Alla Osipenko

Alla Yevgenyevna Osipenko (Russian: Алла Евгеньевна Осипенко; 16 June 1932 – 12 May 2025) was a Soviet ballerina and ballet teacher. One of the last pupils of Agrippina Vaganova, Osipenko became a prima ballerina of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad in 1954. She danced both classical ballets including Swan Lake and new creations such as the 1957 The Stone Flower, and was the preferred partner on stage of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev and Yuri Soloviev. After Nureyev defected to the West in 1961 while on a tour with the company including her, she was blocked from international touring. She left the Kirov in 1971, first dancing in Leningrad with the Yacobson Ballet until 1973, and then with the company of Boris Eifman as the first star to promote his work.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, she moved to the United States in 1995, working as a ballet coach with the Hartford Ballet in Connecticut. She returned to her hometown (now again Saint Petersburg) in 2000 where she coached the Mikhailovsky Ballet. She was regarded as "one of the most expressive ballerinas of her generation".