Raisa Stepanovna Struchkova

Born Oct. 5, 1925, in Moscow. Soviet ballerina. People’s Artist of the USSR (1959). Member of the CPSU since 1962.

A student of E. P. Gerdt, Struchkova graduated from a choreographic school in 1944 and was immediately engaged as a soloist in the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theater. Her best roles have included Lise in Hertel’s La Filie mal gardée, Odette-Odile and Aurora in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle in Adam’s Giselle, Kitri in Minkus’ Don Quixote, Cinderella, Juliet, and the Lady-in-waiting in Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and Lieutenant Kije, Maria and Jeanne in Asaf’ev’s The Fountain of Bakhchisarai and The Flames of Paris, and Parasha in Glière’s The Bronze Horseman.

Struchkova became known for her virtuoso technique, precise, refined style, and accomplished character portrayals. She still gives solo performances and has frequently danced abroad. Struchkova has been teaching classical dance since 1966 (since 1968 at the A. V. Lunacharskii State Institute of Theatrical Arts). She has also performed in motion pictures, for example, The Glass Slipper and Your Name.

Struchkova has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.