Maïa Plissetskaïa
Maya Plisetskaya was born in Moscow on 20 November 1925, the daughter of an engineer. From 1932 to 1934 the family lived in Spitzbergen where her father was director of the coal mine ‘Arctikugl’. In 1938 he was executed on Stalin’s orders. Her mother, a silent-film actress, was deported to Kazakhstan for many years, being the wife of an ‘enemy of the people’.
In 1934 ; she attended the ballet school of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. She studied there for six years with Yelisaveta P. Gerdt, one year with Maria M. Leonteva. She graduated from the Moscow Choreography School in 1943, and danced her first major role in Les Sylphides the same year. As Maya Plisetskaya kept playing the major roles in different major ballets, until she started to be regarded one of the best Russian dancers of classical and modern roles, even on an international level. Upon the retirement of Galina Ulanova as a dancer in 1960, Maya Plisetskaya became prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Theatre.
The 70s has seen her first choreographies, and she became artistic director to the Rome Opera Ballet in 1984. From those years until the end of her days, she is rewarded with all the prizes, medals and titles possible for her dancing career and her years of work. In 1994 was published her book I, Maya Plisetskaya, which had some editions in Russia and was translated in different languages of the world.
In 2000 the Bolshoi Theatre celebrates the 50th anniversary of Maya Plisetskaya’s artistic career. To this event Plisetskaya danced the miniature Ave Maya for the first time – a choreography that was presented to her by Maurice Bejart.
Source : Maïa Plissetskaïa Foundation
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