Ileana Leonidoff

Ileana Leonidoff (3 March 1893 – 1 January 1968) is a pseudonym for Elena Sergeevna Pisarevskaya (Russian: Елена Сергеевна Писаревская), a Russian-born emigrée who first made a career in Italy in silent films and then as a noted dancer and choreographer. She was the founder and lead dancer of the Dance School of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. During World War II, she fled to South America, first teaching in Argentina and then in Ecuador in 1950. She was the first director of the Ballet Oficial de Bolivia, then served as the director of the Guayaquil Ballet in Ecuador, and became the founder of the Ballet School of Trujillo, Peru. She was honoured as a knight of the Order of the Condor of the Andes in 1953.