Agrippina Vaganova – Queen of variations
Agrippina Vaganova was a legendary Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. You know, she became the first professor of choreography in the USSR. Awesome woman created her own teaching method, known as Vaganova method or Vaganova system, which became the basis of world ballet pedagogy. And her students are known and popular all over the world. By the way, her book Fundamentals of the Classical Dance, published in 1934, remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique. It was translated into many languages.
Pretty girl was born on July 6, 1879 in St. Petersburg. She was the youngest of three daughters. Her father, Akop Vaganov, served as a non-commissioned officer in Astrakhan, and then moved to the capital. In St. Petersburg, he worked as a chaplain at the Mariinsky Theater.
Since childhood the girl dreamed of dancing. When she was 10 years old, she entered the St. Petersburg Theater School. Thanks to years of hard work, she was one of the best.
In 1897 Agrippina graduated from the Imperial Ballet School and in the same year she joined the Mariinsky corps de ballet.
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