Famed ballerina Plisetskaya dies at 89

Maya Plisetskaya, one of the foremost ballerinas of the 20th-century, who was identified with the Bolshoi Ballet of her native Russia but whose theatrical fire, magnetic presence and physical virtuosity communicated wordlessly with audiences around the world, died Saturday in Munich. She was 89.

Her death was confirmed to the TASS news agency by Vladimir Ourin, the general director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. Ourin said he was told by the dancer’s husband that she died of a heart attack.

Though she became prima ballerina of the world-famed Bolshoi, performing the principal roles in “Swan Lake” and other classic ballets, she was viewed with suspicion in the Soviet Union, which had treated her parents with harsh severity.

Yet Plisetskaya did not turn her back on her homeland. She mystified and bewildered her admirers who could not reconcile her artistry with her refusal to join so many of her fellow stars in defecting. Rudolf Nureyev left, and so did Mikhail Baryshnikov. But not her.

Aficionados of ballet admired the emotional depth and ineffable nuance that Plisetskaya brought to such roles as Kitri in “Don Quixote,” Zarema in “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” or “The Dying Swan” or, in what she said was her favorite role, Carmen in the “Carmen Suite.”

THE WASHINGTON POST