List of Russian ballet dancers
This a list of ballet dancers from the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Russian Federation, including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities. This list includes as well those who were born in the these three states but later emigrated, and those who were born elsewhere but immigrated to the country and performed there for a significant portion of their careers.
The original purpose of the ballet in Russia was to entertain the royal court. The first ballet company was the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg in the 1740s. The Ballets Russes was a ballet company founded in the 1909 by Sergey Diaghilev, an enormously important figure in the Russian ballet scene. Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes’ travels abroad profoundly influenced the development of dance worldwide.[1] The headquarters of his ballet company was located in Paris, France. A protégé of Diaghilev, George Balanchine, founded the New York City Ballet Company.
During the early 20th century, many Russian ballet dancers rose to fame. Soviet ballet preserved the perfected 19th century traditions,[2] and the Soviet Union's choreography schools produced one internationally famous star after another. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Mariinsky in Saint Petersburg remain famous throughout the world.[3]
For the full plain list of Russian ballet dancers on Wikipedia see the Category:Russian ballet dancers.
Alphabetical list[edit]
A[edit]
B[edit]
C[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vakhtang Chabukiani (1910—1992) Danseur, Choreographer, Ballet master, Mariinsky Theatre, Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre |
Vaghtang Chabukiani (Solor) La Bayadère
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| Catherine Chislova (1846–1889) Ballerina |
D[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandra Danilova (1903–1997) Prima ballerina |
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| Margarita Drozdova | |||
| Natalia Dudinskaya (1912–2003) Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
Natalia M. Dudinskaya as Söyembikä in the Jakobson/Yarullin Shuraleh, Saint Petersburg, circa 1935
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E[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lubov Egorova (1880–1972) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
Lubov Egorova in the title role of the choreographer Marius Petipa's and the composer Cesare Pugni's ballet The Blue Dahlia, 1905
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| Olga Esina (born 1986) Ballerina |
Olga Esina (in Russian Ольга Есина) is a Russian ballerina who was educated at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. In 2010 she became First Solo Dancer at the Vienna State Ballet. |
F[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikolai Fadeyechev (born 1933) Dancer, Teacher, Bolshoi Theater |
Nikolai Fadeyechev was born in Moscow, was a Soviet Russian dancer ballet, was dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, graduated from the Moscow Ballet School in 1952 and joined the Bolshoi Theatre, danced many principal roles. He danced alongside some of the great ballerinas such as Galina Ulanova in "Giselle" and "Les Sylphides", was a regular partner with Maya Plisetskaya, Raisa Struchkova, Nina Timofeeva, Marina Kondratyeva, Natalia Bessmertnova, Ekaterina Maximova, Ludmila Semenyaka. After that, he became one of the most important teachers and répétiteurs of the Bolshoi Theatre. Nikolay Tsiskaridze, Andrey Uvarov, Sergei Filin, Artem Ovcharenko were among her adepts. |
Nikolai Fadeyechev in a scene from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake staged at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. 1 January 1956
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| Sergei Filin (born 1970) Dancer, Artistic Director, Bolshoi Theater |
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| Mikhail Fokine (1880–1942) Danseur |
G[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valentina Ganibalova (born 1948) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Yekaterina Geltzer (1876–1962) Prima ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Elizaveta Gerdt (1891–1975) Ballerina |
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| Pavel Gerdt (1844–1917) Premier Danseur Noble |
Pavel Gerdt as Pepito in the The King's Command or The Pupils of Dupré
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| Adelaide Giuri (1872—1963) Ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre, La Scala |
Adelaide Giuri as Odette and Mikhail Mordkin as Prince Siegfried in Alexander Gorsky's staging of the Petipa/Ivanov "Swan Lake" for the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 1901. A young Vera Karalli is seen kneeling.
