| Variations of Name | Madame Lydia Kyasht; Lydia Georgievna Kyasht |
| Biography | Lydia Kyasht was a Russian British ballerina and dance teacher. She was described by one critic as "the World's Most Beautiful Dancer" in 1914.
Kyaksht danced at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1902 to 1908, and was a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1903-1904. She moved to England in 1908, to be ballerina at the Empire Theatre. She also danced with the Ballets Russes. Her first performance in New York City happened in 1914, when she appeared in a Broadway revue called The Whirl of the World.
She appeared in at least two silent films, Foolish Monte Carlo (also titled The Black Spider, 1920, now lost), and The Dance of the Moods (1924). In 1929 she published a memoir, Romantic Reflections.
Kyasht opened a ballet school in London after World War I. During World War II, her company of young dancers, Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise, made several tours. |