One of a series of photographs by Joan Craven, taken to advertise performances by Tamara Karsavina and Anton Dolin at the London Coliseum in 1927.

In his book Divertissement, Anton Dolin explains that these performances came about when he offered to partner Karsavina, who was booked for a season at the London Coliseum in May 1927. Her then partner Viltzak had left England.

Karsavina was still recovering from a foot injury and Spectre was regarded as a less strenuous ballet for her, although dancing the Spirit of the Rose twice daily for two weeks was strenuous for Dolin. He treasured a thank you she sent: ‘My very sincere thanks for your whole-hearted support and sympathetic help in a difficult time.’

The Observer, 8 May 1927, noted that in these performances Karsavina as a ballerina had something special. ‘Whatever it is Karsavina has it - especially when she wears a crinoline and frames the dark reverie of her face in a white bonnet. She seems to be dancing when she is sitting down. That is the spirit of Le Spectre de la rose’. Dolin, the critic noted, found grace more of a challenge, not helped by a ‘terrible costume which symbolises an elderly spinster's last effort to look young.’