This biography, written by Kerri Turner, has been republished with permission from the Dangerous Women Project, created by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.
Born: 31 August 1872, Russia
Died: 6 December 1971
Country most active: Russia
Also known as: Matylda Maria Krzesińska, Матильда Феликсовна Кшесинская, Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Matilda Kshesinskaya
Once considered the richest and most powerful woman in Russia, Mathilde Kschessinska had an early relationship with then-Tsarevich Nicholas Romanov, which lead to a lifelong friendship. She used this connection to help catapult her to the position of prima ballerina assoluta in the Imperial Ballet – the highest rank a ballerina could hold. Known for her influence, decadence, and simultaneous relationships with two Grand Dukes, she became a popular target of the 1917 Russian Revolution. She survived, only to have Vladimir Lenin commandeer her house for his headquarters and release propaganda defaming her. Not one to back down, Mathilde took to Lenin to court to fight for the right to her house. She lost, and was forced to dance for Lenin’s men, with the expectation she would be executed afterward. Mathilde Kschessinska saved her own life with her dancing. In the midst of ensuing civil war, she made a harrowing on-foot escape from Russia with her son. A refugee in France, she married her surviving partner and lived until she was ninety-nine – forty-seven years longer than Lenin survived.