Person
Biography
George Zoritch and his vivid personality were returned to prominence by the 2005 documentary,
Ballets Russes, which memorably showed Zoritch and Nathalie Krassovska, both in their 80s at the time, recreating their past partnership in
Giselle. Zoritch was born in Moscow in 1917, and danced with the troupes of Ida Rubinstein and Bronislava Nijinska in the 1930s. He joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1938 and remained with that troupe until 1962. It was during this period that he twice performed at the Pillow, first in 1958 when he was photographed by John Lindquist in costume for Nijinsky's
Afternoon of a Faun, and again in 1961 when he partnered Mia Slavenska in two classical pas de deux. After his death in November 2009 at 92, Anna Kisselgoff commented in the
New York Times: "With his good looks, elegant line and charismatic projection in title roles in
Afternoon of a Faun and
Le Spectre de la Rose, he never went unnoticed."
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