Lydia Kyasht: The World’s Most Beautiful Dancer in the Early 20th Century

Born 1885 in St. Petersburg, Russian-British ballerina and dance teacher Lydia Kyasht danced at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1902 to 1908, and was a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1903–1904. She moved to England in 1908, to be ballerina at the Empire Theatre. She also danced with the Ballets Russes. Her first performance in New York City happened in 1914, when she appeared in a Broadway revue called The Whirl of the World.

Kyasht appeared in at least two silent films, Foolish Monte Carlo (also titled The Black Spider, 1920, now lost), and The Dance of the Moods (1924). In 1929, she published a memoir, Romantic Reflections.

Kyasht opened a ballet school in London after World War I. During World War II, her company of young dancers, Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise, made several tours. She died in 1959, aged 72. Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of a young Lydia Kyasht in the early 20th century.