Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (Russian:Майя Михайловна Плисецкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship.[1][2][3] She danced during the Soviet era at theBolshoi Theatre under the directorships ofLeonid Lavrovsky, then ofYury Grigorovich; later she moved into direct confrontation with him.[4] In 1960, when famed Russian ballerinaGalina Ulanova retired, Plisetskaya becameprima ballerina assoluta of the company.
Her early years were marked by political repression and loss.[5] Her father,Mikhail Plisetski, a Soviet official, was arrested in 1937 and executed in 1938, during theGreat Purge. Her mother, theater andsilent film actressRachel Messerer, was arrested in 1938 and imprisoned for a few years, then held in a concentration camp together with her infant son,Azari [ru]. The older children were faced with the threat of being put in an orphanage but were cared for by maternal relatives. Maya was adopted by their auntSulamith Messerer, andAlexander was taken into the family of their uncleAsaf Messerer; both Alexander and Azary eventually became solo dancers of the Bolshoi.
Plisetskaya studied ballet atThe Bolshoi Ballet School from age nine, and she first performed at theBolshoi Theatre when she was eleven. She studied ballet under the direction ofElizaveta Gerdt and also her aunt, Sulamith Messerer. Graduating in 1943 at the age of eighteen, she joined theBolshoi Ballet company, quickly rising to become their leading soloist. In 1959, during theThaw Time, she started to tour outside the country with the Bolshoi, then on her own. Her fame as a national ballerina was used to project the Soviet Union's achievements during theCold War. PremierNikita Khrushchev considered her to be "not only the best ballerina in the Soviet Union, but the best in the world".[6]
As an artist, Plisetskaya had an inexhaustible interest in new roles and dance styles, and she liked to experiment on stage. As a member of the Bolshoi until 1990, she had international exposure and her skills as a dancer changed the world of ballet. She set a higher standard for ballerinas, both in terms of technical brilliance and dramatic presence. As a soloist, Plisetskaya created a number of leading roles, including Juliet inLavrovsky'sRomeo and Juliet; Phrygia inYakobson'sSpartacus (1958); inGrigorovich's ballets : Mistress of the Copper Mountain inThe Stone Flower (1959); Aurora inThe Sleeping Beauty (1963); Mahmene Banu inThe Legend of Love [ru] (1965);Alberto Alonso'sCarmen Suite (1967), choreographed especially for her; andMaurice Béjart'sIsadora (1976). Among her most acclaimed roles were Kitri inDon Quixote, Odette-Odile inSwan Lake, andThe Dying Swan, first danced as a pre-graduate student under the guidance ofSulamith Messerer. A fellow dancer said that her dramatic portrayal of Carmen, reportedly her favorite role, "helped confirm her as a legend, and the ballet soon took its place as a landmark in the Bolshoi repertoire". Her husband, composerRodion Shchedrin, wrote the scores to a number of her ballets.
Having become "an international superstar" and a continuous "box office hit throughout the world", Plisetskaya was treated by the Soviet Union as a favored cultural emissary. Although she toured extensively during the same years that other prominent dancers defected, includingRudolf Nureyev,Natalia Makarova,Alexander Godunov andMikhail Baryshnikov, Plisetskaya always refused to defect. In 1991, she published her autobiography,I, Maya Plisetskaya.[7]
Plisetskaya was born on 20 November 1925 in Moscow,[8] into a prominent family ofLithuanian Jewish descent,[9] most of whom were involved in the theater or film. Her mother,Rachel Messerer, was a silent-film actress. Bolshoi Ballet principal dancerAsaf Messerer was a maternal uncle and Bolshoi prima ballerinaSulamith Messerer was a maternal aunt. Her father,Mikhail Plisetski (Misha), was a diplomat, engineer and mine director; he was not involved in the arts, although he was a fan of ballet.[10] Her brothersAlexander Plisetski and Azari Plisetski became renowned ballet masters, and her nieceAnna Plisetskaya would also become a ballerina. She was the cousin of theater artistBoris Messerer.
In 1938, her father was arrested and later executed during theStalinist purges, during which thousands of people were murdered.[5] According to ballet scholar Jennifer Homans, her father was a committed Communist, and had earlier been "proclaimed a national hero for his work on behalf of the Soviet coal industry".[11] Soviet leaderVyacheslav Molotov presented him with one of the Soviet Union's first manufactured cars. Her mother was arrested soon after and together with her seven-month-old baby Azary sent to alabor camp (ALZhIR) inAkmola Region,Kazakhstan for the next three years.[12][13] Maya was taken in by their maternal aunt, ballerinaSulamith Messerer, until her mother was released in 1941.[14]
During the years without her parents, while barely a teenager, Plisetskaya "faced terror, war, and dislocation", writes Homans. As a result, "Maya took refuge in ballet and theBolshoi Theater."[11] As her father was stationed atSpitzbergen to supervise the coalmines inBarentsburg, she had stayed there for four years with her family, from 1932 to 1936.[15] She subsequently studied at the Bolshoi School under the ex-ballerina of the Mariinsky imperial ballet, the greatElizaveta Gerdt. Maya first performed at theBolshoi Theatre when she was eleven. In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Plisetskaya graduated from the Bolshoi School. She joined theBolshoi Ballet, where she performed until 1990.[14]
From the beginning, Plisetskaya was a different kind of ballerina. She spent a very short time in thecorps de ballet after graduation and was quickly named a soloist. Her brightred hair and striking looks made her a glamorous figure on and off the stage. "She was a remarkably fluid dancer but also a very powerful one", according toThe Oxford Dictionary of Dance.[16] "The robust theatricality and passion she brought to her roles made her an ideal Soviet ballerina." Her interpretation ofThe Dying Swan, a short showcase piece made famous byAnna Pavlova, became her calling card. Plisetskaya was known for the height of her jumps, her extremely flexible back, the technical strength of her dancing, and her charisma. She excelled both in adagio and allegro, which is very unusual in dancers.[16]
Plisetskaya performing inCarmen (1974)
Despite her acclaim, Plisetskaya was not treated well by the Bolshoi management. She was Jewish at a time ofSoviet anti-Zionist campaigns combined with other oppression of suspected dissidents.[9] Her family had been purged during the Stalinist era, and she had a defiant personality. As a result, Plisetskaya was not allowed to tour outside the country for sixteen years after she had become a member of the Bolshoi.[12]
The Soviet Union used the artistry of such dancers as Plisetskaya to project its achievements during theCold War period with United States. Historian Christina Ezrahi notes, "In a quest for cultural legitimacy, the Soviet ballet was shown off to foreign leaders and nations." Plisetskaya recalls that foreigners "were all taken to the ballet. And almost always,Swan Lake ... Khrushchev was always with the high guests in the loge", includingMao Zedong andStalin.[5][17]
Ezrahi writes, "the intrinsic paranoia of the Soviet regime made it ban Plisetskaya, one of the most celebrated dancers, from the Bolshoi Ballet's first major international tour", as she was considered "politically suspect" and was "non-exportable".[11] In 1948, theZhdanov Doctrine took effect, and with her family history, and being Jewish, she became a "natural target . . . publicly humiliated and excoriated for not attending political meetings".[11] As a result, dancing roles were continually denied her and for sixteen years she could tour only within theEastern Bloc. She became a "provincial artist, consigned to grimy, unrewarding bus tours, exclusively for local consumption", writes Homans.[11]
In 1958, Plisetskaya received the title of thePeople's Artist of the USSR. That same year, she married the young composerRodion Shchedrin, whose subsequent fame she shared. Wanting to dance internationally, she rebelled and defied Soviet expectations. On one occasion, to gain the attention and respect from some of the country's leaders, she gave one of the most powerful performances of her career, inSwan Lake, for her 1956 concert in Moscow. Homans describes that "extraordinary performance":
