Osipenko, Alla (1932–)

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Osipenko, Alla (1932–)

Soviet dancer. Born June 16, 1932, in Leningrad, USSR.

Trained with Agrippina Vaganova at Leningrad Choreographic School; danced with Kirov Ballet (1954–71), where she created the role of Mistress of the Copper Mountain in Yuri Grigorovitch's The Stone Flower (1959) and was Nureyev's partner until he defected; danced lead roles in Leonid Iakobsen's Fantasia, Igor Belsky's Coast of Hope, and Chabukiani's Othello, among others; began teaching at the Vaganova School (1966).