Alla Shelest

During World War II, to escape the Nazi siege of Leningrad, much of the Kirov Ballet, including Shelest, left for Perm in 1942.

In all these roles, she was greatly influenced by the dramatic theories of Stanislasky and acclaimed for introducing a form of realistic acting to the ballet stage.

In the 1950s, she married choreographer Yuri Grigorovich and danced in many of his creations, both Katerina and Mistress of the Copper Mountain in The Stone Flower, and also Mekhmene Banu in The Legend of Love [ru], which was later to be her farewell performance, 26 years to the day after her graduation.

Shelest had a profound impact on many Soviet ballerinas of the 1950s-70s including Maya Plisetskaya, who considered her the greatest dancer she had ever seen.

After a retirement and a post-dancing career as a choreographer, regional company director and instructor at the Vaganova Academy, Shelest died in Saint Petersburg on 7 December 1998.