Olga Spessivtseva

Olga Alexandrovna Spessivtseva was a Russian ballerina whose professional career lasted from 1913 until 1939. Born in Rostov-on-Don to an opera singer father and his wife, she was sent to a St. Petersburg orphanage with theatrical ties after her father died. She began training at the Imperial Ballet Academy in 1906, studying under Klavdia Kulichevskaya, Yevgenia Sokolova, and Agrippina Vaganova. After graduating in 1913, she joined the Mariinsky Theatre, becoming a soloist in 1916.

Known as a romantic dancer, she was considered exceptionally suited for roles like Giselle and the dual role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, quickly rising in popularity. In 1916, Sergei Diaghilev invited her to tour the United States with the Ballets Russes, where she performed with Vaslav Nijinsky. She returned to the Mariinsky (renamed the Petrograd Opera and Ballet Theater after the 1917 Revolution) in 1918 and was promoted to ballerina. She remained largely unknown in the West at this time.

She continued performing abroad with the Ballets Russes, dancing Aurora in The Sleeping Princess in London in 1921 and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1923. With help from her ex-husband Boris Kaplun, she left Russia permanently in 1924 to become an étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet, a position she held until 1932. She made another historic London appearance in 1932, dancing Giselle with Anton Dolin. From 1932 to 1937, she toured globally, performing classical roles and contemporary works by Michel Fokine and Bronislava Nijinska.

She experienced clinical depression as early as 1934, requiring hospitalization in Sydney. A nervous breakdown forced her from the stage in 1937. After some teaching and a brief return, she made her final performance at the Teatro Colón in 1939. She then moved to the United States, teaching and advising the Ballet Theatre Foundation in New York.

Another nervous breakdown in 1943 led to hospitalization. A 1964 BBC program and a 1966 book by Anton Dolin, both titled The Sleeping Ballerina, chronicled her life. Dance writers have called her the greatest Russian ballerina of her period and the supreme classical ballerina of the century. In 1998, choreographer Boris Eifman made her the subject of his ballet Red Giselle.