We can feel the steely contempt and defiance taking hold of her dancing. When the curtain came down on the first act, the crowd exploded. KGB toughs muffled the audience's applauding hands and dragged people out of the theater kicking, screaming, and scratching. By the end of the evening the government thugs had retreated, unable (or unwilling) to contain the public enthusiasm. Plisetskaya had won.[11]
"Plisetskaya was not only the best ballerina in the Soviet Union, but the best in the world." —Nikita Khrushchev[6]
InSwan Lake with the Bolshoi Ballet, 1966
Soviet leaderKhrushchev was still concerned, writes historian David Caute, that "her defection would have been useful for the West as anti-Soviet propaganda". She wrote him "a long and forthright expression of her patriotism and her indignation that it should be doubted".[6] Subsequently, the travel ban was lifted in 1959 on Khrushchev's personal intervention, as it became clear to him that striking Plisetskaya from the Bolshoi's participants could have serious consequences for the tour's success.[17] In his memoirs, Khrushchev writes that Plisetskaya "was not only the best ballerina in the Soviet Union, but the best in the world".[6][18]
Able to travel the world as a member of the Bolshoi, Plisetskaya changed the world of ballet by her skills and technique, setting a higher standard for ballerinas both in terms of technical brilliance and dramatic presence. Having allowed her to tour in New York, Khrushchev was immensely satisfied upon reading the reviews of her performances. "He embraced her upon her return: 'Good girl, coming back. Not making me look like a fool. You didn't let me down.'"[11]
Within a few years, Plisetskaya was recognized as "an international superstar" and a continuous "box office hit throughout the world".[11] The Soviet Union treated her as a favored cultural emissary, as "the dancer who did not defect".[11] Although she toured extensively during the same years that other dancers defected, includingRudolf Nureyev,Natalia Makarova andMikhail Baryshnikov, "Plisetskaya always returned to Russia", wrote historian Tim Scholl.[14]: xiii
Plisetskaya explains that for her generation, and her family in particular, defecting was a moral issue: "He who runs to the enemy's side is a traitor." She had once asked her mother why their family didn't leave the Soviet Union when they had the chance, at the time living in Norway. Her mother said that her father "would have abandoned [her] with the children instantly" for even asking. "Misha would never have been a traitor."[14]: 239
Although she lacked the first-rate training and coaching of her contemporaries, Plisetskaya "compensated" by "developing an individual, iconoclastic style that capitalized on her electrifying stage presence", writes historian Tim Scholl. She had a "daring rarely seen on ballet stages today, and a jump of almost unmatchable power".[14]
Her very personal style was angular, dramatic, and theatrical, exploiting the gifts that everyone in her mother's family seemed to possess.... Those who saw Plisetskaya's first performances in the West still speak of her ability to wrap the theater in her gaze, to convey powerful emotions in terse gestures.[14]: xii
Critic and dance historian Vadim Gaevsky said of her influence on ballet that "she began by creating her own style and ended up creating her own theater."[19] Among her most notable performances was a 1975 free-form dance, in a modern style, set toRavel'sBoléro. In it, she dances a solo piece on an elevated round stage, surrounded and accompanied by 40 male dancers. One reviewer wrote, "Words cannot compare to the majesty and raw beauty of Plisetskaya's performance":[20]
What makes the piece so compelling is that although Plisetskaya may be accompanied by dozens of other dancers mirroring her movement, the first and only focus is on the prima ballerina herself. Her continual rocking and swaying at certain points, rhythmically timed to the syncopation of the orchestra, create a mesmerizing effect that demonstrated an absolute control over every nuance of her body, from the smallest toe to her fingertips, to the top of her head.[20]
