Dancing into the Unknown: My Life in the Ballets Russes and Beyond

Tamara Tchinarova was born in Romania in
1919 and began her dance training in Paris
with emigr? ballerinas from the Imperial
Russian Ballet. She danced professionally
in Europe with the touring Ballet Russes
companies that emerged in the 1930s
after the death of the entrepreneur Serge
Diaghilev, and she went to Australia in
1936 with the Ballet Russes de Monte-
Carlo, returning in 1938 with the Covent
Garden Russian Ballet. In Australia during
those first two tours by the Russian Ballet
she made a strong impression as Action in
Leonide Massine's first symphonic ballet
Les Pr?sages. She was also admired for her
portrayal of Thamar in Michel Fokine's
dramatic ballet, and was praised for her
dancing in demi-character roles in ballets
such as Le beau Danube.
In 1939, at the conclusion of the Covent
Garden Russian Ballet tour, along with
a number of her colleagues, Tchinarova
elected to stay in Australia where she met
and married the actor Peter Finch and
worked with him on a number of films
before leaving Australia to make her home
in London. But Finch had caught the eye of
the glamorous actress Vivien Leigh, wife of
Sir Laurence Olivier, and the love triangle
that developed was to have devastating
consequences.
This fascinating autobiography highlights
Tamara's remarkable life in Romania
and her worldwide dancing career, the
tempestuous marriage to Peter Finch and
her involvement in his notorious affair with
Leigh, through to her subsequent career as
adviser and interpreter for many Russian ballet companies.