Shelest A.Y., (1919-1998), ballerina

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
SHELEST Alla Yakovlevna (1919-1998, St. Petersburg), ballet dancer, pedagogue, People's Artist of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1957). Upon graduating from A.Y. Vaganova's class at the Leningrad Choreographic School, she performed at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1937-63. From 1952 she taught at the Choreographic School, then at the Kirov Theatre and the Ballet Directing Department of the Conservatory. In 1989 she became the choreographer and coach of the Ballet Theatre headed by B.V. Blankov. Acted leading parts in classic (L.I. Ivanov and M.I. Petipa's Swan Lake, Petipa's La Bayadere and Giselle) and modern ballets (V.M. Chabukiani's Laurencia, R.V. Zakharov's The Fountain of Bakhchisaray, L.V. Yakobson's Spartacus (Egina), L.M. Lavrovsky's Romeo and Juliet). Shelest, who had a propensity for dramatic and tragic roles, was a truly unique ballet dancer of her time. Each role she played was incomparable and filled with deep emotional experience. Shelest masterfully combined expressive dance and pantomimic imagery in her dancing. She lived at 5 Troitskaya (formerly Revolyutsii) Square, and was buried at Literatorskie Mostky.

References: Львов-Анохин Б. А. Алла Шелест. М., 1964; Черкасский Д. А. Записки балетомана. М., 1994; Зозулина Н. Лики трагедии // Петерб. театр. журн. 1995. № 7. С. 128-131.

G. N. Dobrovolskaya. Blankov Boris Vladimirovich
Chabukiani Vakhtang Mikhailovich
Ivanov Lev Ivanovich
Kirov (real name Kostrikov) Sergey Mironovich
Lavrovsky (real name Ivanov) Leonid Mikhailovich
Petipa Marius Ivanovich
Shelest Alla Yakovlevna
Vaganova Agrippina Yakovlevna
Yakobson Leonid Veniaminovich
Zakharov Rostislav Vladimirovich
Львов-Анохин Б. А. Алла Шелест. М., 1964
Черкасский Д. А. Записки балетомана. М., 1994
Зозулина Н. Лики трагедии // Петерб. театр. журн., 1995 Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet
Mariinsky Theatre
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis