Nikolai Gustavovich Legat(Russian:Никола́й Густа́вович Лега́т) (30 December 1869, in Moscow – 24 January 1937, in London) was a ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher.
Life and career
editNikolai Legat was born to a family of Swedish origin, all of whom were dancers—his father Gustav Legat was asoloistof theImperial Balletof St. Petersburg and teacher of ballet at theMoscow Theatrical Schoolwhile his mother Maria Semyonovna Legat (née Granken) was a character dancer. Like his four siblings, the young Nikolai was accepted into the Imperial Ballet School at the age of ten, and during his years there, he countedMarius Petipa,Pavel GerdtandChristian Johanssonamong his teachers. Legat graduated in 1888 and was immediately offered a position with the Imperial Ballet in the rank ofsujet(soloist), completely bypassing having to dance in thecorps de ballet.Both he and his younger brother, Sergey, became ballet masters and caricaturists.
Legat is considered to be the main successor to Pavel Gerdt. Legat later served as aballet masterin Russia, teaching and passing on the repertoire of the Imperial ballet company, whose groundwork was the legacy of the greatchoreographer-ballet master, Marius Petipa. He left Russia with his third wife, Nadine, in 1922 and eventually settled in England in 1926. The couple opened their first ballet school in Kent. They were later able to start classes in Hammersmith, London. Among their notable pupils wereNinette de ValoisandMargot Fonteyn.[1]
Legat's wife, Nadine Nicolaeva, was aballerinaof the Imperial and State theatres of Moscow and St. Petersburg.[citation needed]She choreographed dances based on the Movements Exercises ofGurdjieffand later founded the Legat School of Ballet inKent.One of her students wasAnneliese von Oettingen.[2]Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat was a follower ofP. D. Ouspensky.She choreographed dances based on the Movements Exercises ofG. I Gurdjieff.In 1938, Ouspensky and his followers acquired Colet House in London, from Nadine Legat, where they established theHistorico-Psychological Society.[3]
Legat's granddaughter, Tatiana Legat (1934–2022) was a Soviet and Russian ballerina, soloist in Leningrad Kirov Ballet (Mariinsky Theatre,St. Petersburg, Russia) and ballet pedagogue.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Amy Growcott: biography of Nicolai LegatThe Marius Petipa SocietyNikolai and Sergei LegatRetrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^"Anneliese von Oettingen".Who Are We?.Anneliese von Oettingen Ballet.Retrieved12 August2011.[dead link]
- ^Webb, James.The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Work of G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky and Their Followers(1980), p 409.
- ^Балет. Энциклопедия, СЭ, 1981 "Gustav, Nikolai, Sergey, Tatiana Legat"[1]