Choura remembered.

During Alexandra (Choura) Danilova's long career as a performer and teacher, she attracted a remarkable number of colleagues, students, and friends who remembered her wisdom, warmth, and wit. Many of them gave us their remembrances through tears. Others were unavailable because of summer teaching commitments away from their regular schools. Here are excerpts from comments made by those we were able to reach.

Choura seemed eternal. Indeed, she is part of the history of our art. I first met her in Paris in 1930. I couldn't take my eyes on her. I thought she was the most beautiful, elegant lady I had ever seen. A fairy princess! Four years later, when we were both dancing with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, she gave me my first lipstick (my mother did not approve) and encouraged me to shed my schoolgirl look.

Her lifelong dedication to her art was exemplary. She was observant and had a sharp, witty sense of humor tinged with tenderness. Her personality was as great in life as onstage. We will never forget her magic.

Irina Baronova

Choura was everything that is woman, dancer, mother, child, and soubrette. I remember her sense of humor in an incident on a plane full of Soviet generals on our way to Hong Kong. Choura was terrified of them, since she had never officially left Russia, and insisted we speak only English.

When we landed, we saw a red carpet laid out from the plane to customs and a crowd of people waving streamers in greeting. Choura was sure they were there to welcome the generals. When her name was called out to be the first to leave the plane instead of the Soviets and she learned that the carpet and fans were for her, she turned to the generals, clicked her heels in mock salute and went out to meet her audience.

Moscelyne Larkin

It was an honor and an experience to dance with Danilova because she was 100 percent professional, no matter how small or large a role she was playing. Her beautiful legs, big jumps, and cabrioles were something to see.

Religiously, she never missed a day of class and never injured herself. Her longevity was based upon the discipline of daily class. All eyes were drawn to her onstage as people forgot technique and saw only her characterizations.

My love to everyone who knew her because we all loved her.

Tatiana Riabouchinska

Choura had a zest for living, and lived full out. To see her perform was to see an example for every dancer. It was always on the highest level.

Although I later worked with her in a great many productions, I remember early on wanting to ask her for a job and found her sitting in a gorgeous summer frock at the Hotel St. Moritz in New York. She made me feel comfortable, but at one point she began to shout, "Cramp, cramp!" I began to massage her thigh. Everyone was looking at us but I ignored them. I got the job to dance, not massage!

Her fractured English produced one expression I think should be in a dictionary: "It's a drizzmal day."

Michael Maule

Probably no one since Pavlova had been seen performing as much as Choura, who appeared in 90 to 110 cities every year and danced in every city, at every matinee, and evening performance, and always with total responsibility to her art.

Because Ballet Russe had no ballet master, Choura was always onstage at 7:00 P.M., ready to take and give class, using quotes by Egorova (her famous Russian-born teacher in Paris), wearing her chiffon skirt, and not sparing criticism or outspoken remarks. She was always willing to help everyone with a role or advice: "I owe it to the public to set an example of what a ballerina should be in demeanor, appearance, and attitude," she would say, and that is the way she lived.

Robert Lindgren

Choura and Mr. B worked with me on the staging of Coppelia, and what extraordinary and illuminating rehearsals they were. They were one of the highlights of my life. She had an extraordinary memory--one that Balanchine trusted--and they were both so full of energy as they staged the ballet.

Patricia McBride

Choura had the grand manner tradition of dignity, overlaid with European chic and playfulness. We learned technique in school; Choura taught us the craft of theater beyond steps. She was our idol.

Mary Ellen Moylan

Danilova's goddaughter, Kim Kokich, tells us that Danilova passed away at home, apparently from a stroke. A Russian Orthodox service with standing room only took place July 17 at Frank Campbell's Funeral Home in New York City. Speakers included Jacques d'Amboise, Tony Randall, and Holly Brubach (who assisted Danilova in her autobiography), among others. Danilova was buried near Balanchine in Sag Harbor, New York.

A scholarship at the North Carolina School of the Arts has been endowed in Danilova's name. Contact: William Porter, director of the NCSA Foundation, P. O. Box 12189, Winston-Salem, NC 21 17-2189.

Choura, The Memoirs of Alexandra Danilova (Knopf, 1986) is available in most bookstores.