Vera Shabshai (Russian: Вера Яковлевна Каган-Шабшай, Hebrew: ורה שבשאי; 1905 - 8 April 1988) was a Soviet dancer, teacher and choreographer, and the second wife of the graphic artist Nikolay Kupreyanov [ru].
[1] Vera Shabshai was born in 1905, the daughter of Yakov Kagan-Shabshai [ru], an electrical engineer, professor, and collector of Jewish paintings.
[2] To support her endeavours, Shabshai turned to her father for financial assistance and to Mikhail Gnessin, chairman of the Jewish Music Society, for help with program distribution.
[3] Notable artists worked on the costumes and scenography of her performance, while the music was composed by Mikhail Gnessin, Alexander Crane, and Julius Engel.
[2] Her final major work was the production of the ballet section of "Kоschei the Immortal" to music by Rimsky-Korsakov, which premiered on 1 August 1936, at the "Island of Dance" in Moscow.