Galina Ulanova

Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova (Russian: Галина Сергеевна Уланова, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia; 8 January 1910 [O.S. 26 December 1909] – 21 March 1998) is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm.

Ulanova studied in Petrograd under Agrippina Vaganova and her own mother, a ballerina of the Imperial Russian Ballet. When she joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1928, the press found in her "much of Semyonova's style, grace, the same exceptional plasticity and a sort of captivating modesty in her gestures".[1] They say that Konstantin Stanislavsky, fascinated with her acting style, implored her to take part in his stage productions. In 1944, when her fame reached Joseph Stalin, he had her transferred to the Bolshoi Theatre, where she would be the prima ballerina assoluta for 16 years. The following year, she danced the title role in the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella.

Ulanova was a great actress as well as dancer, and when she was finally allowed to tour abroad at the age of 46, enraptured British papers wrote that "Galina Ulanova in London knew the greatest triumph of any individual dancer since Anna Pavlova". Having retired from the stage at the age of 50, she coached many generations of the Russian dancers. Ulanova was the only dancer to be awarded Hero of Socialist Labour, and she was also awarded the highest exclusively artistic national title, People's Artist of the USSR.[2] She was awarded the Lenin or Stalin Prizes in 1941, 1946, 1947, 1950, and 1957. She died in 1998, aged 88, and is buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.

Ulanova's apartament in Moscow is located in one of Seven Sisters, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building is preserved as a memorial museum now. Monuments to Ulanova were erected in both Saint Petersburg and Stockholm.

Opinions on Ulanova

References

  1. ^ "Rabochii i teatr", 1926, #9, pg. 13
  2. ^ Clarke, Mary and David Vaughan (eds) 1977. The encyclopedia of dance & ballet. Pitmans, London. pgs. 37, 344.

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