Maya Mikhaylovna Plisetskaya

(click to enlarge)
Maya Plisetskaya in Swan Lake, 1961. (credit: Paris Match/Pictorial Parade)
(born Nov. 20, 1925, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian prima ballerina. She studied at the
Bolshoi Ballet's school in Moscow and joined the company as a soloist in 1943. Noted for her technical virtuosity and ability to integrate acting with dancing, she toured worldwide with the Bolshoi Ballet and appeared as a guest artist with several companies, including the Paris Opéra. She also danced in several films, including
Swan Lake (1957). In the 1980s she was a guest ballet director in Rome and then in Madrid.
For more information on Maya Mikhaylovna Plisetskaya, visit Britannica.com.
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.