Flight of the Swan by Rosario Ferré Read Free Book Online Page A

dancing. Whenever she performed at benefits and galas people flocked to see her, because it was rumored that she came from a humble background. This was pleasing to people with Bolshevik sympathies. Matilde Kschessinska’s imperial connections hurt her, and although she still held the title of prima ballerina at the Maryinsky Niura was gradually taking her place in the public’s eye.
    “Niura never showed any interest in meeting the Poliakoffs, for which I was grateful, although I always suspected my daughter was secretly proud of her Jewish blood. It set her apart from the St. Petersburg haut monde we both despised. Although no one knew who Niura’s real father was, one of Kschessinska’s friends at the Maryinsky could dig up the secret by asking questions about my illegitimate daughter, which could lead to Niura’s expulsion from the city.
    “The Imperial Ballet was not exempt from the upheavals tearing Russia apart. Many of the dancers were students at the university and were thus very well informed about political developments. Niura began to attend Bolshevik meetings, and one day she stood up on a desk at school and made a forthright speech in which she poured scorn on an army that cut down defenseless people and saw innocent workers as the enemy. She was the daughter of the washerwoman from Kolomenskaya Street, she said, and she had everything to gain if the revolution was successful. She lent her apartment to the students of the ballet school who went on strike, so they could meet there. Then one day the Poliakoffs shut down their bank and unexpectedly left the country. Niura and I were left practically destitute.
    “The night she found out about it Niura was dancing La Fille Mai Gardée —The Unchaperoned Girl—a ballet full of verve and playful coquetry, at a benefit gala for the families of the sailors who had perished in the destruction of the Russian fleet. At the end of the performance she received a bouquet of roses in her dressing room with a card from ‘the Honorable Victor Dandré’ attached to it. Each rose came skewered by a piece of wire and Niura couldn’t bear the sight of them. She asked me to free them from their torture, taking out the wires and placing the flowers in water. I did so immediately, and put the vase on her dresser.
    “The Honorable Dandré wished to invite Mademoiselle to a private dinner at his apartment after the performance, the card said. Niura received dozens of cards like that every night. This time, however, instead of ripping the card in two, Niura penned a quick answer on the back and had it returned to her admirer.
    “Victor Dandré was a Frenchified Russian who had lived in Paris for a while. He was tall and bear-chested, with a red mustache that compensated for his bald head, and large, ruddy jowls that trembled when he laughed. He was known in St. Petersburg as a successful investor, and he had a comfortable situation. That night he invited Niura to one of the city’s many luxurious restaurants with private chambers at the back. Afterwards they went to Dandré’s plush apartment on Italiansky Street.
    “‘Our economic problems are over, Mother: now we won’t have to starve or sell our home because of the strike. I’ve finally found the protector the Maryinsky Imperial Ballet School always expected me to have,’ Niura said. I began to cry; I understood well enough. I made her kneel down before the icon of the Virgin of Vladimir and ask for forgiveness. Niura kissed the lower corner of the icon and bent her head in front of it. The decision cost her a great deal. She’d always looked down on Kschessinska and the other ballerinas, who readily accepted the Maryinsky’s patrons’ demands in order to go on dancing.
    “Mr. Dandré always kept his bachelor place in Italiansky Street; he never moved in with us. Niura didn’t feel attracted to him, but he was a strong man and a shove from him would send any unwelcome admirer crashing against the wall. At the