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| Alexander Godunov (1949–1995) Danseur |
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| Kasian Goleyzovsky (1892—1970) Danseur, Choreographer, Ballet master, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Sofia Golovkina (1915—2004) Ballerina, Teacher, Ballet master, Moscow State Academy of Choreography, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Alexander Gorsky (1871—1924) Danseur, ballet master, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
Ballets by Alexander Gorsky In Philately "Gudule’s Daughter" (a revision of the "La Esmeralda") (1902), "Salammbô" (1910), "Don Quixote" (1900), "Giselle" (1907), "La Bayadère" (1917)
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| Nadezhda Gracheva (born 1969) Ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Yury Grigorovich (born 1927) Danseur, Choreographer, Ballet master, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich is a Soviet and Russian dancer and choreographer who dominated the Russian ballet for 30 years. Grigorovich was born into a family connected with the Imperial Russian Ballet. He graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1946 and danced as a soloist of the Kirov Ballet until 1962. His staging of Sergey Prokofiev's The Stone Flower (1957) and of The Legend of Love (1961) brought him acclaim as a choreographer. In 1964 he moved to the Bolshoi Theatre, where he would work as an Artistic director until 1995. His most famous productions at the Bolshoi were The Legend of Love (1965, 2002), The Nutcracker (1966), Spartacus (1967), Ivan the Terrible (1975), The Golden Age (1982, 1994, 2006). Other notable productions The Sleeping Beauty (1963, 1973, 2011), Swan Lake (1969, 2001), Romeo and Juliet (1979, 2010), Raymonda (1984, 2003), Giselle (1987), La Bayadère (1991), Don Quixote (1994), Le Corsaire (1994). Сhoreographed for various Russian companies before settling in Krasnodar, where he set up his own company. Grigorovich has been heading the juries of numerous international competitions in classical ballet. After the death of his wife, the great ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, on February 19, 2008, he has been offered the opportunity to return to the Bolshoi again in the capacity of ballet master and choreographer. | ||
| Dmitry Gudanov (born 1975) Danseur, Bolshoi Theatre |
I[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avdotia Istomina (1799–1848) Prima ballerina |
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| Lev Ivanov (1834—1901) Danseur, choreographer, ballet master, Mariinsky Theatre |
Lev Ivanov costumed as Solor for Act I of "La Bayadère". St. Petersburg, 1877.
|
K[edit]
L[edit]
M[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Askold Makarov (1925—2000) Danseur, Choreographer, Teacher, Mariinsky Theatre, Theatre Choreographic Miniatures |
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| Yulia Makhalina (born 1968) Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Léonide Massine (1896–1979) Danseur, choreographer |
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| Ekaterina Maximova (1939-2009) Prima ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre |
Ekaterina Sergeevna Maximova was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of international renown. Maximova was coached by the legendary ballerina Galina Ulanova. Her greatest successes were the roles of Kitri in Don Quixote, Clara (called Maria in the Bolshoi production) in The Nutcracker, and the title roles in Giselle and Cinderella. Maximova performed with the Bolshoi Ballet from 1958 until 1980, often performing opposite her husband Vladimir Vasiliev. She and her husband gained wide exposure for their appearances in Franco Zeffirelli's filmed version of Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata (1983). When the Bolshoi Ballet toured to the United States for the first time in 1959, Maximova also performed as a guest artist with the Metropolitan Opera in leading roles in The Stone Flower and other ballets. Following her career as a dancer, Maximova was a coach with the ballet and a member of the GITIS Institute faculty. After that, she became one of the most important teachers and répétiteurs of the Bolshoi Theatre. Galina Stepanenko, Svetlana Lunkina, Marianna Ryzhkina, Anna Nikulina were among her adepts. |
Yekaterina Maksimova (R) as Kitri and Vladimir Vasilyev as Basilio in a scene from Ludwig Minkus' ballet Don Quixote staged at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. 1 January 1971
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| Asaf Messerer (1903–1992) Danseur, choreographer |
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| Sulamith Messerer (1908–2004) Ballerina,choreographer |
