Tatiana Semenova

Ballet Dancer, Deceased Person

1920 – 1996

96

Who was Tatiana Semenova?

Tatiana Semenova was the founding director of the Houston Ballet Academy.

Semenova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but moved with her family to Paris, France when she was five. At the age of seven, Semenova began studying with Mathilde Kschessinska.

After several years of practice, Semenova made her dancing debut at the age of 11 with a Russian opera company formed in London. The next year she began her formal ballet career as a member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, touring the United States and South America.

In 1937 Semenova joined the Paris Opera Ballet as its premiere danseuse. During World War II, she formed a group called the Foxhole Ballet to tour military installations in Europe and Africa with the USO. While performing in Rome, Italy on a bomb-damaged stage, she severed the cartilage in her knee and fractured her arm. Unable to dance any longer, in 1946 Semenova moved to the U.S. to begin her teaching career at Carnegie Hall's School of Dance.

In 1950, she formed the American Youth Ballet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1954, Semenova moved the American Youth Ballet to Houston, Texas. The following year, the newly formed Houston Foundation for Ballet asked her to help found the Houston Ballet Academy, which still exists today. She was director of the academy for 11 years.

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Born
Jul 17, 1920
Saint Petersburg
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Died
Sep 24, 1996

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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