Backstage with the Ballerinas

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 29 December 1938, page 17

BACKSTAGE with the ballerinas I watched Irina Baronova putting the finishing touches to her make-up in her dressing-room, and asked her if she had any preference in perfumes.

"Many of us use perfumes on the stage »,well as off," she told me. "For roles such as 'Swan Lake,' 'Les Sylphides,' and the truly classical ballets a heavy fragrance does not seem fitting. In these ballets I use only a light eau de Cologne, and then, In the more dramatic roles, I favor a more exotic fragrance. My favorite scents are Guerlain's Mitsouko and Jicky."

Tatiania Riabouchinska prefers the fresh woody scents-Guerlain's Quand Vient l'Eté is one of her particular favorites.

Tamara Gregorieva also favors Guerlain's Mitsouko. Crepe de Chine is another scent used by this artist, while L'Aimant de Coty is the perfume of her choice for the stage.

It is perhaps a superstition that Mlle. Gregorieva used L'Aimant de Coty always on the stage. On her first appearance she used the perfume, and since then she has never gone on stage without first spraying this fragrance on her costume.

Sono Asota does not use perfume on the stage. "When I am dancing I do not like to use perfume, but off stage Chypre de Coty and Patou's Amour Amour are very lovely scents."

And do the male members of the ballet like the ballerinas to use perfume? A unanimous"yes" greeted my question.

"Personally, mind you, I like soap," said Anton Doun, "but for lovely women most decidedly they should add perfume. Lelong's N is, I think, my favorite. Beatrice Lillie, famous English stage star, who is a great friend of mine, always uses this perfume."

Dimitri Rostoff also thinks perfume adds to a woman's charm, "If, of course, that is possible," he added with a twinkle in his eye.