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| Galina Mezentseva (born 1952) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Victoria Mironova |
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| Alla Mikhalchenko (born 1957) Ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Olga Moiseyeva (born 1928) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
N[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anastasia Nabokina |
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| Bronislava Nijinska (1891–1972) Prima Ballerina,choreographer |
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| Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950) Danseur,choreographer |
Nijinsky in Le Spectre de la Rose
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| Irma Nioradze (born 1969) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Rudolf Nureyev (1938–1993) Danseur, choreographer, Mariinsky Theatre, Paris Opera |
O[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evgenia Obraztsova (born 1984) Prima Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Natalia Osipova (born 1986) Ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre, Mikhaylovsky Theatre |
Natalia Osipova in an extract from "Flames of Paris", at the October 2011 reopening gala of the Bolshoi Theatre
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| Artem Ovcharenko (born 1986) Dancer, Bolshoi Theatre |
Artem Ovcharenko as Jean de Brienne, "Raymonda", Bolshoi Theatre, 2010
|
P[edit]
R[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tatiana Riabouchinska (1917–2000) Ballerina |
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| Ida Rubinstein (1883–1960) Ballerina, actress |
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| Farukh Ruzimatov |
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| Marianna Ryzhkina |
S[edit]
T[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vadim Tedeev (1946—2011) Dancer, Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre |
Vadim Tedeev as Arthur, the Gadfly, from ballet "Rivares"
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| Ekaterina Teleshova (1804—1857) Ballerina, Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre |
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| Viktoria Tereshkina (born 1983) Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Vasily Tikhomirov (1876—1956) dancer, Ballet master, Teacher, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Nina Timofeeva (born 1935) Ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Liudmila Titova (Born 1987) Prima ballerina, Director, Royal Moscow Ballet |
Liudmila Titova (Russian: Людмила Титова)[4] was born October 9, 1987 in Moscow, Russia, and has been called the "one of the most celebrated ballet dancer and ballet teacher in the world." [5] Born in Moscow, Russia, Liudmila Titova started dancing at the age of seven years based on recommendation from her doctor to help with a problem with her back.[6] She joined the school's dance club and found herself dancing every day. At the age of 10, she took a three-day examination and physical and was only seven out of 105 applicants admitted into the Bolshoi Academy of Ballet,[7] also known as the Moscow State Academy of Choreography,[6] where her area of study became, "Theatre of Classical Ballet" by Smirnov-Golovanov. For the next eight years, Titova trained eight hours per day, six days per week. After graduating the world-renown, prestigious Bolshoi Academy of Ballet, Liudmila Titova went to work for the Royal Moscow Ballet Company. The Royal Moscow Ballet Company is located in Moscow, Russia, so Liudmila Titova was able to stay in her native Moscow. At the early age just 19, Liudmila was given leading a role in one of the world's most coveted plays, "Cinderella".[8] This unimaginable feat is unheard of in the Ballet realm, where leading roles are generally earned by ballet dancers after many years or performances, usually after the age of 25. Liudmila was such a success, she went on to be the lead in other famous plays, such as "The Nutcracker," "Don Quixote," "Giselle," "Bolero," "Carmen," "Romeo and Juliet," "Sleeping Beauty," "Swan Lake," and "The Time."
In 2014, at the age of 26, Liudmila Titova was promoted to the position of the General Director of the Royal Moscow Ballet. |
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| Nikolay Tsiskaridze (born 1973) dancer, Bolshoi Theatre |
