Alla Osipenko

Osipenko, Alla (b Leningrad, 16 June 1932). Soviet dancer and teacher. She studied at the Leningrad Ballet School, graduating in 1950. She danced with the Kirov Ballet from 1950 to 1971, where she created roles in Grigorovich's The Stone Flower (Mistress of the Copper Mountain, 1957), Belsky's Coast of Hope (Beloved, 1959), and Chabukiani's Kirov staging of Othello (Desdemona, 1960). After leaving the Kirov (following a falling out with the management), the former prima ballerina joined L. Jacobson's Choreographic Miniatures company (1971-3), Leningrad Concert Organization (1973-7), and Theatre of Contemporary Ballet (directed by Boris Eifman, 1977-82), where she created the role of Nastasia in Eifman's The Idiot. From 1966 she taught at the Vaganova School; she now teaches in Europe and North America. Pavlova Prize (Paris, 1956). People's Artist of the Soviet Union (1960). Also appeared as an actress in the films The Voice (directed by Averbach, 1981) and Sorrowful Sympathy (directed by Sokurov, 1986).