Vassili Woskressensky (colonel Basil)

Volunteered at sixteen years old during the Russo-Japanese conflict of 1904-1905, he fought during the First World War on the Caucasus front with the Kuban Cossacks then, during the Civil War, with the White Army in the Baku region. .

He left Russia in 1919 and undertook, under the name “Colonel Basile”, an important career as an impresario and organizer of ballet troupes, making a considerable contribution to the development of dance throughout the world. Woskresensky has collaborated with recognized stage masters such as Mikhail Fokine, George Balanchine, Leonid Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, Sergei Grigoriev, David Lishin, Vanya Psota, John Taras. Lyubov Chernysheva, Alexandra Danilova, Tamara Tumanova, Irina Baronova, Tatiana Ryabushinskaya, Anna Volkova, sisters Nina Vershinina and Olga Morozova, Tatiana Stepanova, Andre Eglevsky danced in her ballet troupes.

Woskresensky himself admitted: “I was an unemployed professional military man, my skills had no commercial value. I couldn't find a job as a taxi driver, only as a driver of an eight-ton truck.

The ballet troupes, led by Colonel de Basile, have made a significant contribution to the development of ballet around the world, touring 600 cities in 70 countries and giving more than 4,000 touring performances.

He is buried with Olga Woskressenskaya (died 1993).