Великая балерина

Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya is a Russian ballet dancer, considered to be one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. She was born in Moscow on November 20 in 1925. Her father worked as an engineer and mine director. In 1938 he was executed, 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. Maya was adopted by her aunt, the ballerina Sulamith Messerer, until her mother was released in 1941. Maya studied under the great ballerina of imperial school, Elizaveta Gerdt. She first performed at the Bolshoi Theatre when she was just 11. In 1943, she graduated from the choreographic school and joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where she would perform until 1990. In 1958, she was honoured with the title of the People's Artist of the USSR and married the young composer Rodion Shchedrin. In 1962 she became a prima ballerina. Plisetskaya danced at the same time as the great Galina Ulanova and took from her a lot of skills. Plisetskaya's first work as a choreographer was a ballet based on LevTolstoy's Anna Karenina using music composed by her husband; it was staged in 1972 and filmed in 1974. Maya was known for the height of her jumps, extremely flexible back, the technical strength of dancing and charisma.