Natalia Bessmertnova

Soviet & Russian ballerina, ballet teacher. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976). Recipient of the Lenin Prize (1986), the USSR State Prize (1977), the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1972). Prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre. Wife of ballet master, Yuri Grigorovich. Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 10th convocation (1979–1984). Natalia Bessmertnova was born on July 19, 1941, in Moscow to Igor Borisovich Bessmertnov, a doctor, and Antonina Yakovlevna Bessmertnova (née Peshkova), a housewife. She also had a younger sister, Tatiana. Both sisters enrolled at the Moscow Choreographic School, but Natalya achieved considerably greater success in this field than her sister. Bessmertnova’s first instructor was the distinguished Maria Kozhukhova (Natalia was her favourite pupil). When Kozhukhova died, Bessmertnova joined Sofya Golovkina’s class. L.K.Cherkasova was also one of her teachers. In 1961, at her final examination, she brilliantly performed 48 fouettés, receiving the highest mark in classical dance; in the same year, she was accepted into the Bolshoi Theatre company. She possessed elongated, ‘weeping’ lines of dance, a weightless, soaring leap, and an exquisitely delicate grace of movement. Her principal partner was Mikhail Lavrovsky, with whom she'd formed a creative partnership whilst still a student. Alongside Lavrovsky, Bessmertnova began to master one of the most important roles of her life, Giselle. On November 20, 1963, her performance of Giselle captivated the Mosc…