Dudinskaya N.М.(1912-2003), ballet dancer, instructor

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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. Asafyev Boris Vladimirovich
Beethoven Ludwig van
Dudinskaya Natalia Mikhailovna
Fenster Boris Alexandrovich
Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich
Karaev Kara Abulfaz ogly
Khachaturyan Aram Ilyich
Kirov (real name Kostrikov) Sergey Mironovich
Krein Alexander Abramovich
Kullik Margarita G.
Lopatkina Ulyana Vyacheslavovna
Prokofiev Sergey Sergeevich
Schumann Robert
Sergeev Konstantin Mikhailovich
Solovyev-Sedoy (real name Solovyev) Vasily Pavlovich
Stalin (real name Dzhugashvili) Iosif Vissarionovich
Vaganova Agrippina Yakovlevna
Yakobson Leonid Veniaminovich
Yarullin Farid Zagidullovich
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 11/2
Кремшевская Г. Д. Наталия Дудинская. Л.; М., 1964
Головашенко Ю. Наталья Дудинская // Театр, 1968 Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet
Mariinsky Theatre
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis