Partner Andreas Pavley
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445 S Manhattan Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Hollywood Forever
Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California, USA
Serge
Oukrainsky (December 2, 1885 - November 1, 1971) was born Leonide Orlay de Carva on December 2, 1885, in Odessa,
Russia. Oukrainsky was educated in Paris and began his stage career in 1911 as
a mime at the Theatre de Chatelet’s French Musical Festival. He arrived in the
United States two years later with Anna Pavlova’s company, and remained with
that troupe as a soloist and Pavlova’s partner until 1915, subsequent to her
historic break with Michael Mordkin. In 1940, Oukrainsky authored “My Two
Years with Anna Pavlova,” a memoir of the dancer’s latter career.
He moved to Chicago, where he was the leading dancer, and director of the
Chicago Opera Ballet until 1927. At the same time, with
Andreas Pavley, he
established the Pavley-Oukrainsky School of Ballet, which affiliated with the
opera during Mary Garden’s reign as prima diva.
The Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet toured extensively in the United States,
Mexico, Cuba and South America. In July 1931, Pavley died mysteriously when he
plunged from the sixteenth floor of Chicago’s McCormick Hotel. Reportedly he
had financial reverses and was unable to meet a blackmailer’s extortion demand
for $100. Police claimed it was a suicide, but Oukrainsky and other friends
insisted it was an accident. After Pavley’s death, he formed the Serge
Oukrainsky Ballet.
In 1927, Oukrainsky moved to California where, until 1931, he served as the
ballet master of the San Francisco and Los Angeles operas. He was the
choreographer for the Hollywood Bowl and several films; in 1934, he taught
ballet in Hollywood. He had been in semiretirement for several years when
Oukrainsky died after a long illness on November 1, 1972 at Hollywood
Presbyterian Hospital. He was interred in the mid-southern part of Chandler
Gardens (Section 12) at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Andreas Pavley, Anna Ludmila, and Serge Oukrainsky, c. 1920. Source: Newberry Library (Barzel Collection)
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