Lydia Sokolova
Lydia Sokolova (1896–1974) was an English ballerina. She trained at the Stedman Ballet Academy and learned from accomplished dancers including Anna Pavlova and Enrico Cecchetti.

Born in Wanstead as Hilda Tansley Munnings, the daughter of Frederick Tansley Munnings and the widowed Emma Catherine Gaulton (née Such), she began her career at the Savoy Theatre in London in 1910 and then joined the company of Mikhail Mordkin for a tour of the United States and the Koslov company for a tour of Europe.

She joined Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1913 to become the company's first English ballerina. She was the principal character dancer of the company until it disbanded in 1929. Sokolova's most famous role was that of the Chosen Maiden in Léonide Massine's reworking of "The Rite of Spring" (1920). She won approbation for "what is generally agreed to be the longest and most exhausting solo in the history of theatrical dance". Other notable performances include "La Boutique fantasque" (1919), "The Three-Cornered Hat" (1919), "Les matelots" (1925) and "Le Bal" (1929).

After the Ballets Russes disbanded, Sokolova returned to England to teach, coach, work on choreography and occasionally perform. Her last performance was in 1962 when she danced in the Covent Garden Royal Ballet performance of Massine's "The Good-humoured Ladies".

In 1945, Henry Gibbs dedicated to Sokolova his book "Affectionately Yours Fanny: Fanny Kemble and the Theatre" (Jarrolds Publishers, London, 1945); she had helped him trace "authoritative material" (author's note, p. 8).

Sokolova wrote an autobiographical work on her years with the Ballets Russes titled "Dancing for Diaghilev" (John Murray, London, 1960).

Sokolova had one daughter, Natasha Kremnev (1917–1968), by her first husband Nikolai Kremnev (married 1917). She subsequently married Leon Woizikovsky, a long-time dancer at Ballets Russes. When she died on 5 February 1974, in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, she was survived by her third husband Ronnie Mahon.
Q42406
English
Concept
Q805221
ballerina
Concept
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Anna Pavlova
PER
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Enrico Cecchetti
PER
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Wanstead
LOC
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Frederick Tansley Munnings
PER
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Savoy Theatre
LOC
Q1071719
Mikhail Mordkin
PER
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Sergei Diaghilev
PER
Q214423
Ballets Russes
ORG
Q1063002
character dance
UNK
Q359383
Léonide Massine
PER
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The Rite of Spring
EVE
Q2420510
La Boutique fantasque
EVE
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The Three-Cornered Hat
ORG
Q323283
Covent Garden Royal Ballet
ORG
Q7737174
The Good-humoured Ladies
ORG
None
Henry Gibbs
UNK
Q433397
Fanny Kemble
Concept
Q7946001
Leon Woizikovsky
PER
Q1791379
Lydia Sokolova
PER
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occupation
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