Stanislas Idzikowski

Stanislas Idzikowski (1894 – 12 February 1977) was a Polish dancer, ballet master, and teacher, active in England. At the height of his dancing career, 1914-1926, he was famous for his brilliant classical technique; in later life, he taught for many years in London.[1]

Early years

Born in Warsaw, Stanisław Idzikowski began his dance training at the age of ten at the ballet school of the Wielki Theater in his native city. Among his early instructors was the Italian dancer and teacher Enrico Cecchetti, who would later play an important part in his professional life. When Idzikowski was sixteen years old, he moved to England, Anglicized the spelling of his given name to Stanislas, and began his professional career in musical and ballet productions in London's West End. In 1915, when he was twenty-one, he was invited to join the Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev, where he soon became a leading dancer.[2]

Dancing for Diaghilev

A small, muscular man, Idzikowski had developed a strong classical ballet technique and was capable of performing virtuosic feats. With the Diaghilev company from 1915 to 1923, he assumed roles made famous by Vaslav Nijinsky in Michel Fokine's Le Carnaval, Petrushka, and Le Spectre de la Rose. He was particularly celebrated for his phenomenal elevation and dazzling batterie in performances as the Bluebird in the pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty. Possessed of a strong sense of comedy, he also became known for roles that he created in the ballets of Léonide Massine, including Battista in Les Femmes de Bonne Humeur (1917), the Dandy in Le Tricorne (1919), the Snob in La Boutique Fantasque (1919), and Corviello in Pulcinella (1920). Among his other original roles was that of the Cat in Bronislava Nijinska's Le Renard (1923), set to a score by Igor Stravinsky.[3]

Working with Cecchetti

In 1918, Enrico Cecchetti, by then a renowned ballet master and pedagogue, opened a school in London, and Idzikowski quickly joined a group of friends who were strong advocates of his method of training students. At Cecchetti's urging, he spent the next four years working with the maestro and balletomane Cyril W. Beaumont to codify and preserve the Cecchetti method of teaching. Their collaboration resulted in publication of a technical manual in 1922 that is still used today to train dancers around the world.[4]

Later years

In 1924, Idzikowski appeared with his frequent partner Lydia Lopokova at the London Coliseum and in Comte Étienne de Beaumont's Soirées de Paris. He rejoined the Diaghilev company in 1925, where he created the role of the Puppet in George Balanchine's Jack in the Box (1926), dancing with Alexandra Danilova and others to the music of Erik Satie.[5] From 1928 to 1931, he directed his own company, the Russian Ballet, and in later years appeared as guest artist with the Vic-Wells Ballet and served as ballet master for Mona Inglesby's International Ballet.

He also continued to teach in his own studio in London, with his longtime partner Wanda Evina (1891-1966), a British dancer and pianist.[6] Among his many students was Margot Fonteyn, who remembered him as a guest teacher during her early years with Sadler's Wells Ballet: "My favorite was Stanislas Idzikowski, affectionately known as Idzi, a brilliant dancer who had been with the Diaghilev Ballet. He was diminutive, dapper, and precise, speaking rather good English with a clipped Polish accent. Severe but never unkind, he knew exactly what he expected of his students and explained clearly how to achieve it."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Horst Koegler, "Idzikowski, Stanislas," in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet (Oxford University Press, 1977).
  2. ↑ Lynn Garafola, "Idzikowski, Stanislas," in International Encyclopedia of Dance, edited by Selma Jeanne Cohen and others (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), vol. 3, pp.441-442.
  3. ↑ Cyril W. Beaumont, The Art of Stanislas Idzikowski (London: Beaumont Press, 1926).
  4. ↑ Cyril W. Beaumont and Stanislas Idzikowski, A Manual of the Theory and Practice of Classical Theatrical Dancing (Cecchetti Method (London: Beaumont Press, 1922). Includes a preface by Enrico Cecchetti. Reissued as The Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet: Theory and Technique by Dover Publications (Mineola, N.Y., 2003).
  5. ↑ George Balanchine Foundation, The Balanchine Catalogue. http://balanchine.org/balanchine. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  6. ↑ David Adams, "Stanislas Idzikowski", Cecchetti International Classical Ballet: Pioneers. http://www.cicb.org/pioneers. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Margot Fonteyn, Margot Fonteyn: Autobiography (New York: Knopf, 1976).
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