Portrait of Ludmilla Chiriaeff

[Steven Rosati]

In 1996 I was fortunate to be commisioned to paint a portrait of Ludmilla Chiriaeff, the founder of the world famous les Grands Ballets Canadiens. I have to admit that at the time I did not know who she was and what she had acomplished. Boy was I overwhelmed when we went through her photo albums and scrap books! She was 72 at the time and wanted to have an oil portrait done of herself as she was in her prime. This was to be a gift for her daughters. Her scrap books were filled with photos and newspaper clipping of herself with Russian presidents, Canadian Prime Ministers, celebrities and the very best ballet dancers in the world. She was on a special resperator at the time and her time off of it was limited, so my visit with her was only about an hour. She finally chose a B&W photo of herself "in the zone" of dancing. She died before I completed the painting but I was able to send her polaroids of the painting in progress. She was a very special lady and it was a priviledge for me to have the chance to paint her. It was quite an education for me. The painting is 16" x 20". Here is a brief biography of Ludmilla Chiriaeff.

Destiny, Ludmilla Chiriaeff believes, led her to be a dancer, to survive the loss of her family of brilliant Russian intellectuals and the ravages of a wartime concentration camp, and brought her to Montreal in the early fifties.

Survival gave a profound sense of purpose to her life and Canada has been the fortunate recipient of all she had to offer. In 1956 she began presenting dance to Quebecers through CBC French television. Her ballet productions galvanized the cultural community. Soon Montreal's Mayor Drapeau invited her to create a professional company to rival Toronto's National Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens was born.

A dance school to train young Quebec dancers followed, later to become Quebec's