Helena Cholewicka

Helena Antonina Cholewicka (20 January 1848 – 13 December 1883) was a Polish ballet artist and the only titular "prima ballerina assoluta" in the history of the Warsaw Government Theatres.

Biography She was the daughter of Franciszek Józef and Maria (née Wojciechowska) Cholewicka. Her aunt was Konstancja Wiktoria Rokossowska (née Cholewicka), grandmother of the later Marshal of the USSR and Poland Konstanty Rokossowski. Konstancja Wiktoria and Franciszek Józef were half-siblings as they had the same father.

Helena was a student of the ballet school of the Teatr Wielki. While still a student in 1862, she danced the cancan from the ballet The Modniarki (debut) and as a butterfly in the ballet The Pink Genius. On 1 September 1862, she was engaged to join the ballet company of the Warsaw Government Theatres. She was exceptionally talented and already on 13 March 1864, she danced the title role in La Sylphide, and in December 1866 also the role of Zelina in The Sea Robber. In 1867, the management of the Warsaw Government Theatre (WTR) sent her to Milan and Paris, where for some time she studied under the supervision of the legendary romantic ballerina Maria Taglioni, who was then a teacher at the ballet school of the Paris Opera.