Natalia Bessmertnova

Natalia Igorevna Bessmertnova (Russian: Наталья Игоревна Бессмертнова; 19 July 1941 – 19 February 2008) was a Soviet prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet and a People's Artist of the USSR (1976).

Life

She was born in Moscow in 1941 and trained at the Bolshoi Moscow Ballet School from 1953 to 1961. Among her teachers were Maria Kozhukhova and Sofia Golovkina, and later Marina Semyonova. She graduated in 1961 as the first student in the school's history receiving A+ in the final examinations. In 1963 she joined the Bolshoi Ballet and was its prima ballerina for three decades. She was married to Yuri Grigorovich, former Director and Chief choreographer of the Bolshoi. When Grigorovich was forced to leave the Bolshoi in 1995, she took part in a historic strike which led to cancellations of scheduled performances. Bessmertnova died in Moscow on 19 February 2008, aged 66, from cancer.

Title roles

• Giselle in Lavrosky’s 1963 Giselle production
• Leili in Goleizovsky’s Leili and Mejnun 1964
• Anastasia in Grigorovich’s Ivan the Terrible 1975
• Valentina in Grigorovich’s The Angara 1976
• Juliet in Grigorovich’s new Romeo and Juliet 1979
• Rita in Grigorovich’s The Golden Age by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1982
• Raymonda in Grigorovich’s new Raymonda production 1984
• Giselle in Grigorovich’s Giselle in 1991

Other important roles

• Phrygia in Spartacus
• Odette-Odile in Swan Lake
• Shirin in Legend of Love
• Kitri in Don Quixote
• Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai
• The girl in Le Spectre de la Rose

Awards

• Gold Medal at Varna International Ballet Competition in 1965.
• The Anna Pavlova Prize in Paris 1970.
• USSR State Prize (1977) and Lenin Prize (1986).
• People's Artist of the USSR in 1976.