Tatiana Akinfieva-Smith sits quietly in the back row of the Milford High School theatre, keenly watching a dress rehearsal of “The Nutcracker.” She choreographed this production more than 20 years ago in Dover, and before that, she danced herself.
Now 88, Akinfieva-Smith is the artistic director emeritus for the Diamond Dance Company in Milford.
She no longer dances, but she continues to share her love and knowledge with aspiring dancers. She has sat in the wings or the back of the theater, critiquing the performances of generations of ballerinas. She said she thinks this will be her 50th “Nutcracker.”
She was born a dancer. “Accidentally, I had this body, and now I can pass it further to others,” she said.
Akinfieva-Smith said a ballet dancer must have certain traits. “She must have the length of neck, a proportionate head to body, knees that are not protruding, and much more,” she said. A dancer must also have patience, desire and practice repetition, she said.
“Everybody can dance any place, but for ballet, there are certain requirements,” she said. And she would know.
Akinfieva-Smith danced through revolution and World War, fleeing countries and continents as well as dancing is a glamorous world where she worked with famous dancers, choreographers and composers. But it’s also where she found consolation from personal tragedy. Her first son died suddenly in a car accident and her first husband died. Every time her life fell apart, she danced to stay alive.
Akinfieva-Smith started dancing at age three when her family was living as refugees in Yugoslavia. Her grandfather and father served in the army for Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. During the Bolshevik Revolution, her family fled Russia for safety.
Akinfieva-Smith attended the House of Culture in the name of the Emperor Nikoli the Second and was accepted into The National Opera Theatrical Academy in Belgrade, where she danced until World War II. When her family refused to join the Communist Party after the war, Akinfieva-Smith was imprisoned until someone she calls a “gentleman who was infatuated” with her paid 150,000 dinars to free her, and her family paid to leave Yugoslavia, fleeing to Italy.
In Italy, she danced for a company in Trieste and fell in love with a G.I. soldier. She came to America in 1954 with her husband and was a founding partner in Ballet Met in Ohio.
She moved to Delaware with her daughter, Tasha, when an artistic director position opened at the Delaware Regional Ballet Company and later went on to found the Diamond Dance Studio, where she continues to consult.
Akinfieva-Smith has six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, who all live in Delaware and have a passion for dance. She has passed her love of ballet to a number of students who have gone on to be professional dancers, and many things have changed.
She said when she was a dancer, competition was very tough. “If you made mistakes, they would pluck you out and replace you with another dancer,” she said. But it never happened to Akinfieva-Smith, she said. “If I held my hands wrong, they would come and straighten it out, but that is all,” she said. Now she carefully watches young dancers’ hands. She wants to ensure every detail of a performance is perfect.
While in school in Russia, she was trained in every aspect of theater and arts. “There was a school next to the theater, and for no pay they taught us piano, mime, lighting, costumes and make-up,” she said. Looking up, she gestures at the colorful, sparkling flowers and snowflakes, candy canes and sugar plums flitting across the stage. “See, if that was white light, it would destroy the beautiful costumes.” She notices one costume that is not quite right and tells someone to fix it. She asks the name of the dancer on stage, and compliments the girl’s pirouette.
She smiles at a new generation twirling into a career she cherishes, one that she has shared with hundreds of young people through years of “The Nutcracker.”
Contact Molly Albertson at mollyalbertson@gmail.com
