Plisetskaya biography

"Like the swans she danced so often performances of 'Swan Lake' and unnumbered renderings of the Dying Swan--Maya Plisetskaya, one of the great ballerinas of the last century, mingled beauty and fierceness. . . . She has much to be angry about and, as the Bolshoi's prima ballerina assoluta for decades and celebrated worldwide, quite a bit to be grateful for. . . . The Plisetskaya memoir is a moving success. Here is the woman, I proclaims, and we see her--not entirely polished but overwhelming--as if she were dancing."--Richard Eder, New York Times

"The fascinating story of how this artist of implacable will confronted and defied the Soviet regime--and eventually had her way. . . . I, Maya Plisetskaya has the virtues of candor and directness, and it has a real story to tell."--Robert Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A riveting account of pursuing artistic excellence under Soviet oppression. . . . Plisetskaya doesn't just tell an incredible story. She also lays bare the hard work and uncertainty involved in putting it all in a book. . . . Reading this memoir feels like listening to a wonderfully strong-willed friend."--Boston Globe

"Almost everything about Plisetskaya, now 76, seemed larger than life. And as her wonderfully intimate and detailed new autobiography reveals, that is the result of both her innately bold, born-to-be-a-diva personality, and of the often perilous Soviet political environment in which she forged her career. . . . This is a fascinating memoir, steeped in ambivalence."--Chicago Sun-Times

"I, Maya Plisetskaya isa memoir of the Terror, the Gulag and the very fertile Soviet arts, by the athletic prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet."--Washington Post Book World

"[A]n autobiography that is also a s

Maya Plisetskaya, one of the world's foremost dancers, rose to become a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet after an early life filled with tragedy and loss. In this spirited memoir, Plisetskaya reflects on her personal and professional odyssey, presenting a unique view of the life of a Soviet artist during the troubled period from the late s to the s. Plisetskaya recounts the execution of her father in the Great Terror and her mother's exile to the Gulag. She describes her admission to the Bolshoi in , the roles she performed there, and the endless petty harassments she endured, from both envious colleagues and Party officials. Refused permission for six years to tour with the company, Plisetskaya eventually performed all over the world, working with such noted choreographers as Roland Petit and Maurice Bejart. She recounts the tumultuous events she lived through and the fascinating people she met - among them the legendary ballet teacher Agrippina Vaganova, George Balanchine, Frank Sinatra, Rudolf Nureyev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. And she provides fascinating details about testy cocktail-party encounters with Khrushchev, tours abroad when her meagre daily allowance brought her close to starvation, and KGB plots to capitalise on her friendship with Robert Kennedy. Gifted, courageous, and brutally honest, Plisetskakya brilliantly illuminates the world of Soviet ballet during an era that encompasses both repression and cultural detente.

Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya is a Russian ballet dancer, frequently cited as the greatest ballerina of modern times.

Maya Plisetskaya was born in Moscow into a prominent family of Jewish artists. She went to school in Spitzbergen, where her father worked as an engineer. In , he was executed during the Stalinist purges, while her mother, a silent-film actress, was deported to Kazakhstan.

Thereupon Maya was adopted by her maternal aunt, the ballerina Sulamith Messerer (), who later founded the Tokyo Ballet (), defected to the West (), and received the highest civilan honours of Great Britain and Japan.

Maya 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 , she graduated from the choreographic school and joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where she would perform until

Maya's most acclaimed roles included Odette-Odilia in Swan Lake () and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (). In , 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 she shared.

After Galina Ulanova left the stage in , 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 , her husband wrote a ballet on the same subject, where she would play the leading role. Anna Karenina was also her first attempt at choreography. Other choreographers who created ballets for her include Yury Grigorovich, Roland Petit, Alberto Alonso, and Maurice Bejart.

In the s, Plisetskaya and Shchedrin spent much time abroad, where she worked as the artistic director of the Rome Opera Ballet and the Spanish National Ballet of Madrid. At the age of 65, she finally retired from the Bolshoi as a soloist. Since , she has been presiding over the annual international ballet competitions called Maya.