"She burst like a flame on the American scene in 1959. Instantly she became a darling to the public and a miracle to the critics. She was compared toMaria Callas,Theda Bara andGreta Garbo." Sarah Montague[21]
Plisetskaya created a number of leading roles, including ones in Lavrovsky'sStone Flower (1954), Moiseyev'sSpartacus (1958), Grigorovich's Moscow version ofThe Stone Flower (1959), Aurora in Grigorovich's stagingThe Sleeping Beauty (1963), Grigorovich's Moscow version ofThe Legend of Love (1965), the title role in Alberto Alonso'sCarmen Suite (1967), Petit'sLa Rose malade (Paris, 1973), Bejart'sIsadora (Monte Carlo, 1976) and his Moscow staging ofLeda (1979), Granero'sMaria Estuardo (Madrid, 1988), and Julio Lopez'sEl Reñidero (Buenos Aires, 1990).[16]
Performing inDon Quixote in 1974
After performing inSpartacus during her 1959 U.S. debut tour,Life magazine, in its issue featuring the Bolshoi, rated her second only toGalina Ulanova.[22]Spartacus became a significant ballet for the Bolshoi, with one critic describing their "rage to perform", personified by Plisetskaya as ballerina, "that defined the Bolshoi".[11] During her travels, she also appeared as guest artist with theParis Opera Ballet,Ballet National de Marseilles, andBallet of the 20th Century in Brussels.[16]
By 1962, following Ulanova's retirement, Plisetskaya embarked on another three-month world tour. As a performer, notes Homans, she "excelled in the hard-edged, technically demanding roles that Ulanova eschewed, includingRaymonda, the black swan inSwan Lake, and Kitri inDon Quixote".[11] In her performances, Plisetskaya was "unpretentious, refreshing, direct. She did not hold back."[11] Ulanova added that Plisetskaya's "artistic temperament, bubbling optimism of youth reveal themselves in this ballet with full force".[21] World-famousimpresarioSol Hurok said that Plisetskaya was the only ballerina after Pavlova who gave him "a shock of electricity" when she came on stage.[21]Rudolf Nureyev watched her debut as Kitri inDon Quixote and told her afterwards, "I sobbed from happiness. You set the stage on fire."[5][23]
At the conclusion of one performance at theMetropolitan Opera, she received a half-hour ovation. ChoreographerJerome Robbins, who had just finished the Broadway play,West Side Story, told her that he "wanted to create a ballet especially for her".[6]
Plisetskaya's most acclaimed roles includedOdette-Odile inSwan Lake (1947) and Aurora inSleeping Beauty (1961). Her dancing partner inSwan Lake states that for twenty years, he and Plisetskaya shared the world stage with that ballet, with her performance consistently producing "the most powerful impression on the audience".[24]
Equally notable were her ballets asThe Dying Swan. Critic Walter Terry described one performance: "What she did was to discard her own identity as a ballerina and even as a human and to assume the characteristics of a magical creature. The audience became hysterical, and she had to perform an encore."[21] She danced that particular ballet until her late 60s, giving one of her last performances of it in the Philippines, where similarly, the applause wouldn't stop until she came out and performed an encore.[25]
NovelistTruman Capote remembered a similar performance in Moscow, seeing "grown men crying in the aisles and worshiping girls holding crumpled bouquets for her". He saw her as "a white spectre leaping in smooth rainbow arcs", with "a royal head". She said of her style that "the secret of the ballerina is to make the audience say, 'Yes, I believe.'"[21]
Fashion designersYves Saint Laurent andPierre Cardin considered Plisetskaya one of their inspirations, with Cardin alone having traveled to Moscow over 30 times just to see Plisetskaya perform.[25][26] She credits Cardin's costume designs for the success and recognition she received for her ballets ofAnna Karenina,The Seagull, andLady with the Dog. She recalls his reaction when she initially suggested he design one of her costumes: "Cardin's eyes lit up like batteries. As if an electrical current passed through them."[14]: 170 Within a week, he had created a design forAnna Karenina, and over the course of her career he created ten different costumes for justKarenina.[27]
