of Dance. By Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratyner. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, . (BiDD)

A Biographical Dictionary of the Soviet Union, 1917-1988. By Jeanne Vronskaya with Vladimir Chuguev. London: K.G. Saur, 1989. (BiDSovU)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 1: January, 1946-July, 1949. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1949. (BioIn 1)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 3: September, 1952-August, 1955. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1956. (BioIn 3)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 4: September, 1955-August, 1958. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1960. (BioIn 4)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 5: September, 1958-August, 1961. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1962. (BioIn 5)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 8: September, 1967-August, 1970. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1971. (BioIn 8)

Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 13: September, 1982-August, 1984. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1984. (BioIn 13)

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet. By Horst Koegler. London: Oxford University Press, 1977. (CnOxB)

The Dance Encyclopedia. Revised and enlarged edition. Compiled and edited by Anatole Chujoy and P.W. Manchester. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. (DancEn) Biography contains portrait.

Dictionary of Women Worldwide. 25,000 women through the ages. Three volumes. Edited by Anne Commire. Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications, 2007. (DcWomW)

Index to Women of the World from Ancient to Modern Times. Biographies and portraits. By Norma Olin Ireland. Westwood, MA: F.W. Faxon Co., 1970. (InWom)

International Dictionary of Ballet. Two volumes. Edited by Martha Bremser. Detroit: St. James Press, 1993. (IntDcB) Biography contains portrait.

Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912-1976. A biographical dictionary of actors, actresses, directors, playwrights, and producers of the English-speaking theatre. Compiled from Who's Who in the Theatre, Volumes 1-15 (1912-1972). Four volumes. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978. (WhThe)

Who's Who in Hollywood. The largest cast of international film personalities ever assembled. Two volumes. By David Ragan. New York: Facts on File, 1992. (WhoHol 1992)

Name: Irina Baronova

Birth - Death: 1916-

Source Citation: Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 17: September, 1990-August, 1992. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1992. (BioIn 17)

Name: Irina Baronova

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Source Citation: Who's Who in Hollywood, 1900-1976. By David Ragan. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1976. The 'Living Players' section begins on page 11. (WhoHol A)

• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Баронова,_Ирина_Михайловна

Дочь морского офицера. В возрасте двух лет переехала с семьей в Румынию. Влюбилась в балет, увидев выступление Тамары Карсавиной. Семья привезла девочку в Париж, чтобы учить её балетному искусству. Занималась с Ольгой Преображенской, Матильдой Кшесинской. Дебютировала в Опера де Пари в 1930 году. В 1932 году Джордж Баланчин ввёл Ирину Баронову в новую труппу Русский балет Монте-Карло, где вместе с Тамарой Тумановой и Татьяной Рябушинской она составила трио так называемых бэби-балерин, так как юным артисткам было по 13 лет от роду. Вместе с Антоном Долиным танцевала в Лебедином озере (1933). Выступала с труппой Балетного театра США под покровительством Сола Юрока. В 1946 приняла ультиматум второго мужа и покинула сцену. Снималась в кино. Растила детей. Похоронив в 1967 и 1974 обоих мужей, вернулась в балет как педагог, постановщик и консультант. По приглашению Марго Фонтейн вела балетный курс, была постановщиком танцев в биографическом фильме Нижинский (1980), восстановила постановку балета Михаила Фокина Сильфиды на музыку Шопена в оркестровке Глазунова (1986), помогала Мариинскому театру (1992). Написала автобиографию (2005).

Одна из дочерей — англо-американская киноактриса Виктория Теннант (род. в 1950), в 1986—1994 была женой актёра Стива Мартина.

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Source below from Wikipedia

• Irina Mikhailovna Baronova FRAD (Russian: Ирина Михайловна Баронова; 13 March 1919 – 28 June 2008) was a Russian ballerina and actress who was one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, discovered by George Balanchine in Paris in the 1930s.[1] She created roles in Léonide Massine's Le Beau Danube (1924), Jeux d'enfants (1932), and Les Présages (1933); and in Bronislava Nijinska's Les Cent Baisers (1935).

Contents
1 Biography
2 Death
3 Filmography
4 Literature
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Biography

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Baronova was born in Saint Petersburg (then known as Petrograd) in 1919, the daughter of a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy, Mikhail Baronov, and his wife Lidia (née Vishniakova). In November 1920, the Baronova family escaped the Russian Revolution by dressing as peasants and crossing the border into Romania. After first arriving in Arges, Romania, the family eventually settled in Bucharest. Irina's father found work at a factory and, for the next several years, the Baronova family lived in the slums surrounding the various factories where Mikhail was employed. Their start on life in Bucharest was a tumultuous one, having arrived in this foreign country without speaking the language and with no money.