Nikolay Tsiskaridze, also spelled Ziskaridze, one of the most decorated Russian dancers, was a premier dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet for 21 years. Ethnically Georgian, he was born in Tbilisi on 31 December 1973. He joined the Moscow Ballet School in 1987 and was admitted into the Bolshoi Ballet in 1991. In 1992 Tsiskaridze joined the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theater. The then artistic director Yuri Grigorovich saw Nikolai at the graduation exam. At the theater he had the good fortune to enter the class of prominent ballerina Marina Semyonova, and as Nikolai says, became his second mother. The legendary Galina Ulanova also assisted him. Over the course of his dance career he performed more than 70 roles in major classical works. One of the best ballet princes, he is equally convincing in modern choreographies. Roland Petit, who staged “La Dame de Pique” in 2001, created the role of Hermann especially for Tsiskaridze. In 1996, he graduated from the Teacher Training Department of the Moscow Ballet Adacemy and since 2003 had been teaching a daily ballet class at the Bolshoi Theatre combining his dance career with coaching. Besides, since 2004 he had been also teaching at the Moscow Ballet Academy. He became the youngest person to be named a People's Artist of Russia (2001). He received the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2001 and 2003 and the Prix Benois de la Danse in 1999. During his career he received many honours - Silver medal at the Osaka Ballet Competition (1995), Golden medal at the Moscow Ballet Competition (1997), Honoured Artist of Russia (1997), Russian Golden Mask theatrical prize (1998, 2000, 2003),Benois de la Danse (1999), Order of Honour of the Republic of Georgia (2003), Danza&Danza award as best dancer of the year 2003, Triumph prize (2004), Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française (2006), People's Artist of North Osetia —Alania Republic (2013). In 2014, Tsiskaridze graduated as a Master of Law at Kutafin Moscow State Law University. On 29 Nov, 2014 Tsiskaridze was elected as Rector of Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg, est. in 1738. | ||
| Tamara Toumanova (1919–1996) (Georgian descent) Prima ballerina, choreographer |
Trained in Paris by Preobrajenska, Toumanova was one of Balanchine's Baby Ballerinas and a close colleague of Léonide Massine. She made her debut in the children's ballet L'Éventail de Jeanne. Nicknamed The Black Pearl of the Russian Ballet, she performed in Balanchine's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Le Palais de Cristal. She appeared in Hollywood films, including The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Tonight We Sing (playing Anna Pavlova), Deep in My Heart, Days of Glory, and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain. |
U[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galina Ulanova (1910–1998) Prima ballerina assoluta, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
Trained under Agrippina Vaganova and her own mother, a ballerina of the Imperial Russian Ballet, Ulanova joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1928. After 1944 she became a prima ballerina assoluta in Bolshoi Theatre. In 1945 she danced the title role in the world premiere of Prokofiev's Cinderella. On her first international tour in 1956 she achieved enormous success. Having retired from the stage in 1960, Ulanova coached many generations of the Russian dancers. After that, she became one of the most important teachers and répétiteurs of the Bolshoi Theatre. Ekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Svetlana Adyrkhaeva, Nina Timofeeva, Ludmila Semenyaka, Nina Semizorova, Alla Mikhalchenko, Nadezhda Gracheva and Nikolay Tsiskaridze were among her adepts. |
Galina Ulanova, as Juliet (right), and Yury Zhdanov as Romeo in Sergei Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo And Juliet". 1 October 1954
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| Andrey Uvarov (born 1971) Dancer, Bolshoi Theatre |
V[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951) Ballerina, Teacher, ballet master |
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was a Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School (today the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet) under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though mostly throughout the 1880s and 1890s. It was Vaganova who perfected and cultivated this form of teaching the art of classical ballet into a workable syllabus. Her Fundamentals of the Classical Dance (1934) remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique. Her technique is one of the most popular techniques today. Among Vaganova's dance alumnus were the distinguished Soviet ballerinas Marina Semenova, Olga Jordan, Galina Ulanova, Tatiana Vecheslova, Feya Balabina, Natalia Dudinskaya, Alla Shelest, Nonna Yastrebova, Olga Moiseeva, Ludmilla Safronova, Ninel Kurgapkina, Alla Ossipenko and Irina Kolpakova. Shortly after her death, on 1 November 1957, the Choreographic College on Rossi street was renamed in her honor; in 1961, it received the title of "academic" and in 1991 it began to use the name Agrippina Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. |
Agrippina Vaganova in "La Esmeralda". St. Petersburg, circa 1910.