"She was, and still is, a star, ballet's monstre sacré, the final statement about theatrical glamour, a flaring, flaming beacon in a world of dimly twinkling talents, a beauty in the world of prettiness." Financial Times. 2005[28]
In 1967, she performed as Carmen in theCarmen Suite, choreographed specifically for her by Cuban choreographerAlberto Alonso. The music was re-scored fromBizet's original by her husband, Rodion Shchedrin, and its themes were re-worked into a "modernist and almost abstract narrative".[29] Dancer Olympia Dowd, who performed alongside her, writes that Plisetskaya's dramatic portrayal of Carmen, her favorite role, made her a legend, and soon became a "landmark" in the Bolshoi's repertoire.[30] Her Carmen, however, at first "rattled the Soviet establishment", which was "shaken with her Latin sensuality".[31] She was aware that her dance style was radical and new, saying that "every gesture, every look, every movement had meaning, was different from all other ballets... The Soviet Union was not ready for this sort of choreography. It was war, they accused me of betraying classical dance."[32]
Some critics outside of Russia saw her departure from classical styles as necessary to the Bolshoi's success in the West.New York Times criticAnna Kisselgoff observed, "Without her presence, their poverty of movement invention would make them untenable in performance. It is a tragedy of Soviet ballet that a dancer of her singular genius was never extended creatively."[19] A Russian news commentator wrote, she "was never afraid to bring ardor and vehemence onto the stage", contributing to her becoming a "true queen of the Bolshoi".[31] Her life and work was described by the French ballet critic André Philippe Hersin as "genius, audacity and avant-garde".[33]
AfterGalina Ulanova left the stage in 1960, Maya Plisetskaya was proclaimed theprima ballerina assoluta of theBolshoi Theatre. In 1971, her husband Shchedrin wrote a ballet on the same subject, where she would play the leading role.Anna Karenina was also her first attempt at choreography.[34] Other choreographers who created ballets for her includeYury Grigorovich,Roland Petit,Alberto Alonso, andMaurice Béjart with "Isadora". She createdThe Seagull andLady with a Lapdog. She starred in the 1961 film,The Humpbacked Horse, and appeared as a straight actress in several films, including the Soviet version ofAnna Karenina (1968), which featured music by Shchedrin later reused in his ballet score. Her own ballet of the same name was filmed in 1974.[citation needed]
While on tour in the United States in 1987, Plisetskaya gave master classes at theDavid Howard Dance Center. A review inNew York magazine noted that although she was 61 when giving the classes, "she displayed the suppleness and power of a performer in her physical prime".[35] In October that year, she performed withRudolf Nureyev andMikhail Baryshnikov for the opening night of the season with theMartha Graham Dance Company in New York.[36]
Plisetzkaya in 2011
Plisetskaya's husband, composerRodion Shchedrin, wrote the score to a number of her ballets, includingAnna Karenina,The Sea Gull,Carmen, andLady with a Small Dog. In the 1980s, he was considered the successor toShostakovich, and became the Soviet Union's leading composer.[37] Plisetskaya and Shchedrin spent time abroad, where she worked as the artistic director of the Rome Opera Ballet from 1984 to 85, then theSpanish National Dance Company from 1987 to 1989. She retired as a soloist for the Bolshoi at age 65 in 1990 and on her 70th birthday, she debuted inMaurice Béjart's piece choreographed for her, "Ave Maya". From 1994, she presided over the annual international ballet competitions, calledMaya, and in 1996 she was named President of theImperial Russian Ballet.[38] After the Soviet Union collapsed Plisetskaya and her husband lived mostly in Germany spending summers in their house in Lithuania and occasionally visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg.
