Norka Rouskaya (born Delia Franciscus in 1899) was a Swiss eccentric dancer and actress. Her mother was named Mercedes Franciscus.[1]

Norka Rouskaya
Royskaya in April 1918.
Born
Delia Franciscus

1899
NationalitySwiss
Known foreccentric dance

Biography

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Rousaya was born in 1899 in the Canton of Ticino. She trained as a dancer and performed in major theaters in France and Italy. On 5 November 1917 Rouskaya, accompanied by her mother and several local men, including the author José Carlos Marategui, performed an interpretive dance to Chopin's Funeral March in the Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro in Lima, Peru.[2][3] The performance was deemed inappropriate and caused a scandal in Lima society.[3][4] She was arrested upon her return to the Maury Hotel, where she had been staying, and was taken to the Convent of St. Thomas with her mother, where the women's prison was operated. She was held in the convent under the care of Dominican nuns.[3] She was released from prison on 7 November 1917.[5]

 
Rouskaya performing in costume.

In 1918 she cancelled a tour to dance in Cuba and South America and went to New York to pursue a career in film.[6] Later that year she made her film debut as a dancer in the film Santa. She played herself in a dancing role in the 1927 French silent film Palaces.

References

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  1. ^ Stein, William W. (1997). Dance in the Cemetery. Jose Carlos Mariategui and the Lima Scandal of 1917. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. p. 107. ISBN 0-7618-0738-1.
  2. ^ Aguirre, Carlos; Walker, Charles F. (7 April 2017). The Lima Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822373186. Retrieved 16 April 2019 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c Mariátegui, José-Carlos (5 November 2017). "El baile de Norka Rouskaya". El Comercio. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. ^ EC, Redacción (23 June 2014). "Norka Rouskaya, la bailarina que escandalizó Lima en 1917". El Comercio. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  5. ^ Stein, William W. (16 April 1997). Dance in the Cemetery: Jose Carlos Mariategui and the Lima Scandal of 1917. University Press of America. p. 109. Retrieved 16 April 2019 – via Internet Archive. Norka Rouskaya.
  6. ^ Exhibitors Herald Co.; Exhibitors Herald (16 April 2019). "Exhibitors Herald (1917-1918)". Chicago, Exhibitors Herald. Retrieved 16 April 2019 – via Internet Archive.
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