Zorina, Vera (1917—)

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Zorina, Vera (1917—)

German-born Norwegian-American ballet dancer and actress. Name variations: Eva Brigitta Hartwig; Brigitta Hartwig. Born Eva Brigitta Hartwig on January 2, 1917, in Berlin, Germany; became a U.S. citizen, 1943; daughter of Fritz Hartwig and Billie Wimpel (Mann) Hartwig of Kristiansund, Norway; educated at the Lyceum for Girls in Berlin; studied dance with Eugenie Eduardova in Germany, Olga Preobrazhenska in Paris, and Nicholas Légat in London; married George Balanchine (the director and choreographer), on December 24, 1938 (divorced 1947); married Goddard Lieberson (president of Columbia Records), in 1948; children: (second marriage) Peter and Jonathan.

Selected dance performances:

Midsummer Night's Dream (1929); Tales of Hoffmann (1931); Ballerina (1933); La Boutique fantasque (1934); Le Beau Danube (1934); Aurora's Wedding (1934–36); Les Présages (1934–36); Union Pacific (1934–36); Cotillon (1934–36); Jardin public (1935); Les Cents Baisirs (1935); Les Femmes de bonne humeur (1935); Symphonie fantastique (1936); Les Noces (1936); On Your Toes (1937); I Married an Angel (1938); Louisiana Purchase (1940); Pas de deux—Blues (1940); Petrushka (1943); Apollo (1943); The Wanderer (1943); Helen of Troy (1943); Dream with Music (1944); The Tempest (1945).

Selected filmography:

Goldwyn Follies (1938); On Your Toes (1939); I Was an Adventuress (1940); Louisiana Purchase (1941); Star Spangled Rhythm (1942); Follow the Boys (1944); Lover Come Back (1946).

Vera Zorina was born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin, Germany, in 1917, to German-Norwegian parents. Given a pair of ballet slippers as soon as she could walk, she reportedly slept with them at night and began to study dance as a very young child, while attending the Lyceum for Girls in Berlin. She pursued her education while dancing in various large cities, such as Paris, London, and Venice, but always returned during the summer to the place she considered home, Kristiansund, Norway. She made her first stage appearance in 1923 in Kristiansund, as a butterfly in a Flower Ballet. During this period, her parents separated.

Zorina began to dance professionally at age eight. Her first contract called for her to dance afternoons in the amusement park of a German spa. She was then studying with Eugenie Edourdova . After her father's death by drowning in 1928, Zorina devoted herself to the study of ballet. In Paris, she studied with Olga Preobrazhenska , and in London with Nicholas Légat, who had also trained Kyra Nijinsky . At only 12, Zorina partnered with Anton Dolin and danced in Max Reinhardt's Midsummer Night's Dream and then in Tales of Hoffmann, in 1931. Following these performances, she toured Europe and danced with Serge Lifar in Venice.

Colonel de Basil and Léonide Massine of the Ballets Russes discovered her in Ballerina in London at the Gaiety Theater in 1933 and invited her to join the company. Since all their dancers had Russian names, she acquiesced and chose Vera Zorina from a list, because it was the only one she could pronounce. Although she did not intend to keep the name, after three successful years with the Ballets Russes (1934–36), she was too well known to drop it. She appeared with the company at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York as well as Covent Garden in London. Zorina had mostly minor parts in the major Russian repertory of the era, with the exception of Massine's Symphonie fantastique. However, she remained in the shadow of stronger ballet personalities and was generally unhappy during this period. She was eventually befriended by Sono Osato and Kyra Nijinsky, but her status in the company remained relatively static. During these years, Zorina also studied the Russian language, as well as painting, music, and writing, in an attempt to relate these subjects to dance. After she learned to perceive the similarities between dancing and painting, she was able to improve her own artistry.

Zorina returned to London with the Ballets Russes in 1936 after a transcontinental tour of the United States. Although she had intended to remain with the company, she met Dwight Deere Wiman and auditioned for the role of Vera Baranova in the English version of Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes. Since Zorina's natural inclination was that of a more general performerentertainer, she astonished the producer with her ability to interpret her lines. Her career as a dancer-actress was born in February 1937 at the Palace in London. She later performed On Your Toes in the Coliseum, where Sam Goldwyn saw her and signed her to perform in Goldwyn Follies without a screen test. After she began shooting the small dancing role, Goldwyn became aware of her abilities and recast her in a lead in

the film. Her movie career accelerated with the film version of On Your Toes (1939).

Musical theater was another realm that Zorina conquered, appearing in I Married an Angel (1938) and Louisiana Purchase (1941), both on Broadway. During this period she married her choreographer George Balanchine and also became a U.S. citizen. Although many hoped Zorina would popularize ballet on Broadway and in film, her film career came to an abrupt end when she was replaced by Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1943. She returned to the ballet in 1945 as Ariel in The Tempest. This turbulent time brought her 1946 divorce from Balanchine, as conflicting work engagements often kept them apart. In 1947 or 1948, she married Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records. They had two sons, Peter and Jonathan.

In later years Zorina became a narrator-performer in such works as Joan of Arc at the Stake, Stravinsky's Perséphone (performed in French), Milhaud's Les Choëphores, and Debussy's The Martydom of St. Sebastian. A number of her narratives were recorded, with royalties donated to charity. Zorina took an active role at Lincoln Center in New York as an advisor and director, and directed operas at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. In this position, she also contributed to the raising of $1.7 million for a theater in the hills of New Mexico. In 1986, she published an autobiography, Zorina.