Chiriaeff, Ludmilla Otzup

▪ 1997

      Canadian dancer, choreographer, and director (b. Jan. 10, 1924, Riga, Latvia—d. Sept. 22, 1996, Montreal, Que.), was the founder of the company that became Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Chiriaeff grew up in Berlin and had begun her ballet career there when Nazi doctors decided that her body measurements indicated that she was Jewish, though she was not, and sent her to a labour camp. Following World War II she danced and choreographed in Switzerland, opened a school, and formed a company, Ballets des Arts, before moving (1952) to Montreal. Chiriaeff developed a troupe there and presented her dancers on the newly formed French television service, calling them Les Ballets Chiriaeff and creating more than 300 short ballets. The group began stage performances in 1955 and in 1957 was renamed Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. It began touring in 1959, and in the 1960s Chiriaeff brought in Anton Dolin as artistic adviser and hired such choreographers as Brian Macdonald and Fernand Nault. The first European tour took place in 1969, and Nault's ballet of the rock opera Tommy (1970), with music by The Who, was especially popular on tour. Chiriaeff ceased directing the company in 1974 and concentrated on educational activities, including the company's school, until ill health forced her retirement in 1992. She was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1984, and in 1993 she was one of six Canadians honoured with the Governor-General's Award for the Performing Arts.

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