Natalia Bessmertnova

Bessmertnova, Natal’ia Igorevna 

Born July 19, 1941, in Moscow. Soviet ballerina. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976).

In 1961, Bessmertnova graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School, where she studied under S. N. Golovkina. She was accepted into the company of the Bolshoi Theater the same year. Her roles have included Odette-Odile in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, the title role in Adam’s Giselle, Phrygia in Khatchaturian’s Spartacus, Anastasiia in Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, and Valentina in Eshpai’s Angara. Bessmertnova has won first prize and a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna (1965), the Prix Anna Pavlova of the Paris Academy of Dance (1970), and the State Prize of the USSR (1977). She has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.