Nikolai Gustavovich Legat () (30 December 1869, in Moscow – 24 January 1937, in London) was a ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher.

Life and career

Nikolai Legat was born to a family of Swedish origin, all of whom were dancers—his father Gustav Legat was a ''soloist'' of the

Imperial Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet () is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's ...

of St. Petersburg and teacher of ballet at the Moscow Theatrical School while 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 counted

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...

Pavel Gerdt Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt (), also known as Paul Gerdt (22 November 1844, near Saint Petersburg, Russia – 12 August 1917, in Vamaloki, Finland, Russian Republic), was the ''Premier Danseur Noble'' of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet, the Bol ...

and Christian Johansson among his teachers. Legat graduated in 1888 and was immediately offered a position with the Imperial Ballet in the rank of ''sujet'' (''soloist''), completely bypassing having to dance in the ''corps 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 a

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

in Russia, teaching and passing on the repertoire of the Imperial ballet company, whose groundwork was the legacy of the great

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

-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 were

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russ ...

and

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

. Legat's wife, Nadine Nicolaeva, was a ''

ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...

'' of the Imperial and State theatres of Moscow and St. Petersburg. She choreographed dances based on the Movements Exercises of

Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 19 ...

and later founded the Legat School of Ballet in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. One of her students was Anneliese von Oettingen. Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat was a follower of P. D. Ouspensky. She choreographed dances based on the Movements Exercises of G. I Gurdjieff. In 1938, Ouspensky and his followers acquired Colet House in London, from Nadine Legat, where they established the Historico-Psychological Society. Legat's granddaughter, Tatiana Legat (1934–2022) was a Soviet and Russian ballerina, soloist in Leningrad Kirov Ballet (

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

, St. Petersburg, Russia) and ballet pedagogue.Балет. Энциклопедия, СЭ, 1981 "Gustav, Nikolai, Sergey, Tatiana Legat

References

External links

Article from Andros on Ballet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legat, Nicholas 1869 births 1937 deaths Ballet masters Male ballet dancers from the Russian Empire Choreographers of Mariinsky Theatre Russian male ballet dancers Imperial Choreographic School teachers

Life and career

See also

References

External links