Jenny Matilda Elisabet Hasselquist, also spelled Hasselqvist (31 July 1894 – 8 June 1978), was a Swedish prima ballerina, film actress, and ballet teacher.[1]

Jenny Hasselquist
Jenny Hasselquist c. 1915
Born
Jenny Matilda Elisabet Hasselquist

(1894-07-31)31 July 1894
Died8 June 1978(1978-06-08) (aged 83)
Other namesJenny Hasselqvist
Occupation(s)Ballerina, actress, ballet teacher
Years active1916–1931
Spouses
Gösta Reuterswärd
(divorced)
  • Wilhelm Kåge
Hasselquist dancing in 1915

Biography

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Jenny Matilda Elisabet Hasselquist was born in Stockholm on 31 July 1894 to Johannes Johansson Hasselquist and Sofia Katarina Hasselquist. She had two older brothers, Wilhelm (1887–1959), and Gerhard (1889–1950).[2]

She attended the Swedish Opera's ballet school from 1906 and performed with the Royal Ballet from 1910.[3] In 1913, Michel Fokine noticed her talents and ensured she obtained solo roles in La Sylphide and Cleopatra. She became a prima ballerina at the Royal Ballet in 1915.[4]

In 1920, Hasselquist starred in Rolf de Maré's Ballets suédois in Paris. A talented dancer, she had a flair for the modern idiom.[5] However she left de Maré after just one season, apparently dissatisfied with her potential there.[6] She went on to play leading roles in many Swedish and some German silent films including Johan (1921), Vem dömer (1922), The Hell Ship (1923),[7] and Aftermath (1927). She also appeared as a guest dancer in many of Europe's leading theatres including the Coliseum in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.[4]

She had her own school in Stockholm, and from the mid-1930s, she taught at the Stockholm Opera's ballet school.[5] She died on 8 June 1978 in Täby, Sweden.[8]

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Jenny Hasselquist" (in Swedish). Teater Sargasso. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. ^ "Jenny Hasselquist".
  3. ^ "Jenny Hasselquist". Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Hasselqvist, Jenny Matilda Elisabet" (in Swedish). Svensk uppslagsbok, Vol. 12. 1949. p. 1152. Archived from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Jenny Hasselquist". Store Norske Leksikon (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  6. ^ Baer, Nancy Van Norman; Museum, Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.). (1995). Paris modern: the Swedish Ballet, 1920–1925. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-88401-081-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Toepfer, Karl Eric (1997). Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910–1935. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-520-91827-6.
  8. ^ "Jenny Mathilda Elisabeth Hasselquist, premiärdansös, skådespelare" (in Swedish). Gultarp Genealogy. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

Further reading

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