DUDINSKAYA Natalia Mikhailovna (1912-2003, St. Petersburg), ballet dancer, People's Artist of the USSR (1957), Honorary Citizen of St. Petersburg (1998). Graduated from the Leningrad Choreography School under of A. Y. Vaganova in 1931. That same year, she joined the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (today Mariinsky Theatre) as a soloist, dancing leading roles from the classical repertoire (Odette-Odile, Aurora, Giselle), then became an authority on the contemporary ballet repertoire, including The Flame of Paris (1932), Lost Illusions (1936), and Militsa (1947) by B. V. Asafyev. She took on virtuosic roles with heroic content, Laurencia in one of A. A. Krein's ballets (1939), Gayane (A. I. Khachaturyan's Gayane, 1942), Cinderella (in S. S. Prokofiev's Cinderella, 1946; Stalin Prize, 1947), Raimonda (in A. K. Glazunov's Raimonda; Stalin Prize, 1949), Girl-Bird (in F. Z. Yarullin's Surale, 1950; Stalin Prize, 1951), Pannochka (in V. P. Solovyev-Sedoy's Taras Bulba , 1955), and Sari (in K. Karaev's Path of Thunder, 1958). Dudinskaya worked with celebrated choreographers K. М. Sergeev, L. V. Yakobson, and B. А. Fenster, and was Sergeev's long-time dance partner. Dudinskaya managed to imbue her dancing with psychological intensity, emotional expressiveness, and exactitude. In 1951-78, she taught improvement classes, and tutored at the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. From 1964, she was the head dance instructor, and from 1995 Professor at the Leningrad Academic School of Choreography (see Academy of Russian Ballet), training 14 graduating classes. М. Kullik and U. V. Lopatkina were both Dudinskaya's students. Alongside with Sergeev, she choreographed a number of ballets for the School of Choreography: Seasons to A. K. Gazunov's music (1976), Beethoven's Appassionata (1978), R. Schuman's Carnival (1988), and others. She had also assisted Sergeev in reconstructing such classical ballets as Raimonda (1948), Swan Lake (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1952, 1989), as well as in choreographing Corsair for the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow (1992). In 1989, a small planet was named after Dudinskaya. She was a laureate of the Golden Soffit Prize (1995) and the Golden Mask Theatre Prize (For Honour and Dignity, 2002). She lived at 11/2 Nevsky Prospect (memorial plaque installed), and was buried at Literatorskie Mostky.

References: Кремшевская Г. Д. Наталия Дудинская. Л.; М., 1964; Головашенко Ю. Наталья Дудинская // Театр. 1968. №. 9. С. 60-68.

Y. N. Kruzhnov.

VAGANOVA Agrippina Yakovlevna (1879, St. Petersburg - 1951, Leningrad), ballet-dancer, pedagogue, choreographer, People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1954). Upon graduating from the Petersburg Drama School, where she had studied under P.A. Gerdt, she danced at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1897-1916. Gave brilliant variations on many ballet performances, and played the roles of Queen of Water (The Little Humpbacked Horse), and Lady of Dryads (Don Quixote, both by A.A. Gorsky). By the end of her career - having acted the leading parts in M.I. Petipa and L.I. Ivanov's Swan Lake, Gorsky's The Little Humpbacked Horse, Giselle by Petipa - she achieved the title of ballerina. In 1920, Vaganova started teaching at the Russian Ballet School under the guidance of A.L. Volynsky; from 1921, she was a teacher of the Petrograd (Leningrad) Choreographic School (see Academy of Russian Ballet). She integrated her stage experience with her predecessor's lessons and created her own teaching method (expounded on in her book Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Leningrad; Moscow., 1934; several editions), which put emphasis on newer developments and technique in classical dance. Among her students were M.T. Semenova, G.S. Ulanova, O.G. Iordan, T.M. Vecheslova, N.M. Dudinskaya, F.I. Balabina, A.Y. Shelest, N.A. Petrova, N.A. Kurgapkina, O.N. Moiseeva, I.G. Hensler, A.E. Osipenko, and I.A. Kolpakova. The Choreographic School was named after Vaganova in 1957. In 1931-1937, Vaganova was an art director for the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre's ballet troupe, where she choreographed Petipa and Ivanov's ballet Swan Lake (1933) and J. Perrot's Esmeralda (1935). She was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946. In 1937-51, Vaganova lived at 4 Dzerzhinskogo Street (today Gorokhovaya Street, memorial plaque installed). Buried at Literatorskie Mostky.

References: Богданов-Березовский В. М. А. Я. Ваганова. М.; Л., 1950; Агриппина Яковлевна Ваганова: Статьи. Воспоминания. Материалы. Л.; М., 1958; Красовская В. М. Ваганова. Л., 1989.

G. N. Dobrovolskaya.