Maya Plisetskaya — ballerina with roots in the USSR
Maya Plisetskaya was a Soviet prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer who became the face of Russian ballet for over five decades. Her Dying Swan, Carmen Suite, and Bolshoi performances made her an international symbol of Soviet cultural achievement. She defied Soviet authorities throughout her career and outlasted them all.
Tracing the roots — Moscow
Born in Moscow in 1925 to a theatrical Jewish family — her father Mikhail was executed in Stalin's purges, her mother sent to a Gulag camp — Plisetskaya's entire biography is the biography of Soviet Russia. Yet she danced through all of it, maintaining her artistry against every political pressure, and became so essential to Soviet prestige that they could not touch her.
Iconic Bolshoi ballerina.[web:54]
Moscow. At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"I never retire. I just dance more slowly."