Natasha Petrovnov, one of the world's most memorable and talented figure skaters, was born 'Countess Natasha Nijinsky Petrovnov' in December, 1905 in the town of Espoo, Finland.
Natasha's parents, Count Vladimir Petov Petrovnov and Countess Illia Klevski Petrovnov, fled a volatile Russia in the late 1800's. Illia Petrovnov is said to have fled her home wearing only a Persian carpet carrying a loaf of bread and her favorite powder blue fabrege' egg.
Once established in Espoo, Natahsa's parents began the long process of picking up the jewels and sorting the mess. Vladimir Petrovnov quickly began bartering with the locals, selling homemade Russian Vodka and snowshoes as trade for food and shelter. In a few years he had established a small trade store in central Espoo called Illia's, named after his beloved wife. Several years later came Natasha, born during one of the most violent snowstorms in Finnish history. Little Natasha was a precocious child, learning several of Beethoven's sonatas before the age of 3 and establishing her own local doll trade by the age of 5. It was at the age of 5 that she first took to the ice. Immediately, one of the locals, a retired trainer for the Finnish national team, noticed little Natasha's god given talent on the ice. Maartien Värttina approached Natasha's father that day with a proposition. In a diary found during WWII, he writes: "I remember ze first day I saw little Natasha. She waz vobbling on the pond like a newborn baby duck. I zaid to myzelf "Zis girl iz sent to zis verld by the god of the snowcap!! She haz ze mark of the white reindeer!" So zen I approached her fadder and asked "Can I take zis child to Helsinki!! I must, how do you say? Train her talented!"' It is said in books that Vladimir Petrovnov took exactly forty eight hours and forty eight minutes to come to his decision. Little Natasha was sent off to Helsinki one month later with Värttina, never to see her beloved parents or Espoo again.
For the next 3 years, Natasha trained with Värttina 14 hours a day at the Royal Finnish Academy of Dance in Helsinki. A typical day for Natasha started out with 6 hours of classical ballet. This schedule often took its toll on little Natasha. It is said that she often took to fits of rage, throwing chairs at her instructors and spitting curses in an obscure Lapp dialect at anyone that tried to calm her.
Throughout the pre-trials for the National Finnish Finals, rumors flew about the tumultuous relationship between Värttina and Natasha. During a competitor's performance at the women's freestyle, Värttina was ejected from a side door and fell unconscious onto the ice. The crowd was aghast. In an interview immediately following the competition Natasha was quoted as saying "I don know vhat happened. He, how do you say? He slipped and fall?". Despite all the rumors, Natasha's rise into European competition and eventually to European champion was smooth and unhindered. She wowed crowds in Stockholm, Berlin and Paris. She brought the king and queen of Denmark to their knees with her original performance "The Potato in the Snow". Natasha's routines were dramatic, once implementing an entire African tribe, shipped to Europe and forced to play their sacred ritual songs in public just so she could get "ze right rhysthms".
Her costumes were made in Nepal by a small group of Monks living in seclusion high atop one of the tallest peaks in the country. Of this excess she said "I have to have ze finest silks!! Only the silk of zis place iz right. It is ze silk of angels!! If you go to ze top of ze mountain then you must be clozer to the god!!". Her costumes were extravagant to say the least. Rich copper and gold tones, often hundreds of yards of silk swathed her tiny 4'4" frame. At the 1914 semi-finals in Glasgow, an Italian socialite fainted in her box during Natasha's performance. After being attended to by several medics and her famous husband, she was quoted as saying "It was just too much for me. All of that beauty and art on the ice. It was like the creation of the planets! And she was in the center like the sun!!".
Natasha was crowned European champion at the finals in Paris the next year.
She became something of a celebrity. She was sighted during the day buying expensive Reindeer pelts and lunching on herring and cucumber sandwiches at local cafes. It was rumored she was having an affair with Prince Paavo Lipponen, son and heir to the throne of Finland.
Natasha fell out of the public eye after an unfortunate affair with Chatsworth White, a southern US gentleman who was abusive and used everything in his power to destroy her career. Eventually she moved back to Finland and resumed her affair with Paavo.
Natasha passed away in 1942 from a Nembutol overdose. It is rumored that she was secretly snuffed out for having a long-term affair with Paavo. Bless her, she will always remain in our hearts.
