Violetta finished her training at the time Moscow was being evacuated against the Nazi invasion, and was sent on a three-thousand mile journey to be a ballerina at the ballet at Tashkent, Russian Turkestan. Here, at the age of eighteen, she danced the leading roles in two works, The Fountain of Bakchissarai, based on Pushkin’s famous poem, and Don Quixote, the Minkus work of which contemporary American balletgoers know only the famous pas de deux, but which I presented in America, during the season 1925-1926, staged by Laurent Novikoff, with settings and costumes by the great Russian painter, Korovin.
Another point of interest about Elvin is that she was never a member of the corps de ballet, for she was transferred from Tashkent to the Bolshoi Ballet, which had been moved, for safety reasons, to Kuibyshev, some five hundred miles from Moscow. In the early autumn of 1943, when the Nazi horde had been driven back in defeat, the Ballet returned to the Bolshoi, and Prokhorova danced important roles there.
It was in Moscow, in 1945, that Violetta Prokhorova married Harold Elvin, an architect associated with the British Embassy, and came with him to London. On her arrival in London she became a member of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, first as a soloist, and later as ballerina.
My own impressions are of a vibrant personality and a great beauty. Her feet are extraordinarily beautiful, and, if I am any judge of the female figure, I would say her body approximates the perfect classical proportions. In her dancing, her Russian training is at all times evident, for there is a charm of manner, a broad lyricism, coupled with a splendid poise that are not the common heritage of all western dancers.
It begins to sound like an overworked cliché, but again we have that rare quality in a dancer: intelligence. Once again, intelligence coupled with striking beauty. Elvin’s interests include all the classics in literature, the history of art, philosophy, museums, and good Russian food.
Already Elvin has had a film career, two motion pictures to date: Twice Upon a Time, by the makers of Red Shoes, and the latest, the story of the great British soprano, Nellie Melba, the title role of which is played by Patrice Munsel.
While engaged on the second American tour of the Sadler’s Wells company, Violetta met an American, whom she has recently married.
Talented far beyond average measure, Elvin is a true ballerina in the tradition of the Russian school and is ever alert to improve her art and to give audiences something better than her best.
NADIA NERINA
I cannot fail to pay my respects to the young Nadia Nerina, today another of the alternating ballerinas of the company, with full ballerina standing, whom I particularly remember as one of the most delightful and ebullient soloists of the company on its two American visits.