Maya Plisetskaya
Maya Mikhaylovna Plisetskaya, born November 20, 1925 is a Russian ballet dancer, frequently cited as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20 th century. Plisetskaya danced during the Soviet era at the same time as the great Galina Ulanova, and took over from her as prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi in 1960.
Maya Plisetskaya was born in Moscow into a prominent Belarusian Jewish family. She went to school in Spitzbergen, where her father worked as an engineer and mine director. In 1938, her father, Mikhail Plisetski was executed during the Stalinist purges, possibly because he had hired a friend who had been a secretary to Leon Trotsky. Her mother Rachel Messerer-Plisetskaya , a silent-film actress, was arrested and sent to a labor camp (Gulag) in Kazakhstan, together with Maya's seven-month old baby brother. Thereupon Plisetskaya was adopted by her maternal aunt, the ballerina Sulamith Messerer, until her mother was released in 1941. Plisetskaya studied under the great ballerina of imperial school, Elizaveta Gerdt. She first performed at the Bolshoi Theatre when she had just turned 11 years of age. In 1943, she graduated from the choreographic school and joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where she would perform until 1990.
From the beginning, Maya Plisetskaya was a different kind of ballerina. She spent very short time in the corps de ballet after graduation and was quickly named a soloist. Her bright red hair and striking looks made her a glamorous figure on and off the stage. Her long arms had a fluidity that to this day remains unmatched; her interpretation of The Dying Swan, a short showcase piece made famous by Anna Pavlova, became her calling card. Plisetskaya was known for the height of her jumps, her extremely flexible back, the technical strength of her dancing, and her charisma. She excelled both in adagio and allegro, which is very unusual in dancers.
Despite her acclaim, she was not treated well by the Bolshoi management. She was Jewish in an climate of Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns, her family had been purged during the Stalinist era and her personality was defiant, so she was not allowed to tour outside the country for six years after joining the Bolshoi. It was not until 1959 that Nikita Khrushchev permitted her to travel abroad. Her ability changed the world of ballet, setting a higher standard for ballerinas both in terms of technical brilliance and dramatic presence.
Plisetskaya with her husband, Rodion Shchedrin, in 2009 Plisetskaya's most acclaimed roles included Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (1947) and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (1961). In 1958, she was honoured with the title of the People's Artist of the USSR and married the young composer Rodion Shchedrin, in whose subsequent fame shared. After Galina Ulanova left the stage in 1960, Maya Plisetskaya was proclaimed the prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Theatre. In the Soviet screen version of Anna Karenina, she played Princess Tverskaya. In 1971, her husband Shchedrin wrote a ballet on the same subject, where she would play the leading role. Anna Karenina was also her first attempt at choreography.
In the 1980 s, Plisetskaya and Shchedrin spent much time abroad, where she worked as the artistic director of the Rome Opera Ballet in 1984– 5, then the Spanish National Ballet of Madrid from 1987– 9. At the age of 65, she finally retired from the Bolshoi as a soloist. On her 70 th birthday, she debuted in Maurice Béjart's piece choreographed for her and entitled "Ave Maya". Since 1994, she has been presiding over the annual international ballet competitions called Maya. In 1996 she was named President of the Imperial Russian Ballet.
She was a member of the Anti. Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public. Some people claim that while traveling abroad she was requested to "encourage the interest of Robert F. Kennedy", but she declined. On her 80 th birthday, the Financial Times summed up current opinion about Maya in the following words: "She was, and still is, a star, ballet's monstre sacre, the final statement about theatrical glamour, a flaring, flaming beacon in a world of dimly twinkling talents, a beauty in the world of prettiness. The following year, Emperor Akihito of Japan presented to her the Praemium Imperiale, informally considered a Nobel Prize for Art.
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