Galina Ulanova(1910 — 1998)
Galina Ulanova
Russie, Union soviétique, Empire russe
10 min read
Soviet ballerina considered one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. Prima ballerina of the Bolshoi, she embodied Giselle and Juliet with incomparable expressiveness. The first dancer to receive the title of Hero of Socialist Labor twice.
Famous Quotes
« Dance is the poetry of the foot. »
« I do not dance, I live on stage. »
Key Facts
- 1910: born in Saint Petersburg into a family connected to the Imperial Ballet
- 1928: debut at the Kirov Theatre (Mariinsky) in Leningrad
- 1944: joins the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow
- 1956: triumphant tour in London, a revelation for the Western world
- 1962: retires from the stage, becomes a teacher at the Bolshoi until her death in 1998
Works & Achievements
Ulanova's signature role, this 19th-century Romantic ballet allowed her to express the tragic depth and psychological expressiveness that set her apart. Her Giselle in the second act — a ghostly figure of absolute purity — remains one of the most celebrated interpretations in ballet history.
Ulanova created the role of Juliet and became its definitive interpreter. Her artistic collaboration with Prokofiev gave rise to a vision of the Shakespearean heroine of unparalleled dramatic intensity, which established Soviet ballet as a worldwide benchmark.
In the dual roles of Odette and Odile, Ulanova demonstrated her technical mastery as much as her dramatic depth. She brought to Odette a vulnerability and melancholy that renewed the traditional interpretation of the role.
Prokofiev composed this ballet during the Second World War, and Ulanova danced the title role in the first performances at the Bolshoi. Her interpretation embodied the Soviet policy of promoting accessible, hope-filled works in the aftermath of the war years.
A ballet inspired by a poem by Pushkin, in which Ulanova plays Maria, a young Polish woman abducted by a Tatar khan. This role, blending lyricism and tragedy, was one of the first great successes of her career at the Kirov.
Anecdotes
In October 1956, the Bolshoi performed in London for the first time, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Ulanova, then 46 years old, danced the role of Juliet. At the end of the performance, the British audience gave her a standing ovation lasting more than twenty minutes. British prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn, who was in the audience, declared it was the greatest thing she had ever seen on a stage.
In 1944, in the midst of the Second World War, Stalin personally ordered Ulanova to leave Leningrad and join the Bolshoi in Moscow. She was devastated: she had spent her entire career at the Kirov, and Leningrad had only just emerged from a grueling 872-day siege. But no one refuses an order from Stalin — she complied, and would go on to become the undisputed glory of the Bolshoi.
In 1951, during the Bolshoi's first Western tour in Florence, Italy, the audience at the Teatro Comunale gave Ulanova a nearly half-hour standing ovation after *Romeo and Juliet*. Spectators climbed onto the stage to present her with flowers. Italian newspapers ran the headline the next day: “A goddess has come from Russia.” It was the first time the Western world discovered the full magnitude of her talent.
Ulanova received the Stalin Prize four times (1941, 1946, 1947, 1950), a testament to the importance of classical ballet as a tool of prestige in Soviet Russia. Yet she remained deeply private and shunned the social scene, preferring to spend her free evenings reading or painting — a lifelong secret passion.
After hanging up her pointe shoes in 1960 at the age of 50 — an exceptional career length for a prima ballerina — Ulanova became a rehearsal coach at the Bolshoi for nearly forty years. Among her most notable students were Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev. At 88, the week before her death in March 1998, she was still attending Bolshoi rehearsals to correct her students' *port de bras*.
Primary Sources
"From childhood, dancing was not a pleasure for me, but work — work that one learns to love because it demands everything you have. My mother never let me cheat myself at the barre."
"Ulanova's Juliet is one of the supreme achievements of the human spirit in our time. There is nothing in Western ballet to compare with it."
"Ulanova has what few dancers possess: she does not dance the music, she lives it from within. When she walks onto the stage, the score becomes flesh."
"For exceptional services rendered to Soviet choreographic art and for her contribution to the cultural renown of the Soviet Union abroad, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor is awarded to citizen Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova."
Key Places
Ulanova's birthplace and the cradle of her training. She studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School (now the Vaganova Academy) and began her career at the Kirov Ballet (Mariinsky Theatre), the temple of classical Russian ballet.
Ulanova's principal stage from 1944 until her retirement in 1960, and then her workplace as a rehearsal coach until her death in 1998. The Bolshoi is the symbol of Soviet and world artistic prestige.
The venue for the Bolshoi's landmark tour in October 1956, where Ulanova's performances in Romeo and Juliet and Giselle stirred an unprecedented collective emotion and transformed the Western world's perception of Soviet ballet.
The stage of Ulanova's and the Bolshoi's first appearance in the West, in 1951. The enthusiastic reception from Florentine audiences launched the idea that Soviet ballet could conquer the Western world.
The burial place of Galina Ulanova since her death on 21 March 1998. This prestigious cemetery is the final resting place of major figures from Soviet and Russian culture, science, and politics.