Natalia Bessmertnova

Soviet & Russian ballerina, ballet teacher. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976). Recipient of the Lenin Prize (1986), the USSR State Prize (1977), the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1972). Prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre. Wife of ballet master, Yuri Grigorovich. Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 10th convocation (1979–1984).

Natalia Bessmertnova was born on July 19, 1941, in Moscow to Igor Borisovich Bessmertnov, a doctor, and Antonina Yakovlevna Bessmertnova (née Peshkova), a housewife. She also had a younger sister, Tatiana.

Both sisters enrolled at the Moscow Choreographic School, but Natalya achieved considerably greater success in this field than her sister. Bessmertnova’s first instructor was the distinguished Maria Kozhukhova (Natalia was her favourite pupil). When Kozhukhova died, Bessmertnova joined Sofya Golovkina’s class. L.K.Cherkasova was also one of her teachers. In 1961, at her final examination, she brilliantly performed 48 fouettés, receiving the highest mark in classical dance; in the same year, she was accepted into the Bolshoi Theatre company. She possessed elongated, ‘weeping’ lines of dance, a weightless, soaring leap, and an exquisitely delicate grace of movement. Her principal partner was Mikhail Lavrovsky, with whom she'd formed a creative partnership whilst still a student. Alongside Lavrovsky, Bessmertnova began to master one of the most important roles of her life, Giselle. On November 20, 1963, her performance of Giselle captivated the Moscow audience. Over the course of her life, Bessmertnova danced this role almost 200 times.

A prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre, she danced all leading roles in the classical and contemporary repertoire & was the first to perform many roles in the ballets of her husband, Yuri Grigorovich, the Bolshoi's chief choreographer. In his ballets, she brought to life many lyrical characters that have become classics of Russian choreography. Great ballerina Galina Ulanova remarked: "I remember how, during a performance of Giselle, when I looked at Bessmertnova...I could no longer take my eyes off her; she 'lived' so sincerely and spontaneously within the 'crowd', her gaze was so expressive; she was frightened & empathetic during Giselle’s scene of madness.”

Performed as a guest ballerina in productions by Finnish National Opera in Helsinki (Giselle, 1966), Belgrade National Theatre (Odette-Odile, Giselle, 1970–1971), La Scala in Milan (Odette-Odile, Giselle, 1970, 1977), Rome Opera Ballet (Giselle, Odette-Odile, 1970, 1980), Warsaw National Theatre (Giselle, 1971), Royal Norwegian Opera in Oslo (Odette-Odile, 1972), Sofia National Opera Ballet (Giselle, 1972), Vienna State Opera Ballet (Masha, ‘The Nutcracker’, 1973), Paris National Opera (Anastasia, ‘Ivan the Terrible’, 1976, Giselle, 1977, Juliet, 1978), Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm (Odette-Odile, 1979), and with ballet companies in Wiesbaden, Basel, Turin, Toulon, Nice, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Tokyo. Took part in a gala concert at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, dedicated to the 85th birthday of impresario S. Yurok (1973).