 Dancing into the unknown.
Author: Finch, Tamara Tchinarova Published: 2007 Tamara Tchinarova was born in Romania of Russian parents and began her dance training in Paris with emigré ballerinas from the Imperial Russian Ballet. She danced professionally in Europe with the Ballets Russes companies that emerged after the death of Diaghilev and in 1936 visited Australia with the Monte Carlo Ballets Russes, returning again with them in 1938. In Australia during those first two tours she made a strong impression as Action in Léonide Massine's symphonic ballet Les Presages, and was also much admired for her portrayal of the cruel Georgian Queen Thamar in Michel Fokine's ballet of the same name. In 1939, at the conclusion of the Covent Ballets Russes tour, Tchinarova, along with a number if her colleagues, decided to stay in Australia, where she danced with the Borovansky Ballet and met and married the actor Peter Finch. She worked with Finch on a number of films, before leaving Australia with him to make her home in London. But Finch had caught the eye of the glamorous but unstable actress Vivien Leigh, wife of Sir Laurence Olivier, and the love triangle that developed was to have devastating consequences. This fascinating autobiography highlights Tamara's early life and career in Bessarabia and Paris and her worldwide dancing career, the tempestuous marriage to Peter Finch and her involvement in his notorious affair with Leigh, through to her subsequent career as interpreter for many Russian ballet companies. Hardback, 248 pages, ISBN 978 1852 731144. | 
