Valentina Ganibalova in the Ice Maiden

Legendary Russian ballerina and Kirov (Mariinsky) star Valentina Ganibalova was born in 1948 in Tashkent. She graduated from the Uzbekistan Academy of Choreography in 1966, and the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg in 1967, where she studied under Natalia Dudinskaya. Ganibalova starred at the Kirov Ballet from 1967 until 1989, performing virtually all important roles in classical and newly-staged ballet productions. In 1976, she appeared in the US-Soviet film The Blue Bird, alongside such internatio