View source for Olga Preobrajenska

{{Short description|Russian ballerina (1871–1962)}}
{{About|the Russian ballerina|Russian actress and film director|Olga Preobrazhenskaya (director)}}
{{family name hatnote|Iosifovna|Preobrazhenskaya|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox dancer
| name        = Olga Preobrajenskaya
| image       = Corsaire -Olga Preobrajenska -1899.jpg
| caption     = Preobrajenskaya as the Tsar Maiden in [[Alexander Gorsky]]'s revival of ''[[The Little Humpbacked Horse (ballet)|The Little Humpbacked Horse]]''. St. Petersburg, 1912.
| birth_name  = Olga Iosifovna Preobrazhenskaya
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1871|1|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]] 
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1962|12|27|1871|1|21|df=y}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| occupation  = Prima ballerina, ballet teacher
| groups      = [[Mariinsky Ballet|Russian Imperial Ballet]]
| spouse      = 
| awards      =
}}
'''Olga Iosifovna Preobrajenska''' ({{langx|ru|О́льга Ио́сифовна Преображе́нская}}; born '''Preobrazhenskaya'''; {{OldStyleDate|2 February|1871|21 January}} &ndash; 27 December 1962) was a Russian ballerina of the [[Mariinsky Ballet|Russian Imperial Ballet]] and a ballet instructor.

==Biography==
She was born in [[Saint Petersburg]] as Olga Preobrazhenskaya (the final syllable of her surname was dropped to shorten her name for professional purposes, and she used the French transliteration, Preobrajenska).

Olga—born frail and with a [[crooked spine]] and one hyper-extended knee—was an unlikely prima ballerina. But she had dreams of being a dancer, and for years her parents tried unsuccessfully to get her enrolled in dance school. The selection committee repeatedly rejected her as a candidate. But after three years of trying, her parents succeeded and the eight-year-old Olga entered the Imperial Ballet School in 1879.<ref name="belcanto">{{cite news|url=http://www.belcanto.ru/preobrajenska.html |script-title=ru:Ольга Иосифовна Преображенская |trans-title=Olga Iosifovna Preobrazhenskaya |publisher=BelCanto |date=5 April 2011 |access-date=21 March 2015 |language=ru}}</ref>

Despite her physical shortcomings, Preobrazhenskaya grew strong with training under [[Marius Petipa]], [[Lev Ivanov]] and [[Anna Johansson (dancer)|Anna Johansson]].<ref name="gallery">{{cite news|url=http://www.ballerinagallery.com/preobraj.htm |title=Olga Preobrazhenskaya |publisher=BallerinaGallery.com |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> She developed excellent [[Turnout (ballet)|turnout]] and toe point, though her hunched back remained troublesome.<ref name="belcanto"/> She was naturally expressive, bringing new life to a "hackneyed" repertoire, and exhibited the desired softness and grace of a dancer.<ref name="culture">{{cite news|url=http://www.russianculture.ru/formb.asp?ID=79&full|script-title=ru:Преображенская Ольга Иосифовна |trans-title=Preobrazhenskaya Olga Iosifovna |publisher=RussianCulture.ru|author=Yuri Bakhrushin |access-date=21 March 2015 |language=ru}}</ref>

[[File:Raymonda -Grand Pas Hongrois -Olga Preobrajeska -1903.jpg|thumb|Preobrajenskaya in the title role of the ballet ''[[Raymonda]]'', 1903. Preobrajenskaya was the first ballerina to perform the role after its originator, [[Pierina Legnani]], retired in 1901.]]

In addition to her love of dance, Preobrajenskaya had musicality to go with it; she studied singing, performed opera arias, and played the piano masterfully.<ref name="belcanto"/>

In 1892, she made her debut in ''[[Kalkabrino]]'', the first of her many performances in Petipa creations, which included ''Bluebeard'' (1896), ''[[Les Millions d'Arlequin]]'' (1900) and ''[[The Seasons (ballet)|Les Saisons]]'' (1900). She also performed in Ivanov and [[Pavel Gerdt|Gerdt]]'s ''Sylvia'' (1901), [[Nikolai Legat|Nikolai]] and [[Sergei Legat]]'s ''The Fairy Doll'' (1903), and [[Mikhail Fokine|Mikhail Fokin]]'s ''The Night of Terpsichore'' and ''[[Les Sylphides|Chopiniana]]'' (1908).<ref name="gallery"/>

In 1895, she began to make international appearances, including in Paris, London and the United States.<ref name="gallery"/> In 1900, she achieved the title of prima ballerina. One of her finer moments as a performer was dancing at Milan's [[La Scala]] theatre. She received critical acclaim and audience adoration, no small feat for a Russian ballerina trained in the [[Italian ballet|Italian school]].<ref name="culture"/>

She then began to pay more attention to ballet instruction; in 1914, she began her teaching career in Saint Petersburg, where her pupils included [[Alexandra Danilova]]. In 1921, following the [[October Revolution|Russian Revolution]] and the establishment of the Soviet Union, she emigrated and taught for two years in Milan, London, Buenos Aires and Berlin, then settled in with the large [[white émigré]] community in Paris.<ref name="gallery"/>

For the next several decades, she was one of the most prominent ballet teachers in Paris, instructing [[Irina Baronova]], [[Tatiana Dokoudovska]], [[Tamara Toumanova]] and  [[Igor Youskevitch]]. She retired in 1960; she died two years later, aged 91. She was buried in the Russian Orthodox section of the [[Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery]].

==Pupils==
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|

*[[Alberto Alonso]]
*[[Irina Baronova]]
*[[Maurice Béjart]]
*[[Alan Bergman (dancer)|Alan Bergman]]
*[[Rachel Cameron]]
*[[Christian Conte]]
*[[Alexandra Danilova]]
*[[Adam Darius]]
*[[Tatiana Dokoudovska]]
*[[Vladimir Dokoudovsky]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://michaelminn.net/andros/biographies/dokoudovsky_vladimir/ |title=Andros on Ballet // Vladimir Dokoudovsky (1919—1998) |publisher=Michaelminn.net |date=1919-05-13 |access-date=2013-09-09}}</ref>
*[[André Eglevsky]]
*[[Margot Fonteyn]]
*[[Paul Grinwis]]
*[[Maina Gielgud]]
*[[Serge Golovine]]
*[[Lin Jaldati]]
* Anna Kami
*[[Hélène Kirsova]]
*[[Nathalie Krassovska]]
*[[Lilian Lambert]]
*[[Milorad Miskovitch]]
*[[Yvonne Mounsey]]
*[[Nadia Nerina]]
*[[Nicholas Orloff (dancer)|Nicholas Orloff]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://michaelminn.net/andros/biographies/orloff_nicholas/ |title=Nicholas Orloff (1914 - 2001) |publisher=Michaelminn.net|date=14 August 2001|access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref> 
*[[Georges Skibine]]
*[[Vladimir Skouratoff]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/vladimir-skouratoff|title=Oxford Dictionary of Dance: Vladimir Skouratoff|publisher=Answers.com|date=1925-03-12|access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref> 
*[[Daniel Spoerri]]
*[[Ludmila Tcherina]]
*[[Tamara Tchinarova]]
*[[Nina Tikhonova]]
*[[Tamara Toumanova]]
*[[Georgette Tsinguirides]]
*[[Nina Vyroubova]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://kommersant.ru/doc/232275|script-title=ru:Нина Вырубова: танцы — занятие не нашего круга|trans-title=Nina Vyroubova: Dances aren't our affair|work=[[Kommersant]]|date=12 August 1999|access-date=21 March 2015|language=ru}}</ref> 
*[[Margarete Wallmann]]
*[[Belinda Wright (dancer)|Belinda Wright]]
*[[Igor Youskevitch]]
*[[Nina Youshkevitch|Nina Youskevitch]]
*[[Vera Zorina]]
*[[George Zoritch]]
}}Pieter van der Sloot

==See also==
* [[List of Russian ballet dancers]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{find a Grave|8486389}}
*{{youTube|JDgEB5iK-9o|Footage of her teaching in 1959}}
*{{youTube|5ePPIIYNlVY|Photo tribute}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preobrajenska, Olga}}
[[Category:1871 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:Dancers from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Russian prima ballerinas]]
[[Category:Ballerinas from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian ballet teachers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France]]
[[Category:Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery]]