Irina's mother, who loved the ballet and often attended the theater in St. Petersburg, found a ballet teacher in Bucharest for Irina. In 1927, at the age of seven, Irina began taking her first ballet lessons. Mme. Majaiska, who was a former corps de ballet member of the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet, and a refugee like the Baronovas, conducted these ballet lessons.

The lessons took place in Mme. Majaiska's one room house, where Irina would hold onto the kitchen table as a barre, and was accompanied by her mother's humming as music. When Irina was 10 years old, the family moved to Paris to provide her with professional training. She was taught by Olga Preobrajenska. She also studied with fellow ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska. Baronova made her debut aged 11 at the Paris Opera in 1930.

The crucial point in Baronova's career came in 1932, just a few months short of her thirteenth birthday. She, along with two other girls, Tamara Toumanova (aged 12), and Tatiana Riabouchinska (aged 14), were hired by George Balanchine to become ballerinas in the newly formed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Their extreme youth and technical perfection won them fame around the world. During their first season in London with the Ballet Russe, English critic Arnold Haskell coined the term "Baby Ballerinas" for Toumanova, Riabouchinska and Baronova.[2]

Baronova's first principal role was Odette in Swan Lake, partnered by Anton Dolin, which she performed at just 14 years old. An animal lover, she traveled the world with her pet marmoset. On tour in Barcelona in 1937, she bought another monkey. She lived and toured with both for the next nine years.[citation needed]

At age 17, she eloped with an older Russian, German ("Jerry" or "Gerry") Sevastianov. Two years later, they had a church wedding in Sydney, Australia, where she was on tour. She then joined the Ballet Theatre in the USA, under the patronage of Sol Hurok, and she and Sevastianov subsequently divorced. While in Britain in 1946, she met the agent Cecil Tennant, who asked her to marry him if she would give up ballet. Aged only 27, she agreed and retired.

Between 1940 and 1951, Baronova appeared in several films, including Ealing Studios Train of Events (1949) and worked as ballet mistress for the 1980 film Nijinsky.

Baronova and Tennant had three children, Victoria, Irina and Robert. Through Victoria, she became the mother-in-law of Steve Martin. In 2014, Victoria published a pictorial biography of her mother's life titled Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.[3]

In 1967, Cecil Tennant was killed in a car accident, and Baronova moved to Switzerland. Later, she resumed her relationship with her first husband, Jerry Sevastianov, who died in 1974. She returned to teaching master classes in the United States and United Kingdom in 1976.[4] Margot Fonteyn asked her to conduct a training course for teachers. In 1986, she staged Fokine's Les Sylphides for The Australian Ballet. In 1992, she returned to Russia to help the Mariinsky Theatre with an archival project. In 1996, she received a Vaslav Nijinsky Medal from Poland and an honorary doctorate from the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Baronova's daughter Irina moved to Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia and, after visiting her in 2000, Baronova decided to settle there as well. In 2005, Baronova appeared in the documentary "Ballets Russes" and published her autobiography, Irina: Ballet, Life and Love, which she wrote out in longhand despite having lost much of her sight.

Baronova was Vice President and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Dance (FRAD).[5][6] She was a patron of the Australian Ballet School.[7]

Death
Only five weeks before her death, she spoke at a symposium in Adelaide, South Australia, on the Ballets Russes' tours of Australia. She died in her sleep at Byron Bay on 28 June 2008, aged 89.[8]

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%...

https://bellezza-storia.livejournal.com/350198.html

https://www.kino-teatr.ru/kino/acter/hollywood/290571/bio/

Дочь морского офицера. В возрасте двух лет переехала с семьей в Румынию. Влюбилась в балет, увидев выступление Тамары Карсавиной. Семья привезла девочку в Париж, чтобы учить её балетному искусству. Занималась с Ольгой Преображенской, Матильдой Кшесинской. Дебютировала в Опера де Пари в 1930 году. В 1932 году Джордж Баланчин ввёл Ирину Баронову в новую труппу Русский балет Монте-Карло, где вместе с Тамарой Тумановой и Татьяной Рябушинской она составила трио так называемых бэби-балерин, так как юным артисткам было по 13 лет от роду. Вместе с Антоном Долиным танцевала в Лебедином озере (1933). Выступала с труппой Балетного театра США под покровительством Сола Юрока. В 1946 приняла ультиматум второго мужа и покинула сцену. Снималась в кино. Растила детей. Похоронив в 1967 и 1974 обоих мужей, вернулась в балет как педагог, постановщик и консультант. По приглашению Марго Фонтейн вела балетный курс, была постановщиком танцев в биографическом фильме Нижинский (1980), восстановила постановку балета Михаила Фокина Сильфиды на музыку Шопена в оркестровке Глазунова (1986), помогала Мариинскому театру (1992). Написала автобиографию (2005).

Одна из дочерей — англо-американская киноактриса Виктория Теннант (род. в 1950), в 1986—1994 была женой актёра Стива Мартина.