She was awarded thePrince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2005 with the ballerinaTamara Rojo also. She was awarded the Spanish Gold Medal of Fine Art. In 1996, she dancedthe Dying Swan, her signature role, at a gala in her honor in St. Petersburg.[16]
"She was, and still is, a star, ballet'smonstre sacre, the final statement about theatrical glamour, a flaring, flaming beacon in a world of dimly twinkling talents, a beauty in the world of prettiness."[39]
Plisetskaya died inMunich, Germany, on 2 May 2015 from a heart attack.[40][19] According to her last will and testament, she was to be cremated, and after the death of her widower,Rodion Shchedrin, who is also to be cremated, their ashes are to be combined and spread over Russia.[41]
Russian PresidentVladimir Putin expressed his condolences, and Russian Prime MinisterDmitry Medvedev said that "a whole era of ballet was gone" with Plisetskaya.[42] Belarusian PresidentAlexander Lukashenko extended condolences to her family and friends:
The passing of great Maya Mikhailovna [Plisetskaya] whose creative work embodied the whole cultural era is an irretrievable loss for Russian and world art. Her brilliant choreography and wonderful grace, fantastic power of dramatic identification and outstanding mastery dazzled the audience. Thanks to her selfless service to art and commitment to the stage, she was respected all over the world.[43]
Brazilian mural artist Eduardo Kobra painted a 12-meter (39 ft) tall mural of Plisetskaya in 2013, located in Moscow's central theater district, near the Bolshoi Theatre.[44]
Conductor and artistic directorValery Gergiev, who was a close friend of Plisetskya, gave a concert in Moscow on 18 November 2015, dedicated to her memory.[45]
On 20 November 2015, the government of Russia named a square in her honor in central Moscow, on Ulitsa Bolshaya Dmitrovka, near the Bolshoi Theatre. A bronze plaque affixed at the square included an engraving: "Maya Plisetskaya Square is named after the outstanding Russian ballerina. Opened 20 November 2015."[46]
In St. Petersburg, theMariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra paid homage to Plisetskaya's memory with a concert on 27 December 2015. It was conducted byValery Gergiev and included a performance with ballet dancerDiana Vishneva.[45] The Mariinsky Ballet later performed a four-program "Tribute of Maya Plisetskaya" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2016.[47]
The Bolshoi Theater performed a concert in memory of Plisetskaya at theLondon Coliseum on 6 March 2016.[48]
A monument to Maya Plisetskaya was unveiled in the center of Moscow, on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, in the square named after her. The opening took place on 20 November 2016, the date of her birth, and shows her in a pose fromCarmen.[49][50] Describing the monument, one observer commented about sculpturist Viktor Mitroshin and the statue's design:
In choosingCarmen, Mitroshin emphasized not only Plisetskaya's physical prowess, grace and beauty, he put a big exclamation point after character... Look at those gorgeous arms, hands, legs. Look at the sassy sway of the dress. Look at the dark, hard eyes and the tight, determined mouth. Look at the sway of the back. Look at that crazy flower on her head. Look at how all of it strains upward into the sky. I'm telling you, the whole thing is beautiful.[51]
Plisetskaya's tour manager, Maxim Gershunoff, who also helped promote theSoviet/American Cultural Exchange Program, describes her as "not only a great artist, but also very realistic and earthy ... with a very open and honest outlook on life".[52]
During Plisetskaya's tours abroad, she became friends with a number of other theater and music artists, including composer and pianistLeonard Bernstein, with whom she remained friends until his death. PianistArthur Rubinstein, also a friend, was able to converse with her in Russian. She visited him after his concert performance in Russia.[14]: 202 NovelistJohn Steinbeck, while at their home in Moscow, listened to her stories of the hardship of becoming a ballerina, and told her that the backstage side of ballet could make for a "most interesting novel".[14]: 203
In 1962, the Bolshoi was invited to perform at the White House by presidentJohn F. Kennedy, and Plisetskaya recalled that first ladyJacqueline Kennedy greeted her by saying "You're just like Anna Karenina."[14]: 222
While in France in 1965, Plisetskaya was invited to the home of Russian artistMarc Chagall and his wife. Chagall had moved to France to study art in 1910. He asked her if she wouldn't mind creating some ballet poses to help him with his current project, a mural for the newMetropolitan Opera House in New York, which would show various images representing the arts. She danced and posed in various positions as he sketched, and her images were used on the mural, "at the top left corner, a colorful flock of ballerinas".[14]: 250
Plisetskaya made friends with a number of celebrities and notable politicians who greatly admired and followed her work. She met Swedish actressIngrid Bergman, then living in the U.S., after a performance ofAnna Karenina. Bergman told her that both their photographs, taken by noted photographerRichard Avedon, appeared on the same page inVogue magazine. Bergman suggested she "flee Communism", recalled Plisetskaya, telling her "I will help you."[14]: 222
