PREOBRAJENSKA, OLGA

born Jan. 21, 1871, St. Petersburg, Russia died Dec. 27, 1962, near Paris Russian in full Olga Yosifovna Preobrazhenskaya prima ballerina and teacher who, through her studio in Paris, transmitted the elegant, refined style and classic technique of the Imperial Russian Ballet to innumerable 20th-century dancers. A member of the Mariinsky Theatre for 25 years, she danced in more than 700 performances, winning praise for her precise technique and lyrical interpretations. Her extensive repertoire included leading roles in Copplia, La Fille mal garde, Esmeralda, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Les Sylphides. She began her training at the Imperial Ballet School in 1879; studied with such teachers as Enrico Cecchetti, Christian Johansson, and Nicholas Legat; and graduated and joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 1889, earning the title prima ballerina in 1900. She toured extensively in the early 1900s, making guest appearances throughout Europe. She taught at the State School in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) from 1917 until 1921 and at the Studio Wacker in Paris from 1924 until 1960, where her pupils included Irina Baronova, Tamara Toumanova, Tatiana Riabouchinska (the three "baby ballerinas" of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo), Igor Youskevitch, Milorad Miskovitch, and Margot Fonteyn.