Vaganova
A Dance Journey from Petersburg to Leningrad
The only authorized biography about the creator of the renowned Russian ballet curriculum–for the first time in English. The first English edition of the only authorized biography of Agrippina Vaganova (1897-1951) was originally published in Russian in 1989. It tells the story of one of the most important dance teachers of the 20th century, who created a system of teaching ballet that spread throughout the former Soviet Union and beyond.Vaganova rose through the ranks to become a ballerina in the Imperial Ballet during the last days of Tsarist Russia. After the Revolution of 1917, she became a teacher and transformed the St. Petersburg/Leningrad School of Ballet into a premier institution. She also served as the artistic director of the Kirov Theater.Written by a direct eyewitness to many of the described incidents, someone who knew Vaganova intimately, the biography is a window into the personality and thinking of this great teacher. It vividly recounts the training and individual styles of such world-renowned ballerinas as Marina Semyonova, Natalia Dudinskaya, Galina Ulanova, and Tatiana Vecheslova, and it offers a unique insight into the world of classical ballet during the era of Tsarist Russia and the early Soviet years.
Vera Krasovskaya, a former dancer with the Kirov in the 1930s, was the preeminent historian of the St. Petersburg Ballet for nearly forty years. Her books include Soviet Ballet Theater, 1917-1967, History of Russian Ballet, and the four-volume Western European Ballet Theater. Vera M. Siegel is a freelance writer and translator for such clients as the Library of Congress and the U.S. Department of State.
