Ludmilla Chiriaeff

Ludmilla Chiriaeff CC GOQ (January 10, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a Russian-Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director.

She escaped during a bombing raid and, with the assistance of the Red Cross, made her way to Switzerland, where she was able to resume her ballet training and revive her professional career in Lausanne and Geneva.

[6] After immigrating with her family to Canada in 1952, Chiriaeff settled in Montreal, Québec, opened a ballet school, and soon began to create dances for Société Radio-Canada, the French-language public television service.

[7] Under her guidance, shared jointly with choreographer Fernand Nault, this company achieved international prominence in 1966–67, during Canada's Expo 67 World Festival and subsequent tours of the United States and western Europe.

In 1952, she choreographed Cendrillon (Cinderella), a three-act ballet set to music by Mozart, for the nascent French-language television service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

She also restaged some of her earlier works, including Cendrillon (1962) and Suite Canadienne (1961), set to French-Canadian folk tunes arranged by Michel Perrault.