Irina Baronova in a hat with jacket and bow tie
“Although you can’t see them here, my mom had the most beautiful eyes; they were a gray-green and so expressive. I used the color of them on the inside lining of the book hardcover.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Irina Baronova, age 7, Romania, 1926
“Until she was 12 years-old, my mother grew up in very impoverished circumstances, first in Romania and then in Paris. Her father worked in factories to try and feed his wife and child, but they were hungry most of the time. So wearing costumes must have been thrilling for a little girl who wouldn’t dream of having clothes like that. The glamour of a costume, the novelty, the excitement, would emotionally be an enormous investment for her.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Irina Baronova in Les Sylphides, 1932
“All the girls in the ballet Les Sylphides were wood nymphs. The whole ballet is this secret discussion between the hidden animals, the fairies and the wood nymphs that are hearing their calls and flittering through the forest. I think she looks kind of ethereal in that pose.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Irina Baronova rehearsing in satin tunic
“That was her satin tunic that she wore everyday to ballet classes and rehearsals.”
Photograph by Raoul Barba (Monte Carlo)
Irina Baronova, age 14, and Anton Dolin in Swan Lake, 1933
“Up until then, the three Baby Ballerinas weren’t considered ready to play Swan Lake, but before opening night, Danilova, the female lead, got sick, and my mother was picked to replace her. Her male partner refused to dance with a 13-year-old girl, so Anton Dolin walked in and said, ‘This is all rubbish; I’ll dance with her myself.’ They opened Swan Lake and it was a huge success. It was the moment that made her a real star.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Irina Baronova (feet in bucket) and Arnold Haskell, 1934
“This is my mom with the English ballet critique, Arnold Haskell, backstage just before the royal gala dinner. My mother is slumped in an armchair with her feet in a bucket of ice, presumably trying to calm her feet down after a day of working before going on stage on the opening night.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Irina Baronova in Les Sylphides, 1938
“I think you can see the development of the ballerina from the early picture of her in Les Sylphedes, where she’s so young, to the real command she has here as a ballerina who is now a national star.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
Anton Dolin and Irina Baronova, Fortieth Anniversary of American Ballet Theatre, 1980
“Nearly 50 years after he said he would partner her in Swan Lake, there they are, Anton Dolin and my mother, two best friends who were professional partners their whole lives. Here, he’s presenting her to the 40th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre because she and Dolin made the company viable and attracted audiences before it was fully established.”
Photograph courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova
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