The most desirable beauty of the XX century — ballerina Vera Caralli

Greeting to all Blurtorians! Have a nice day! She attracted attention with her beauty, artistry and natural talent. Legends were made about her fans, saying that it was she who was involved in the murder of Grigory Rasputin, so many mysterious assumptions and rumors were associated with her name...

Vera Caralli

On a summer evening in 1889, a girl was born in Yaroslavl, who was destined to become famous. His father was a recognized entrepreneur, and his mother was a dramatic actress. Vera from childhood was distinguished by an unusual appearance, which constantly caused admiring glances of men.

She was not interested in playing with other children at all, and all day long she disappeared at rehearsals in her father's theater, admiring the transformation of people she knew, imagining herself in one role or another. So when the girl decided to become an actress a few years later, no one was surprised. She went to Moscow and easily entered the theater school. Only a year later, a "thunderbolt" came out of the clear sky, and doctors discovered that she had serious health problems.

Fate had played a cruel trick on her. The dream that the girl cherished from early childhood, finally came true, but then disappeared like a castle in the air. Vera was forced to return home and begin a complicated treatment. She bravely endured painful procedures and spent long, weary hours in bed. However, when a person has a goal, there are no obstacles for him, because everything is possible in life.

public favorite

And after a long treatment, the girl announced to everyone that she wanted to become a ballerina. "The actress in me will never die," Vera said. Her parents did not dissuade her, but simply hired the best choreographer of the time. Ivan Khlyustin, managed to help her master all the wisdom in the shortest possible time. Develop a technique, improve the plasticity of movements, polish the individual style.

A year later, Vera was able to enter the same school, but already on the choreography class. No wonder they say that if there is a goal — you can turn the mountains. Success was not long in coming, it came immediately. Caralli was immediately noticed by the outstanding choreographer Alexander Gorsky, she became his favorite student. And already in her first season, Vera danced the main roles in the ballets: "Raymonda", "Swan Lake", "La Bayadere" and "Don Quixote".

Of course, many critics were outraged, believing that her technique was lame, found errors in her movements, head turn, grace, and numerous admirers simply idolized, followed every performance and admired the grace of the young ballerina.

young ballerina

Her dance was like a flight into the unknown. On stage, Vera flew like a feather, and completely forgot not only about her back, but about everything in the world. After she danced the miniature "Swan" at the Mariinsky Theater, critics began to write that Caralli was better than Anna Pavlova herself. It was said that she resembled a proud swan, and Pavlova was just a "pretty gull".

In 1909, it was Vera who invited the famous Sergei Diaghilev to the "Russian Seasons" in Paris, although he could have taken both Tamara Karsavina and the outstanding Anna Pavlova. And I went to Moscow for her, a 20-year-old young beauty Karalli.

At the Chatelet Theater, the entire flower of Parisian society gathered to watch the ballet by Mikhail Fokin "The Pavilion of Armida". It was a triumph of the Russian ballet.

ballerina in the ballet "Pavilion Аrmida"

Pavlova, who arrived there, demanded that she be approved for the main role of Armida, although Vera had already opened the Russian ballet season in Paris. Professionalism still won the youth, and Diaghilev did not contradict the first prima of Russia.

Vera left Paris. She did not like quarrels, yes, and why fight for the place of prima, because next to her was he-the inimitable Leonid Sobinov. A brilliant tenor, and just the most charming ladies ' man. Caralli's life changed dramatically, and the man everyone called the brilliant Orpheus of the Russian stage seemed to lose his head.

He wrote her love letters in verse, confessed the sincerity of his feelings, was violently bored and jealous, but he was in no hurry to propose, he had enough of the previous unsuccessful marriage.

fatal beauty

In 1914, Vera was invited to star in the dramatic film Pyotr Chardynin " Do you remember?". This was one of the first works of Russian cinema. Contemporaries of Caralli wrote that when the actress entered the room, all those present froze, amazed by her radiant smile and unusual attractiveness.

Her photos were decorated with posters, magazines, posters, and languid wonderful eyes were impossible to forget. Vera was torn between cinema and ballet. However, her fate was such that both there and there she had famous competitors: in the cinema — Vera Kholodnaya, and in the ballet-the incomparable Anna Pavlova.

For some reason, many people called Carally and demonic, she was very beautiful and mysterious, unpredictable and exciting. Her charm won the heart and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich (a cousin of Nicholas II).

Thanks to his patronage, Vera was allowed not only to dance in the ballet, but also to act in films (she played in about 30 films). Subsequently, the film industrialist Alexander Khanzhonkov will say that in imperial Russia there was not even a corner in which Vera Karalli was not known. Films with her participation have always been waited for and watched with great pleasure.

With Prince Dmitry, she also failed to link her fate. The tragic events of December 1916 were to some extent the reason for their separation. Dmitry for some reason asked the girl to write an invitation letter to Grigory Rasputin, but warned her not to take off her gloves. Carally did not pay the slightest attention to such a trifle and did everything as her lover asked.

Only later did Vera learn that on that mysterious night Rasputin was poisoned (they added poison to almond cakes and madeira, but it did not affect him). As it turned out later, instead of poison, the killers were given a simple aspirin. Dmitry was also suspected of this, and some suspected Vera herself, who wrote that ill-fated letter, posing as an anonymous fan.

in the Yusupov Palace

The mystery of those actions has not yet been solved. Caralli was advised to leave the city immediately and go to the sea. She went to Yalta, and there she read her obituary. That's how the fate of famous people used to be decided.

With the beginning of the revolution, Caralli goes abroad on the last steamer to Constantinople. She got there in one dress, and only thanks to an overseas admirer, she managed to somehow make ends meet.

However, forced emigration gives it new strength. She begins to perform more often, she is already shooting with the famous German director in the film "Revenge of a Woman", but the studio goes bankrupt and the actress is not paid for shooting. A lot of things happen in the life of a dancer, but she does not regret anything, works, tours, teaches young artists choreography.

Caralli has lived in Vienna, Bucharest (where she founded the National Ballet of Romania), Lithuania, and France. This brave woman learned to be content with what she had while living in exile.

mysterious Carally

And only in 1964, when the Bolshoi Theater came to Vienna, she appeared on the stage. Yuri Grigorovich, Maris Liepa, Maya Plisetskaya could not recover for a long time, being in shock after meeting with the living legend of the Imperial Bolshoi Theater, who was in full health. Vera Alekseevna even invited everyone to visit, concealing the fact that she had to sell the tiara in order to adequately meet her compatriots.

Her rich stage experience helped to discover new talents, nurture more than one generation of wonderful dancers, who even today remember with gratitude the magnificent ballerina and the incomparable woman who became a symbol of an entire era.

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