Svetlana Beriosova

Svetlana Nikolayevna Beriosova (Russian: Светла́на Никола́евна Берёзова; 24 September 1932 – 10 November 1998),[1] also spelled Beriozova or Beryozova, was a Lithuanian-British prima ballerina who danced with The Royal Ballet for more than 20 years.

As well as dancing the entire classical repertoire, Beriosova created the leading part in several modern ballets, notably the title role in Cranko's Antigone (1959).

In one of her more unusual modern parts, the title role of Ashton's Persephone (1961), she recited André Gide's poetry in French in addition to dancing to the music of Igor Stravinsky.

Although its effects were not immediately apparent, Beriosova's career began its downturn in 1962, when Rudolf Nureyev came to England and it was widely understood that the dancer chosen to become his partner would "achieve worldwide fame overnight".

In the spring of 1971, a disastrous performance in the role of the tsarina in Anastasia at Covent Garden ended in Beriosova's drunken collapse whilst en pointe on stage, and she was carried off; her contract was terminated and her career with the Royal Ballet was over.

[6] In the Financial Times, the eminent ballet critic Clement Crisp wrote that Beriosova was "a ballerina of serene physical beauty and of no less lovely temperament", with "pearl-like radiance", and that to all of her performances she "brought a generous and illuminating sensibility" and was "in everything a ballerina whose understanding of her art and command of its nuances went to the very core of any role she assumed", concluding her to have been "blessed with an extraordinary ability to tell the great truths about theatrical dancing with a heart-stopping sensitivity and dignity".