ActressShirley MacLaine once held a party for her and the other members of the Bolshoi. She remembered seeing her perform in Argentina when Plisetskaya was sixty-five, and writes "how humiliating it was that Plisetskaya had to dance on a vaudeville stage in South America to make ends meet".[53] Dancer Daniel Nagrin noted that she was a dancer who "went on to perform to the joy of audiences everywhere while simultaneously defying the myth of early retirement".[54]
MacLaine's brother, actorWarren Beatty, is said to have been inspired by their friendship, which led him to write and produce his 1981 filmReds, about theRussian Revolution. He directed the film and costarred withDiane Keaton. He first met Plisetskaya at a reception in Beverly Hills, and, notes Beatty's biographerPeter Biskind, "he was smitten" by her "classic dancer's" beauty.[55]
Plisetskaya became friends with film starNatalie Wood and her sister, actressLana Wood. Wood, whose parents immigrated from Russia, greatly admired Plisetskaya, and once had an expensive custom wig made for her to use in theSpartacus ballet. They enjoyed socializing together on Wood's yacht.[52]
U.S. Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy, the younger brother to presidentJohn F. Kennedy, befriended Plisetskaya, with whom he shared the birth date of 20 November 1925. She was invited to gatherings with Kennedy and his family at their estate onCape Cod in 1962. They later named their sailboatMaya, in her honor.[52]
As theCuban Missile Crisis had ended a few weeks earlier, at the end of October 1962, U.S. and Soviet relations were at a low point. Diplomats of both countries considered her friendship with Kennedy to be a great benefit to warmer relations, after weeks of worrisome military confrontation. Years later, when they met in 1968, he was then campaigning for the presidency, and diplomats again suggested that their friendship would continue to help relations between the two countries. Plisetskaya summarizes Soviet thoughts on the matter:
Maya Plisetskaya should bring the candidate presents worthy of the great moment. Stun the future president with Russian generosity to continue and deepen contacts and friendship.[14]: 265
Of their friendship, Plisetskaya wrote in her autobiography:
With me Robert Kennedy was romantic, elevated, noble, and completely pure. No seductions, no passes.[14]: 265
Robert Kennedy was assassinated just days before he was to see Plisetskaya again in New York. Gershunoff, Plisetskaya's manager at the time, recalls that on the day of the funeral, most of the theaters and concert halls in New York City went "dark", closed in mourning and respect. The Bolshoi likewise planned to cancel their performance, but they decided instead to do a different ballet than planned, one dedicated to Kennedy. Gershunoff describes that evening:
The most appropriate way to open such an evening would be for the great Plisetskaya to performThe Dying Swan, which normally would close an evening's program to thunderous applause with stamping feet, and clamors for an encore.... This assignment created an emotional burden for Maya. She really did not want to dance that work that night ... I thought it was best for me to remain backstage in the wings. That turned out to be one of the most poignant moments I have ever experienced. Replacing the usual thunderous audience applause at the conclusion, there was complete silence betokening the feelings of a mourning nation in the packed, cavernousMetropolitan Opera House. Maya came off the stage in tears, looked at me, raised her beautiful arms and looked upward. Then disappeared into her dressing room.[52]
1st class (20 November 2005) – for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic and international choreographic art, many years of creative activity[56]
2nd class (18 November 2000) – for outstanding contribution to the development of choreographic art[57]
3rd class (21 November 1995) – for outstanding contributions to national culture and a significant contribution to contemporary choreographic art[58]
4th class (9 November 2010) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national culture and choreography, many years of creative activity[59]
Made an honorary professor at Moscow State University in 1993.[60]
^abcdeCaute, David (2003).The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War, Oxford Univ. Press. p. 489.ISBN978-0-19-155458-2
^abcdGershunoff, Maxim (2005).It's Not All Song and Dance: A Life Behind the Scenes in the Performing Arts, Hal Leonard Corp. pp. 61, 65, 74.ISBN978-0-87910-310-1
^MacLaine, Shirley (2003).Out on a Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality and Love, Simon & Schuster. p. 126.ISBN978-0-7434-8506-7
^Nagrin, Daniel (1988).How to Dance Forever: Surviving Against the Odds, HarperCollins. p. 15.ISBN978-0-688-07479-1
^Biskind, Peter (2010).Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America, Simon & Schuster. p. 90.ISBN978-0-7432-4659-0
.jpg)
.jpg)