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| Ivan Vasiliev (born 1989) Danseur |
Ivan Vasiliev in an extract from Spartacus, at the October 2011 re-opening gala of the Bolshoi Theatre
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| Vladimir Vasiliev (born 1940) Danseur, Bolshoi Theatre |
Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev a Russian ballet dancer, was premier dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, and was best known for his role of Spartacus and his powerful leaps and turns, graduated from the Moscow Ballet School in 1958 (his teachers included Aleksey Yermolayev) and joined the Bolshoi Ballet. He became a premier dancer who made enormous contributions to the development of classical male dance; he came to embody the strong new Bolshoi male. He was the first dancer to be given the award la médaille d’or du meilleur danseur du Monde (“The Gold Medal of the World’s Best Dancer”); subsequently Mikhail Baryshnikov and Patrick Dupond were also awarded the distinction. Russia’s influential ballet critic and choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov called him “God of the dance … A miracle in art, perfection”. Numerous roles were created for him, and he performed throughout the world, usually partnering his wife, Bolshoi prima ballerina Ekaterina Maximova. Among the most notable were those created by Yuri Grigorovich, who gave him the principal roles in his original productions of Spartacus, The Nutcracker, Ivan the Terrible. Nonetheless, he and Maximova gleaned wide exposure for their appearances in Franco Zeffirelli's filmed version of Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata (1983). Both performed in Spanish costume (Vasiliev as a matador) in the divertissements composed for the equivalent of Act II, scene 2. Besides Maximova, Vasiliev’s famous partners included: Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Alicia Alonso, Carla Fracci, Rita Poelvoorde and Ambra Vallo. |
Vladimir Vasilyev as Nutcracker Prince in scene from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker staged at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. 1 March 1966
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| Ekaterina Vazem (1848—1937) Prima ballerina, Teacher, Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre |
Ekaterina Vazem costumed as Nikiya for Act II of "La Bayadère". St. Peterbsurg, 1877.
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| Tatiana Vecheslova (1910—1991) Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Oleg Vinogradov (born 1937) Danseur, Ballet master, Choreographer, Teacher, |
Mikhaylovsky Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre | ||
| Diana Vishneva (born 1976) Prima ballerina, Mariinsky Theatre |
Vishneva is one of the 21st century's leading dancers; she is a prima ballerina at the Mariinsky Ballet since 1995 and performs as a guest in ABT since 2005, as well as on other world scenes. Her repertoire includes Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadère, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle. She also performs in George Balanchine's Jewels and Kenneth MacMillan's Manon. | ||
| Pierre Vladimiroff (1965) Danseur |
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| Anastasia Volochkova |
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| Stella Voskovetskaya (1965) Ballet dancer, Choreographer, Mariinsky Theatre |
Stella Voskovetskaya, Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet graduate, created a unique and very effective system of training where she blended elements of training from Vaganova ballet school, where the training program for children is truly unique and was tested for centuries and unusually effective system barre au sol developed by Boris Knyazev
That program significantly speed up and improve the training of young ballet dancers, helped with correcting posture, turnout in all three positions, flexibility and balance |
Y[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leonid Yakobson (1904—1975) Danseur, Choreographer, Ballet master, Mariinsky Theatre |
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| Aleksey Yermolayev (1910—1975) Danseur, Choreographer, Teacher, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
Z[edit]
| Portrait | Person | Details | Stage Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rostislav Zakharov (1907–1984) Danseur, Teacher, Choreographer, Ballet master, Theatre director, Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Svetlana Zakharova (born 1979) Prima ballerina, Bolshoi Theatre |
See also[edit]
- Ballets Russes
- Bolshoi Theater
- Mariinsky Theater
- New York City Ballet
- Russian ballet
- Russian composers
- Russian culture
- Russian opera singers
- Sergei Diaghilev
References[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ballet dancers from Russia. |
- ^ Garafola, L (1989). Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Oxford University Press. p. 576. ISBN 0-19-505701-5.
- ^ Cashin, K K. "Alexander Pushkin's Influence on Russian Ballet — Chapter Five: Pushkin, Soviet Ballet, and Afterward" (PDF). Retrieved 27 December 2007.
- ^ "A Tale of Two Operas". Petersburg City. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
- ^ Наталья Бритвина (2014). "Людмила Титова: "Предела человеческих возможностей нет, я знаю, что способна на большее". интернет-журнал ArtРЕПРИЗА. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ^ Ritika Sharma (2014). "‘BALLET’ IS FOOD FOR THOUGHT – Titova". The Gulf Times. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ Chrissie Russell (2014). "Raising the barre: Another side to the world of 'Black Swan'". The Independent of Ireland. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ^ http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/raising-the-barre-another-side-to-the-world-of-black-swan-26780199.html
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