[1] Semenova was born in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), Russia, but moved with her family to Paris, France when she was five.
[2] After several years of practice, Semenova made her dancing debut at the age of 11 with a Russian opera company formed in London.
During World War II, she formed a group called the Foxhole Ballet to tour military installations in Europe and Africa with the USO.
While performing in Rome, Italy on a bomb-damaged stage, she severed the cartilage in her knee and fractured her arm.
Semenova is buried next to her mother in the cemetery of St. Michael Island in Venice, Italy.