Turning Movement into Words: The Technique Writings of Tamara Karsavina and Agrippina Vaganova

Abstract

The Ballerina Tamara Karsavina’s career as a writer deserves attention and warrants a further assessment of her legacy. She left an impressive body of writing that documents her history and describes ballet’s specific and complex vocabulary of movement. I focus on Karsavina’s writing about ballet technique so as to shed light on her teaching approach and dance values through a contrast with those of her near contemporary in the Imperial Ballet School and Company, the famed pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova. Particular emphasis is given to Vaganova’s Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Russian Ballet Technique and to Karsavina’s extensive writings in The Dancing Times.