Nina Vyroubova

Biography

Nina Vladimirovna Vyroubova (Russian: Нина Владимировна Вырубова; 4 June 1921 – 25 June 2007) was a Russian-born French ballerina, considered one of the finest of her generation.

She was born in Gurzuf, Crimea, but moved to Paris as a child with her grandmother and widowed mother, fleeing the Russian Revolution. Her first ballet teacher was her mother, followed by renowned Russian ballerinas Olga Preobrajenska, Vera Trefilova and Lyubov Yegorova.

In 1937, the 16-year-old Vyroubova made her debut in Caen as Swanilda in the comic ballet Coppélia. She performed with the Ballets Polonais (1939) and the Ballet Russe de Paris (1940). During her work in recitals staged by the French critic Irène...