Nicolas Ilyich TRIPOLITOFF, born October 26, 1894 in Odessa and died May 18, 1972 in Paris, was a Russian born international dancer, choreographer, singer; Russian officer, member of the White Guard movement. In the second marriage - the husband of Olga SMIRNOVA, in the third of Ksenia TRIPOLITOFF. Nikolay TRIPOLITOFF graduated of the Odessa Cadet Corps. After the October Revolution of 1917, he took part in the Civil War, served as an officer in the Volunteer Army of General WRANGEL. In 1922, together with parts of the White Army, he left Russia, where his family remained, and emigrated to Constantinople. At first, he took up any opportunity to earn money: in 1922-1923 he performed in the operetta group of DALETSKAYA and ARDATOV, played in the "Blue Bird" Theater (Синяя Птица), where he participated in sketches and melodramatic numbers, performed characteristic dances in the "Yar" restaurant, then worked in the music hall "Skating" and, in tandem with MURAVYOVA, in the "Hearth of Russian Artists". At the same time he studied ballet with Elizabeth GLUCK, who gave classes at the Constantinople Conservatory. Together with the dancer Olga SMIRNOVA he formed the duet "Smirnova and Tripolitoff", performing eccentric ballet miniatures and distinguished by complex acrobatic moves. In 1923 he made his debut with her in the Parisian restaurant "Maxime", where they were noticed by the novice ballet impresario Vassily VOSKRESENSKY, usually referred to as Colonel Wassily de Basil. Nicolas and Olga, along with several other dancers - the wife of Colonel de Basil, Nina LEONIDOVA, Elizabeth GLUCK and Dmitry GRECHIKHIN - became part of his first touring troupe, the Russian Ballet of Colonel de Basil, which toured the French and Belgian provinces. Beginning in 1925, Nicolas and Olga performed both as an independent entreprise and as part of the ballet troupe of the Russian Opera, organized in Paris by the theater agency Zerbazon, whose founders were VOSKRESENSKY - de Basil, Ignatius ZON and Prince TSERETELI. Before the duet "Smirnova and Tripolitov" broke up in the first half of the 1930s, Nicolas and his wife toured various cities in France, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, and also performed at the Paris Theater "Palace". On June 12, 1936, Olga died of peritonitis. In the same year, Nicolas met young Ksenia ROUBOM in Paris and organized a new duet with her. Soon after, they got married. Ksenia and Nicolas TRIPOLITOFF began their touring activities in June 1937 in a small casino in the Dutch city of Falkenburg, and in July they already performed in the city of Noordwijk. In August 1937, the couple received a contract at the Palermo casino in the Dutch town of Scheveningen. In October 1937 the TRIPOLITOFF's went on tour to Germany, then their duet was called "Ksenia and Tripolitoff". They performed together with independent numbers until 1949. In 1948, they took part in the six-month tour of de Basil's "Original Russian Ballet" in Spain and Portugal, which became the last for the troupe. In the 1950s, in Paris, Nicolas created the "Troika" vocal and dance ensemble, which existed until the mid-1960s.