07 July 2014, Monday

Lyubov Roslavleva was born in 1874 into a noble family that lived in Yegor'yevsk in Ryazan governorate. She was the daughter of a broke officer of the Lancers regiment and a marshal of the nobility; at the age of 11 she entered the Moscow theatre school and after 7 months of studies she already performed a solo in the ballet "Don Quixote", choreographed by M. Petipa. In 1886 she started studying in the class of Bogdanov; in 1889 she moved to the class of J.Mendes. In 1892 she joined the Bolshoi Theatre and was given several solo parts right away; in 1893 she substituted for Lydia Geiten in the part of Swanhilde in the ballet "Coppélia" by Leo Delibes. In 1895 she was invited to the Mariinsky Theatre to substitute for the famous Mathilde Kshesinskaya in the same part. In 1896 she received the right for an annual benefit performance. Lyubov Roslavleva was married to the Maly Theatre artist Prov Sadovsky Jr.; she often attended drama performances and learned a lot from drama actors - critics notices that the ballerina's pantomime was very dramatic, and her dancing - very expressive. According to the famous stage designer Karl Valts, "she was not particularly beautiful, but there was some particular charm about her image and her dance that conquered everyone". As for her dancing technique, she was not just ahead of Adelina Guiri, but also competed with Pierina Legnani, whom all St. Petersburg ballerinas envied, successfully. She performed the major ballet repertoire in Moscow and performed at the Mariinsky Theatre many times. The list of her parts includes: Claermont and the Star of Venus ("Stars"), The Tsar- Maiden ("The Little Humpbacked Horse"), Medora ("Le Corsaire"), Kitri ("Don Quixote"), Cinderella ("The Crystal Slipper"), etc. She was the first ballerina in Moscow to perform the part of Aurora ("Sleeping Beauty"); illness prevented her from being the first to perform the parts of Odette-Odile ("Swan Lake") and Raymonda. The part of Nikia in "La Bayadere" became her last role. She brought back to life the traditions of Ekaterina Sankovskaya and Praskovya Lebedeva, the great Moscow ballerinas of the past.
In 1902 the ballerina performed in Monte Carlo together with the best Russian opera and ballet artists. "Mme Roslavleva totally conquered the foreigners … she was the only one who the audience made repeat all dance numbers. There is no doubt that her success was a deserved and genuine one. Theatrical Moscow definitely has the lead! Chaliapin, Stanislavski, Sobinov, Roslavleva! "
In 1903 Lyubuv A. Roslavleva fell ill; in the summer of 1904 she went to Zurich to receive medical treatment and died there at the age of 30. She was buried on the Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow.