Galina Samsova

Galina Samsova
Patrick Bissell and Galina Samsova dancing the lead roles at the premiere of Cheri at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival.
Born	Galina Samtsova March 17, 1937 (1937-03-17) (age 74) Stalingrad, Soviet Union
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Spouse	Alexander Ursuliak (1960-?) André Prokovsky (1972-1981)

Galina Samsova (born 17 March 1937) is a retired Russian ballerina. She studied at the Kiev Ballet School and in 1956 graduated into the Kiev Ballet where she became a soloist. In 1960 she married the Canadian Alexander Ursuliak and moved to Canada where she joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1961. She was soon promoted to a principal and made her West European debut in a French production of Cinderella, for which she won a gold medal in the Paris International Dance Festival.

She joined London Festival Ballet as a Principal in 1964. While there, she formed a partnership with David Adams, performing in Spring Waters, Corsaire, Swan Lake, Walpurgisnacht and many others. The pair won the Gold Medal at Il Festival De La Opera, Madrid for their performance of Giselle, and Adams was Samsova's partner during her historic audition for the Paris Opera.

Samsova subsequently formed a small company with André Prokovsky, the New London Ballet, which toured in five continents with a repertory consisting mostly of especially created works. After the company ended, she followed Prokovsky in Italy where he had accepted the directorship of the Rome Opera House for two years. In 1978 she danced as a guest with Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now called Birmingham Royal Ballet), joining the company as a Principal and teacher two years later.

After retiring from the stage, she became the artistic director of Scottish Ballet and she occasionally came back to Rome to stage Prokovsky's Sleeping Beauty and her own production of Swan Lake.

She has been a mentor to a few young ballerinas in Great Britain: first Italian Viviana Durante, spotted by Samsova at the Rome ballet school at age 10; and then Spanish Tamara Rojo, invited by Samsova to join the Scottish Ballet as a guest to make her UK debut at age 20.

References

Galina Samsova, Dictionary of Dance

External links

Galina Samsova's Profile, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Andre Prokovsky - Daily Telegraph obituary

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Persondata
Name	Samsova, Galina
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 March 1937
Place of birth	Stalingrad, Soviet Union
Date of death
Place of death