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Irina Baronova with Guitar. Pencil on Bristol. 5 by 7. 2005. From a photo accompanying a newspaper article about the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Irina was known as one of the three "Baby Ballerinas" at the Ballets Russes. She wasn't a baby in the photo I saw and I don't know why she had a guitar. Did she dance with it?

Recently I saw a documentary movie about the Ballets Russes and Irina was in it—with a guitar. She and the other "Babies" were put on stage as young teens in a time when most ballerinas got their first chance only as adults. The Baby Ballerinas were a hit.

My mother took me to a Ballets Russes performance in Detroit when I was about twelve. I liked it but pretended I didn't because ballet was sissy.

 

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