Russia mourns one of world鈥檚 greatest dancers
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RUSSIA is mourning the death of Maya Plisetskaya, one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.
Plisetskaya, whose free-wheeling spirit defied the limits of Soviet-era art, died on Saturday of a heart attack in Munich at the age of 89.
Despite her advanced years, the Russian ballet icon had brimmed with energy and her death plunged the Bolshoi Theatre, where she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday in November, into shock.
“Plisetskaya is forever,” said the Bolshoi, where Plisetskaya danced well into her 60s. “She was, she is and she will be.”
Tributes for Plisetskaya poured in from ballet greats and dance lovers from all over the world.
“The star of Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, who became the embodiment of the very essence of ballet art for several generations of spectators from all over the world, its refined beauty and regalness, will now shine from heaven,” Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre said.
“The epoch of great ballet legends comes to an end,” dancer Diana Vishneva wrote.
Mikhail Baryshnikov called her “one of the greatest dancers of our time.”
Among her most celebrated performances were her roles in Carmen Suite, Anna Karenina, Sleeping Beauty and Bolero, a hymn to eroticism which she danced at the age of 50.
Her performance of the Dying Swan, famed for the fluidity of her movements, became her calling card.
‘Symbol of resistance’
The muse of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin was born to a Jewish family in Moscow on November 20, 1925.
Her father was shot under Stalin’s regime for being the “enemy of the people” and her mother was accused of being a traitor and sent to a labor camp.
Those experiences left an indelible impression on the ballerina who was famous for her directness and outspokenness.
“She always said and danced what she thought and felt,” the Bolshoi said, calling her a “symbol of resistance against narrow-mindedness and Soviet order in arts.”
Plisetskaya was often dogged by controversy throughout her long career, sparking a scandal in 1967 with her sexually charged performance of Carmen, written for her by the Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso.
“The Soviet Union was not ready for this sort of choreography,” Plisetskaya said.
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