Maya Plisetskaya

Acting

Maya Plisetskaya

Born November 20, 1925 · Moscow, USSR [now Russia]

Died May 2, 2015 · aged 89

Maya Plisetskaya was a Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship. She danced during the Soviet era at the Bolshoi Theatre under the directorships of Leonid Lavrovsky, then of Yury Grigorovich. In 1960 she became prima ballerina assoluta of the company.

Known For

Anna KareninaAnna Karenina · 1967
Anna Karenina
★ 5.41967
MovieDramaRomance
In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.
TchaikovskyTchaikovsky · 1970
Tchaikovsky
★ 5.21970
MovieDramaMusic
The film is dedicated to the great Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). It tells of the last twenty years of the great master’s life, of his friendship with Baroness von Meck, an outstanding woman of her time, who for many years was Tchaikovsky’s guardian angel. The film also includes retrospections of the composer’s childhood and adolescent years, with Tchaikovsky’s life poetically recounted against the background of fragments from his operas and ballets performed by the best Russian musicians.
Anna KareninaAnna Karenina · 1975
Anna Karenina
★ 6.61975
MovieDramaMusic
In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation. A Bolshoi Ballet adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel with choreography by Maya Plisetskaya, who also took on the titular role.
M.K.C. ZodiakasM.K.C. Zodiakas · 1985
M.K.C. Zodiakas
★ 6.01985
MovieHistory
The plot is based on the fate of the artist, reflected in art, which always accompanies people's lives, as well as dreams, pain or joy...
Stars of the Russian BalletStars of the Russian Ballet · 1954
Stars of the Russian Ballet
★ 6.21954
MovieMusicDocumentary
An anthology of three filmed ballets, two written for the film and the third an abridgment of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. Filmed in color.
Carmen SuiteCarmen Suite · 1978
Carmen Suite
★ 3.01978
MovieMusicDrama
The plot centres on the tragic fate of Carmen, a gypsy girl, and Jose, a soldier who has fallen in love with her and whom Carmen leaves for the young Torero.
The Little Humpbacked HorseThe Little Humpbacked Horse · 1962
The Little Humpbacked Horse
★ 10.01962
MovieMusicFamily
The Bolshoi Ballet performs the Russian fairy tale of a Queen Maiden (Maya Plisetskaya), a stableboy (Vladimir Vasiliev) and a lucky horse (Alla Shcherbinina).
Lady with a LapdogLady with a Lapdog · 1986
Lady with a Lapdog
1986
MovieMusicTV Movie
Rodion Shchedrin's ballet based on the short story of the same name by Anton Chekhov, staged by the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. The inimitable Maya Plisetskaya in the on-screen version of the theatrical ballet, which is an original production, solved by means of a television movie.

Filmography

Sort
Maya Plisetskaya - Diva of DanceMaya Plisetskaya - Diva of Dance · 2006
Maya Plisetskaya - Diva of Dance
2006
Movie
Maya Plisetskaya was born in Moscow in 1925 and studied at the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School, becoming a principal dancer with the Bolshoi on graduating in 1943. She became prima ballerina in 1962, and after being excluded for political reasons many years from tours to the West, she was finally in 1959 allowed to join the American tour with the Bolshoi. She soon gained recognition as one of the world's foremost ballerinas, combining flawless technique with a sensitivity to emotional nuance and becoming the first to truly understand how to combine outstanding dance skills with dramatic expression. This documentary features footage of her greatest successes as a ballerina together with an interview in which Plisetskaya describes her life as a dancer, from Stalin to perestroika, giving an insight into the life of an artist in this extraordinary chapter of Russian history.