Natalia Vladimirovna Trouhanowa (in Cyrillic, Наталья Владимировна Труханова; 1885 – August 1956), also seen as Natalia Trouhanova, Natalia Trukhanova, or Natacha Trouhanowa-Ignatieff, was a French dancer born in Kyiv.
Career Trouhanowa was born into a musical family; her father was an opera singer in Kyiv, Vladimir Bostunov.Lynn Garafola, "Soloists Abroad: The Pre-War Careers of Natalia Trouhanova and Ida Rubinstein" in Lynn Garafola, ed., Legacies of Twentieth Century Dance (Wesleyan University Press 2005): 148-170. She made international news for wearing extravagant diamonds on stage at Monte Carlo in 1906.Untitled news item, The Tennessean (May 13, 1906): 17. via Newspapers.com She was known for dancing the part of Salome in various Paris productions, including in Richard Strauss's Salome (1907, dancing for singer Emmy Destinn), in Antoine Mariotte's opera Salomé (1910, dancing for singer Lucienne Bréval), and in Florent Schmitt's La tragédie de Salomé (1912). She also premiered Paul Dukas's La Péri and Maurice Ravel's Adelaide, or the Language of Flowers in 1912,Clair Rowden, "Whose/Who's Salome? Natalia Trouhanowa, a Dancing Diva" in Clair Rowden, ed., Performing Salome, Revealing Stories (Routledge 2016): 71-98. and acted the part of "the Nun" in Max Reinhardt's The Miracle (1912)."Facts, Rumors, and Remarks" The New Music Review and Church Music Review (February 1912): 120. In 1914, she danced at Rheims for the Sixth Olympic Congress."College of Athletes" The Times (June 26, 1914): 10. via Newspapers.com
She had a well-publicized confrontation with Richard Strauss in 1907, when he refused to let her take a curtain call as Salomé, next to the singer of the part, "as he considered the art of dancing was an inferior one"; she left the production"Salome Dancer Resigns" Indianapolis Star (May 26, 1907): 18. via Newspapers.com and described the insult in a letter to the press."Reflections: Strauss and his Dancer" Musical Courier (June 12, 1907): 6.
She appeared in several French silent films, mostly short films, beginning with The Ugly Girl in 1909, and ending with Léda and La forêt qui écoute in 1916. She retired from the stage when she married in 1918, but returned in 1921."Russian Dancer Helps Husband in Farming" New York Herald (May 1, 1921): 23. via Newspapers.com
Personal life Trouhanowa owned a house in Paris, and was known for her love of swimming topless as well as dancing."Sea Nymph and Footlight Favorite" Washington Post (August 27, 1914): 4. via Newspapers.com"Topless Suit Nothing New" Indianapolis Star (September 27, 1964): 102. via Newspapers.com
Natalia Bostunova was married briefly as a teenager to Boris Trouhanov. In 1913 she was rumored to be romantically involved with the troubled Duke of Leinster, "decidedly the most eligible of all British bachelors", but that she refused to leave dancing for the title of Duchess."Latest Romance of Mlle. Trouhanowa of the Ballet that made Bakst Famous" Times Dispatch (October 12, 1913): 47. via Newspapers.com Instead she married Alexei A. Ignatieff, a Russian count living in Paris."Trouhanova Tired of Count Ignatieff" Wisconsin State Journal (June 10, 1921): 9. via Newspapers.com They ran a small farm together after World War I, and moved back to Russia together in 1936. She died in 1956, aged 71 years, in Moscow. There is a box of letters to Trouhanowa, and a manuscript of her memoirs, in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.Letters to Natasha Trouhanova, 1911-1921, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
References
External links Natalia Vladimorovna Trouhanowa materials in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.