Ekaterina Maximova

Ekaterina Sergeyevna Maximova (Екатерина Сергеевна Максимова; 1 February 1939 – 28 April 2009) was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of the second part of the 20th century who was internationally recognised.

She was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre for 30 years, a ballet pedagogue, winner of international ballet competitions, Laureate of many prestigious International and Russian awards, a professor in GITIS, Honorary professor at the Moscow State University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, and an Executive Committee member of the Russian Center of Counseil International De La Danse, UNESCO.

Maximova was born in Moscow on 1 February 1939 to a highly educated family.

Her maternal grandfather was Gustav Shpet, a Russian philosopher, historian of philosophy, psychologist, art theoretician, and interpreter (he knew 17 languages) of German-Polish descent.

Her mother Tatiana Maximova (née Shpet) was a journalist and publishing house editor and her father Sergey Maximov was an engineer.

She was admitted to Moscow Ballet School (now Moscow Ballet Academy) and the age of 10 and the same year as her future partner and husband Vladimir Vasiliev.

Their ballet partnership started at school.

Former ballerina of Mariinsky Ballet Elizaveta Gerdt was Maximova's instructor at the ballet school.

She won first prize at the National Ballet competition in 1957 while still a ballet student.

In the Bolshoi Theater

Maximova's first ballet as a Bolshoi ballet dancer was The Stone Flower (in the leading role of Katerina).

Maximova graduated from Moscow ballet school in 1958 and joined Bolshoi Ballet the same year.

Her performance was so impressive that she was chosen to go on the first Bolshoi tour in the US in 1959.

The American press called her "a little elf" and complemented her technique, grace and artistic style even though legendary Galina Ulanova was the real sensation of that tour.

Later Ulanova became Maximova's ballet coach in the Bolshoi for many years.

In 1961, as a young ballerina Maximova starred along with Vladimir Vasiliev in the film for European and American viewers The USSR with an Open Heart, where they played ballet dancers.

The premiere took place in Paris, France where Maximova and Vasiliev arrived as newlyweds.

According to ballet professionals, Maximova possessed ideal ballet body lines, effortless jumps and spins and flawless technical clarity.

She started as a lyrical ballerina dancing title roles in classical ballets Giselle, Nutcracker (Marie), Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Maria), Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), but extended her breathtaking artistic talent and technical virtuosity through her hard work and devotion to her art.

This enabled her to widen her artistic range with playful Kitri (Don Quixote), comic Eliza Doolittle (Galatea) and dramatic roles of Juliet, Phrigia (Spartacus), Anyuta (Chekov's story "Anna on the neck") Tatiana (Onegin) that tested her dramatic skills as an actress most completely.

She was one of the Bolshoi stars who danced in the last program presented at the old Metropolitan Opera House on Thirty-ninth Street and Broadway on 8 May 1966.

Maximova seriously injured her spine during a rehearsal in 1975 and some doctors did not believe that she would walk again, but she returned on the stage in 1976.

She was known to decline roles she felt unable to perform, which earned her the sobriquet "Madame No".

She did this because she did not believe in herself and her skills.

She always questioned herself if she was good enough to dance even better than before.

She had a very few interviews in her entire life and always stressed that she was a hardworking ballerina permanently trying to improve her skills.

Throughout her career she danced on the famous stages in the world such as Covent Garden (London), Grand Opera (Paris), La Scala (Milan), Metropolitan Opera (New York), Rome Opera (Rome), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) and performed with international ballet companies Maurice Bejart's The 20th Century Ballet (Belgium) (1977–1978), St. Carlo Theater (Italy) (1986, 1988–1989) Roland Petit's Ballet National de Marseille (France) (1987) English National Ballet (Great Britain) (1989), American Ballet Theatre (USA) (1990) National Ballet of Canada (1993) and others.

Ballet pedagogical and professional activities

Maximova and Vasiliev started dancing abroad as guest stars in 1978.

Fortunately, many of their performances have been preserved on film and prove a lasting testament to one of the greatest ballet partnerships in the history of dance.

Among her other ballet partners were M. Liepa, M. Lavrovsky, and A. Bogatyrev.

Ballet achievements with other ballet companies

Maximova was invited to work with famous contemporary choreographers including Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit, Kasyan Goleizovsky, Pierre Lacotte, Gerald Arpino, Tom Schilling, Martha Clarke, Lorca Massine and appeared in their ballet productions and ballet excerpts for gala concert performances.

She also started dancing in Moscow Classical Ballet productions in 1980 where she performed the title role in Pierre Lacotte's Nathalie and roles of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Eve in the Creation of the World. She danced the title role in Cinderella in the Kremlin Ballet choreographed by her husband, Vladimir Vasiliev who also choreographed a great number of ballet compositions for her through her career.

Maximova graduated from GITIS (now The Russian Academy of Theater Arts) in 1980 with a diploma of ballet master and started teaching classical choreography and dance composition there in 1982 while she was still dancing in the Bolshoi Theater.

After retiring from the Bolshoi Theater as a prima ballerina in 1988, Maximova continued dancing the role of Anyuta at the Bolshoi through 1994 and in addition she had more opportunities to tour and to work for other Russian ballet troupes and ballet companies abroad as a guest star for following 10 years performing some classical ballets with new choreography and modern ballets that did not appear in the Bolshoi repertoire.

In 1990 she started coaching the leading soloists in ballet roles in the Kremlin Ballet (such as N. Balakhnicheva, T. Predeina, Z. Bogoroditskaya) and in 1996 with the Bolshoi Ballet (such as G. Stepanenko, S. Lunkina, M. Ryzhkina, A. Nukulina) along with teaching in GITIS where she became a professor in 1996.

She could keep a very high level of performance and youthful dancing style through her 40-year career In 2003 she wrote her autobiography and named it "Madame No".

Maximova danced many duets with Vladimir Vasiliev, who is regarded by some as one of the greatest male dancers of all time.

They took part in numerous Bolshoi ballet tours in USA, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Argentine, Japan, and dozens of other countries in the world as well as in a Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky Ballet) tour in Paris, France.